Jo Troll is an aroace trans choreographer, art-maker, blogger and Massachusetts native. They grew up in social contra dance spaces, and received training primarily in Irish step dancing, before branching out to contemporary, ballet, and even some occasional Appalachian clogging. While earning their bachelor’s degree University College London, Jo choreographed and performed at the Royal Vauxhall Tavern as part of the Duckie Upstarts program, before going on to earn a Graduate Diploma in Dance Studies at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance. Since then, Jo has become an active part of the Dance Complex community, performing in Dancing Queerly and Tiny and Short, in addition to volunteering in the Dance Complex’s Work Study Program. Fellow Work Study Eleanor Woodward recently sat down with Jo to hear more about these experiences in their own words.
Q: What is your earliest dance memory?
A: My sister teaching me how to swing dance in my living room. My older sister liked to tell me what to do — she’s a teacher now, so I was kind of her first practice in teaching.
Q: What’s your primary dance style? Irish or contemporary?
A: I would say right now I am an Irish dancer. I definitely went through moments, especially in high school, when I thought I was interested in modern and contemporary dance, but I’ve gotten really frustrated with the culture and aesthetic values that are hidden in a lot of modern and contemporary. It culminated when I was in a contemporary dance program for a year [in grad school], where they were like “We embrace and acknowledge and love all forms of dance, but if you’re not doing our form of dance, you are a lesser dancer.” So since that point I’ve been very much focused on Irish dance, although I wouldn’t say that I’m never going back to contemporary – there are definitely structures and practices that I’ve gained that have impacted the way I look at Irish dance.
Q: As a trans dancer, do you see positioning yourself as a “trans aroace dancer” as different from being a dancer who is trans/aroace?
A: I think it’s really important (and this is my personal choice) that my transness and my aroace-ness are integral to my dancing and they’re integral to me. You know that thing, where you walk into a dance classroom and your teacher is like, “Leave all your baggage at the door, forget about what you did today, we’re just here to dance!” — I don’t think that’s possible. If I walk into a room and leave my baggage at the door and then a teacher misgenders me, am I not allowed to be mad about that? So I bring my whole self into the room, and for me having those elements in my work, in my dance, and owning it, is really important. Also, I make work about being trans, I make work about being aroace. And so long as I’m making it, people are going to want to tokenize me, and situate me, so I want to be in control of the narrative, because too many cis people already have control of trans narratives.
(You can read more about this topic in Jo’s blog!)
Q: You’ve been involved in several performance projects here at the DC — AMaSSiT, Tiny and Short, Dancing Queerly. Which was the most challenging?
A: Well, quickest answer: the Tiny and Short stage was terrifying, because it wobbled, and the floor slipped, and I for some stupid reason decided to do toe stands on that slippy floor in my shoes. That was definitely the scariest!
Q: You’ve also been involved at the DC in various other roles over the past few years: work study, performer – do you teach as well?
A: The only time I taught was actually the best thing I’ve ever done at the Dance Complex. This was the Dance Curious workshop for the Dancing Queerly Festival, where we just had little 20-minute sessions of different dance styles. That was my favorite thing that I’ve ever done in this building, because it was just a lot of happy queer people dancing together, and that’s something you don’t get to see a lot of. I think there’s huge power in people dancing together.
Q: What do you see as the primary power of dance? Is it as driver of social change, a builder of community, a vehicle of individual expression, or something else?
A: I think those are all the same thing. I wouldn’t say there’s any one side to dance — I think dance is a really incredible tool that can be used in many different ways. I was brought up in social dance spaces, so I believe really strongly in community, in being able to have spaces that are just for dancing together. But I think doing that is dance for social change, doing that is dance for self- expression. I think it’s all part of the same thing.
Q: So what are you working on right now? What’s your “next deep step”?
A: Last year was a lot about trying to figure out what it meant to be a professional “artist” out of school. And so now I’m targeting the things that make me happy and that make me fulfilled – focusing in rather than trying to do everything. I really enjoyed working on the piece I did for aMaSSiT, so I’m trying to take time to look back on that and expand it and build theories for it. [In Irish dancing,] I’m trying focus on soft shoe technique – it’s something that makes me feel curious and excited, sort of like a puzzle I haven’t solved yet.
Q: Who is doing inspiring work in the DC community right now?
A: Rebecca McGowan is awesome! She’s one of the CATALYSTS, an incredible Irish dancer. The thing she did for Tiny and Short still blows my mind: she reconstructed a video from the 70s of just incredible dancing. She’s definitely someone I find wonderful and inspiring.
Blog post by Dance Complex Work Study Eleanor Woodward