Ucross, the prestigious residency touted as a research-and-development lab for artists in the wide open spaces of northeastern Wyoming, hosted a ribbon cutting on Saturday, December 17, to celebrate the Lauren Anderson Dance Studio in the Koehler Performing Arts Center at Ucross. Already revered as a creative haven for visual and performing artists, writers and musicians, this marks the momentous addition of a space that will provide an invaluable place for professional dancers.
Made possible through a gift directed by Deborah and Ed Koehler, longtime Houston Ballet and Ucross Foundation supporters, it was insisted that the studio name would be in honor of Lauren Anderson.
“We are so excited to dedicate this beautiful new rehearsal and performance space in honor of our favorite dancer and world class prima ballerina, Lauren Anderson, and announce a new partnership between Ucross and Houston Ballet,” says Deborah Koehler, who previously sat on the Ucross Foundation board. “The Lauren Anderson Dance Studio will provide first class facilities and resources to allow Ucross dance and choreography residents to fully explore and develop their talent and creativity.”
We sat down with Lauren Anderson to learn more about the Lauren Anderson Dance Studio in the Koehler Performing Arts Center at Ucross and her role.
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Houston Ballet (HB): Ucross has welcomed artists from a multitude of disciplines, primarily writers, visual artists, and musicians. The Lauren Anderson Dance Studio is the first platform for dancers. Were you familiar with Ucross before this collaboration?
Lauren Anderson (LA): I’d heard of Ucross but when I thought of Ucross I thought of painters, sculptures, and of course I knew about writers, because of course part of some really major books, shows, and films were created at Ucross.
[Dozens of Ucross Alumni are Pulitzer Prize, Tony, Emmy, Golden Globe, and Academy Award winners and Macarthur Foundation “Genius” Grant recipients, among a number of other accolades.]
HB: Deborah and Ed Koehler have been longtime supporters of Ucross. How did the connection of getting a dance studio at Ucross come into play?
LA: Well, I’m their daughter’s favorite ballerina, which I think is way cool. They donated to the [Houston] Ballet Ball in my honor – because – I was their daughter’s favorite ballerina. That’s how the relationship started. That’s how I found out who they were. I met them and we started talking – and I immediately thought – this woman [Deborah Koehler] is awesome. Her subtlety, her aura, she’s just amazing.
So then the Lauren Anderson Young Dancer Scholarship Fund happened. We have a lot of the same goals and ideas about things. Deb mentioned Ucross, and I’m like, I need to look that up, and that’s when I really learned what Ucross was all about.
After visiting the Ucross campus, I learned more about the history and Raymond Plank’s legacy.
It’s just an amazing facility where artists can go and create without that pressure of having to come up with the most fantastic thing in the world and sometimes that just opens you up in a way you’ve never been opened up before. When there’s no pressure you can really let your juices flow and marinate.
-Lauren Anderson
Then, I came to find out that the dedication was going to be the Koehler Performing Arts Center. There wasn’t a space designated for dancers before this. If you want to dance, there has to be a special place to do it. You can’t just go dance on some concrete somewhere, you know. So they created this place for dance.
There’s a place for visual arts, a special place for writing. There’s a place for this. There’s a place for that. [The Koehlers] said they were going to name it the Lauren Anderson Dance Studio. I was like, ‘Are you kidding me? Are you sure?’
Deb’s passion runs so deep for artists – not just the arts but for the actual artists. From a child getting an education in the arts to the actual professional who is DOING THE THING.
It’s huge, it’s wide, it’s amazing, it’s needed for the artists to know they have allies like the Koehlers.
HB: Your job is inspiring Houston’s youth on the daily as the Houston Ballet’s Associate Director of the Education and Community Engagement program. How do you see the Lauren Anderson Dance Studio in the Koehler Performing Arts Center creating a connection between Houston and the broader world of dance?
LA: It already has. Next year I will have been here 40 years. I’ve been affiliated with Houston Ballet for 50 years. Houston Ballet is a part of my DNA – that’s how people see me – they know Houston Ballet before they know me. I’m honored to be able to be an ambassador for Houston Ballet. I feel like I’ve always been a connector to the community – so my role as Associate Director of Education and Community Engagement, and being a huge part of this department since it started; this is where my passion lies. This is what I am supposed to be doing. This is a calling. I can’t imagine doing anything else. I am supposed to connect the Houston Ballet with the rest of the world.
HB: You’ve been cited as an inspiration to people like Solange and more recently Houston Ballet Apprentice – Eric Best. Who were some of your mentors as you were coming of age as a dancer?
LA: I’ll put it this way – between 1972 – 1983 – anyone who taught in the school shaped me for sure. Carmen Mathe. Clara Cravey.
Ben Stevenson put his HANDS on me and molded me into the dancer I never thought I could ever be. And now the teacher. He has a big impact on my teaching. Whoever I teach is being touched through Ben Stevenson’s knowledge through me. One thing that impressed me and kept me dancing is that he makes anything possible in the dance studio. Because anything is possible in the dance studio. Whether you want to be a dancer or not. You find yourself in a dance studio.
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To find out more about the Ucross Foundation, visit here.