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ARTS Ashland dance company founder, artistic director retiring Dancing People Company seeking replacement for Robin Stiehm Comment By Samantha Bruce For the Tidings DailyTidings.com By Samantha Bruce For the Tidings Posted Feb. 14, 2016 at 12:20 PM By Samantha Bruce For the Tidings Posted Feb. 14, 2016 at 12:20 PM » Social News Robin Stiehm, artistic director of the Dancing People Company in Ashland, has announced she will step down at the end of the current season of school residencies in the spring. Stiehm founded the company in 1994 in Minneapolis, Minn., and moved the company to Ashland in 2003. "We look forward to carrying the torch of extraordinary, evocative dance that she has given this organization," DPC board member Robert Head said in a written statement. "Robin has inspired us to insist on professional dance as an essential component of this exceptional community." The company's board of directors is conducting a nationwide search for a new artistic director and also has secured funding to hire a development director. Dancing People Company will host performances by the company celebrating Stiehm's contribution to the Southern Oregon Community April 29 through May 2 in the company's studio at 310 Oak St. in the Railroad District. The Daily Tidings asked Stiehm to talk about the Dancing People Company and what's next for her. Daily Tidings: What led you to create the Dancing People Company? Robin Stiehm: I had a career as a dancer myself back in Minnesota, and at that point I was about 28 and I decided that I wanted to choreograph. Once I started doing that, the natural next step seemed to be to form a company. DT: What drew you to Ashland in particular? RS: My husband and I moved here because we wanted to try gold mining! I actually thought that I was done dancing and thought that I was retiring. I was maybe 42 at that point, and I thought I could leave dancing. We got out here and were getting settled, and I just realized I needed to have dance in my life. I actively started forming the company out here in 2005, but I had done a few things in ’03 and ’04. DT: What drew you to choreography, after being a dancer yourself? RS: I think that as a dancer you spend a lot of time bringing other people’s creative ideas to fruition, so the choreographer comes in with a vision for the piece and you help to flesh that out for them. I think there’s a point when you’ve been a successful dancer when you feel that you want to have that voice for yourself and express that for yourself. DT: When you first started forming the company, did you ever imagine it becoming as successful as it has? RS: Yes! When I was being a realist, I would say "no," but when I was being a dreamist — which I am a lot — then I would say "yes." DT: You’ve been the artistic director at DPC for 21 years. Looking back, what are some of the highlights and best moments? RS: I’ll talk about some of my best moments here in Ashland rather than going way back to the time when the company was in Minneapolis. I think one of the best moments was one of the first shows we did in a space called the Dance Space before we had our own studio, and it was a show where I had created some new work and I also had some of my older work on the show, and also brought a couple dancers from Minneapolis and had some dancers here. So, it was really this melding of the two eras of the company. That was a very special show, to feel like it was carrying on a lineage, the Minneapolis dancers to the new Ashland dancers. I would say another highlight is every year the solstice show that we do, Call Back the Sun. Every year is a highlight of its own because it’s such an exciting community celebration. Another highlight is a trip that the company took to Russia in 2012, and we performed at an international festival there, just had a wonderful time and met great artists from all over the world. DT: Is it hard to leave the company after so long? Is it a little bit bittersweet, or is it time? RS: It is a little bit bittersweet, but it is time. I had been feeling for a couple of years like it was time for me to move on to something new. It’s taken me two years to really buckle down and make that decision, one reason because I do love what I do and another reason because I do so many things with Dancing People — the fundraiser, the choreographer, the school administrator. The thought of handing all of those tasks over to other people is daunting. Who is going to carry it on and how are they going to do it? So that takes time too, to coming to that realization of, “well, I just have to do it.” DT: What’s next for the Dancing People Company? RS: The board is developing that now and it’s in process. The company was fortunate enough to get some grant money to hire a development director, so they have a lot of funding to bring in an administrative person, which will be really important because that’s half of what I did. That will provide the continuity as they decide exactly what direction they want to go artistically. DT: Is there anything in particular you’d like to see them do? RS: The same things I wanted when I was with the company. I would like to see them gain better recognition within this community and have bigger, more enthusiastic audiences. I would like to see the company tour more so that other people know what a great asset is hidden here in Ashland. I would like to see the company grow in size a little bit to include more dancers and add more choreographers so they don’t have just one choreographer anymore, maybe a guest choreographer so they have more artistic influence and the dancers have more exposure to other ways of working. DT: What’s next for you? RS: What’s next for me is, I’m moving to Mexico, with my husband of 35 years. We don’t really know what we’re doing down there yet, but we just felt that it was time for a change. DT: If you had to go back and do everything over again, is there anything you’d change? RS: Yeah, lots of things. If I could do it again knowing what I know now, I would take more artistic risks than I did and not be so concerned about what I thought people wanted to see and be more concerned about what I wanted to say with my choreography. Tidings intern Samantha Bruce is a journalism student at Southern Oregon University. By Samantha Bruce For the Tidings DailyTidings.com By Samantha Bruce For the Tidings Posted Feb. 14, 2016 at 12:20 PM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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