Answering the call

June Wallace (they/them) came to Oakland because of all the opportunities available, many of them as soon as your freshman year.

Through two years at Oakland, Wallace has taken full advantage of those opportunities. Wallace has been part of two different dance companies at Oakland, performing in multiple shows and they choreographed their own dance.

“Oakland doesn't stop you from getting an opportunity just because you’re a freshman,” said Wallace, who is double majoring in dance and psychology. “You're thrown in the same pool as everybody else, which I really appreciated, I looked for a dance department like Oakland’s because I didn’t want to be put in a freshman company. At Oakland, I get to have all these opportunities. I'm extremely grateful and honored that I got to be in every guest artist piece that came through last year as a freshman, which isn't true for some other schools or departments.”

Wallace enjoyed all the opportunities they had to perform, but also made time to choreograph a piece, which was called, “Virtue virus Vice,” and it was chosen to be part of two festivals.

“It got picked for the Eisenhower Dance Detroit New Dance Festival Emerging Choreographer,” Wallace said. “Then that same piece went to Detroit Dance City Festival. I showed it to (Department of Dance Chair) Greg Patterson and he was like, ‘This is cool, let’s take it.’ The piece is about the everyday struggle of having to choose good and make that an active choice in your everyday life.”

Wallace said typically, dances that are selected for the festivals are by older and more experienced choreographers, but they didn’t want to let their age be a factor. Wallace chose to go for it and recruited several Oakland dancers to perform the piece.

“I grabbed six of my friends,” said Wallace, who chooses not to perform in dances they choreograph. “I created a dance. I came in with a few, what I like to call: ‘Base phrases,’ I give it to my dancers and I see how they all move together. I see how the movement looks on everybody's bodies, because then that tells me a lot of what I need to adjust. How do I need to frame this so that way everybody can be in unison, everybody looks good, everybody feels comfortable in the movement? And then that's how we create like motifs and storylines, through line of the piece.”

As a freshman, Wallace was part of Oakland Dance Theatre, and this year Wallace is a member of Repertory Dance Company at Oakland.

“For both Oakland Dance Theatre and Repertory Dance Company (Rep Co), they bring in a guest artist, and both companies audition for the guest artist,” Wallace said. “The guest artist chooses however many people they'd like in their cast. They set a piece and then they leave, and we get to continue to clean it with teachers here. But it’s the guest artist's choice, they come in and pick the dancers. Everybody gets thrown in the same audition room. Everybody's on the same playing field.”

Wallace said dancers are limited to one year with Rep Co. so next year they hope to work as an apprentice.

“My plan was to be able to do Rep Co this year and then be an apprentice two years in a row, which is another thing that Oakland offers that not every other dance department does,” Wallace said. “They offer student apprenticeships, which is great, because you get to start dipping your feet in the pool of professional dance, while you're still in college. And that was a big selling point for me.”

Associate Professor of Dance and Assistant Director of the School of Music, Theatre and Dance Elizabeth Kattner said Wallace has all the tools to have an incredible career in dance.

“June is technically a very strong dancer, but June’s most outstanding quality is that passion and joy in their art shines in all of their performances,” Kattner said. “June is a dancer who gives 100% at every rehearsal and class, whether it is their favorite kind of dance or not. This makes June a joy to work with!

“June is talented, but also has the character, determination, and drive to accomplish their goals,” Kattner added. “Being a performing artist means that you will have a lot of rejection and disappointments. The dancers who have the drive to keep going and stay true to themselves as artists will be able to have a successful and fulfilling career. June has all the qualities of a successful dance artist: talent, drive, ambition, focus. On top of these June is team player and faculty and students love working with June."

Wallace has enjoyed all the opportunities Oakland has provided and said another strength of Oakland’s program is how they help you grow as a dancer.

“I think there's a big focus in artistry and growing yourself as an artist,” Wallace said. “I personally came in feeling fairly comfortable and confident within my base technique. Obviously, there's always growth and you always have to be growing and changing. They focus on things like, ‘What kind of artist do you want to be? What's your message? What's your mission as a dancer? What is your purpose of dancing?’ And it's very individualized. Our faculty is very involved within that discussion, and they focus a lot on the creative process of dance.”

Wallace said dance majors are required to take three choreography classes and four if they are a Bachelor of Fine Arts major.

“That's something that really stood out to me, they care about cultivating art,” Wallace said. “I wanted to grow my artistry and still be pushed in my technique as well. And I feel like that's something that Oakland does very well. You can grow both as an artist and as a creator, but also maintain your technique and keep your technique going. I feel like often you have to pick and choose, and Oakland does a really good job of trying to meld the two worlds, because they really are one. I really appreciate that within the department.”

Wallace’s goal is to go to graduate school for dance and a Ph.D. Wallace hopes to combine their love of dance and psychology by working in dance movement therapy.

“I stumbled upon across this dance program that is dance movement therapy, which basically focuses on processing mental illness, PTSD, depression, anxiety, all sorts of good things through the body and through movement, which is all that dance has ever done for me,” Wallace said. “It's my therapy, it's my safe space. So when I saw that I could go get certified and professionally trained in that I thought it was awesome. That’s what kind of what pushed me to change my second degree to psychology. So that I could go help people who have struggled with mental illness their entire life, and kind of give them an avenue. It's just movement for movement sake, which I think is beautiful. So it's kind of where I'm hoping to head with all this.

“My goal is to finish up here, get my BFA and psychology degree and then I'll apply to a psych grad program, probably at Oakland, honestly,” Wallace said. “I'll also be dancing with a professional company at the same time. So I'll be getting my grad program for psychology and dancing professionally. And then I'll continue to dance professionally for as long as my body will let me. And then as soon as my ‘professional career’ has come to a close, I'll probably go get my movement therapy degree. I hope to open my own studio, where I can both practice psychology and teach dance out of. And that's kind of the dream as of now.”

Wallace credits their family and youth dance coach for helping them to get where they are.

“I think that since the very beginning, my family's always supported me,” Wallace said. “They're my big support system. I don't think that anybody's ever doubted my ability. This is my life's purpose. Not many people get to know what their purpose in life is, and I've been lucky enough to find mine. At eight years old, I looked at my family and said, ‘I'm going to be a professional dancer,’

“I started doing dance competitions and I started getting noticed a little,” Wallace added. “Then right around my freshman year, we had a change in competition coach to Ari Mokdad. She told me: ‘You can do this.’ I thought she was joking, but she was like, ‘No, it’s possible.’ That was a big shift for me. I was like, ‘It’s time to get real and I’m going to college for dance because I want to dance professionally.’ That was something that really changed me. I mean, I owe so much to that teacher, so thanks Ari.”