Allison Ayer is a licensed massage therapist and multimedia artist. She has been practicing both for the last six years.
ART IMITATING LIFE
“It’s hard to say which came first because I’ve always danced since I was a kid and I always did massage.”
EDUCATION
English and studio art were her majors at Bowdin College in Maine. She also graduated from the Florida School of Massage in Gainesville.
BORN
Vermont.
WHAT IS HER ART LIKE?
“I think environmental performance describes it best because I’m creating an environment for the audience to come into. I make installation pieces for the stage. I explain that it’s a multimedia, interactive, environmental performance. Video is an integral part. Your typical performance on a stage is disengaging to the senses. But if you’re walking through a space and dancers are right next to you and you’re smelling things and feeling the ground under your feet, it’s more visceral.”
HOW DOES HER DANCE COMPARE WITH BALLET?
“I use a release technique that is more anatomically structured with a lot more curves, spirals and momentum. Ballet is more held, more stylized. The kind of dance I do is more athletic.”
HOW DOES HER PROFESSION HELP HER ART?
“There are a lot of parallels. Body awareness helps me on both sides. [To find the appropriate] speed and depth of my touch when I’m giving a massage, I try to read the reaction within their tissues and their breath. Plus, how the body works, any kind of thing you do with body awareness is going to help you dance. The more aware you are of every tiny little shift, the more articulate you can be.”
IS HER PERFORMANCE ABOUT THERAPY?
“I have an aversion to saying my dance is about therapy. Transformative is a word I like better. Self-expression is definitely good for you. However, I’m not interested in fixing somebody’s relationship with their mother, but if I can get them to wake up a little bit [that’s good] because we’re all playing asleep at the wheel, figuratively-speaking. I believe any state of mind is contagious and the more sensitive you are to your environment, the more balanced and healthy you can be. The more that’s spread around, the better we all are.”
IMPROVISATIONAL DANCE
“I had a strong interest in making a performance around the phenomenon of the brain on its way to recovery. It’s amazing how we can adapt. In the video there was a lot of faces, emotion and disorientation. What I was creating with the performance ‘Game Mind’ was a simulation of the external and internal environment of the brain as it re-patterns.”
HOW MANY OTHER PIECES HAS SHE COMPOSED?
“Probably 25-30 pieces over the last nine, 10 years.”
WHERE HAS SHE PERFORMED?
Theaters, galleries, studios and outdoor venues such as college campuses in North Carolina, Florida and Maine have been her stage.
JACK OF ALL TRADES
“I taught rock climbing and whitewater rafting to at-risk youth in Connecticut. A friend and I started a creative writing camp. I worked in carpentry, at a greenhouse, in an art library and I occasionally teach dance. I also made masks for a theater company, did market research and baked for a cafe. I used to be cook at a restaurant, too, but chefs are notoriously underpaid.”
IS ART MORE LUCRATIVE?
“I would like to make a living from art, travel with it, get grants, teach.”
WHAT IS MOST CHALLENGING FOR HER?
“The fear and anxiety of not attaining some level of exposure.”
MOST REWARDING?
“In a performance, there’s this energetic transference from the audience. It’s a huge rush. That’s when I feel most alive.”
WHERE DOES SHE GET HER MATERIAL?
“It just happens. It pops into my mind. Then I talk about it, read up on it, pull in current events or incorporate stories.”
WHERE DOES SHE LIVE?
San Marco.
HER HOBBIES?
“Yoga, walking outdoors, traveling, hiking. I like cooking for friends, reading and sewing. I’m pretty domestic.”
HER PET PEEVE?
“Government funding for the arts is pathetic. It should be a social responsibility to support the arts financially. It should be an educated interest in our population and in our schools.”
— by Monica Tsai