Michael Love
Production Photo: The AURALVISUAL MIXTAPE Collection, Part II: DOPE FIT! (2019 by Sarah Annie Navarrete, courtesy The University of Texas at Austin), Interdisciplinary tap dance performance (choreographic and directorial collaboration with Kaitlyn B. Jones): 70 minutes / dance, sound, live music technology, projections, text.
Describe your artistic style in three words.
Black, embodied, polytemporal.
What's inspiring you right now?
During these last several months, I've started using my kitchen more than ever. At this point, I'm attempting one or two new recipes a week. Doing so has allowed me to be creative in a new and different way. I've also been indulging in YouTube house tours (which is its own whole genre of online video content!) and reading a lot on / about interior design.
What do you do when you're feeling uninspired?
When my process begins to only feel like labor, I try as best I can to let go of my current idea and move in a new direction. Sometimes this looks like putting a different piece of music on repeat, zooming into a specific sound or rhythmic pattern, playing with a new gesture, or turning my attention to something that feels a bit "lower stakes." Especially lately, I've been trying to practice "slowness," or to be less concerned about producing to allow my ideas to develop in their own time. So in short, when I'm feeling uninspired I focus on trying a different approach or simply slowing down.
Tell us something unique about your process.
A lot of my process involves embodying ideas or larger questions, not just through movement but also through sound and rhythm. Sometimes, my movement is driven by rhythm / corporeal sound (i.e., the rhythms I want to make / create require specific postures or a specific sequence of actions, etc.) and vice versa. So, creating work means thinking simultaneously about look and sound. Additionally, a lot of my work involves live improvisation. In these instances, my process becomes much more about sort of curating specific moments or moods with music, projections, text, voice, etc.
What advice do you have for other artists?
We are in such a tumultuous moment right now. Living in the era of covid has meant that many things that have been egregiously wrong for centuries are being further illuminated. For example, many people are just now waking up to the social-political realities of racism. My advice to artists, especially those who are Black and those artists who identify as women and / or queer, is to prioritize self-care above all, anything, and everyone else.
Production Photo: The AURALVISUAL MIXTAPE Collection, Part II: DOPE FIT! (2019 by Uli Garcia), Interdisciplinary tap dance performance (choreographic and directorial collaboration with Kaitlyn B. Jones): 70 minutes / dance, sound, live music technology, projections, text.
Production Photo: The AURALVISUAL MIXTAPE Collection, Part II: DOPE FIT! (2019 by Uli Garcia), Interdisciplinary tap dance performance (choreographic and directorial collaboration with Kaitlyn B. Jones): 70 minutes / dance, sound, live music technology, projections, text.
Production Photo: The AURALVISUAL MIXTAPE Collection, Part II: DOPE FIT! (2019 by Uli Garcia), Interdisciplinary tap dance performance (choreographic and directorial collaboration with Kaitlyn B. Jones): 70 minutes / dance, sound, live music technology, projections, text.
Production Photo: The AURALVISUAL MIXTAPE Collection, Part I: GON' HEAD AND PUT YOUR RECORDS ON! (2017 by Cindy Elizabeth), Interdisciplinary tap dance performance: 70 minutes / dance, sound, live music technology, projections, text.
Production Photo: The AURALVISUAL MIXTAPE Collection, Part I: GON' HEAD AND PUT YOUR RECORDS ON! (2017 by Cindy Elizabeth), Interdisciplinary tap dance performance: 70 minutes / dance, sound, live music technology, projections, text.
Michael J. Love is an interdisciplinary tap dance artist whose research intermixes Black queer feminist theory and aesthetics with rigorous practice to engage in thinking on Black cultural pasts and Black futurity. He frequently collaborates with Ariel René Jackson on video and performance. Love holds an MFA from UT Austin.