Artist Statement

“Movement is one of the first forms of communication that we experience. In the womb we are moving and then somewhere along the way to adulthood we lose our intentional relationship to it. As a lifelong embodied practitioner, I understand the importance of being connected to the body as a technology for expression, processing information, spiritual alignment, scholarship and archival methods, as well as a pathway to empathize and feel compassion for others. Movement and Dance is all encompassing and as an artist, I think of my work functioning as a trojan horse for liberation with the goal of everyone getting free.”

Bio

Jenny Oliver is an artist in the Greater Boston area working as an educator, performer, choreographer and advocate for artistic integrity on faulty at Tufts University. Throughout her 18-year career she has cultivated a trauma informed, culturally responsive kinetic storytelling practice. As a culturally Black person of Cape Verdean and Native American heritage she believes it's important to address the erasure of Native people and the ongoing systemic injustices towards Black people and is inspired by the ability of movement to catalyze meaningful and effective change in the lives of others.

As a choreographer, her work has been presented at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, WBUR's CitySpace, Mark Morris Dance Center, Boston Center for the Arts, Tufts' Art Galleries, Multicultural Arts Center, Somerville Theater, DanceNOW Boston and the Peabody Essex Museum. In addition to her work as a choreographer she performs with RootsUprising under the direction of Nailah Randall-Bellinger and teaches at the Dance Complex and Deborah Mason Performing Arts Center.

Her collaborative work includes the development of a 2 year creative residency with the Mayor’s Office of New Urban Mechanics and Boston’s Office of Budget Management using creative storytelling, dance, and fiscal education to engage Boston residents in the city’s budgeting process; supporting Masary Studios to create Data Choreographics as part of the Museum of Science's Exploring AI: Making the Invisible Visible exhibit; and being a lead artist with the Design Studio for Social Intervention on Public Kitchen | Dance Court prototypes. 

In all elements of her work, she strives to create the causes and conditions for liberation, pause, and healing through movement.