Meet Jenna Davis | Dancer and Movement Photographer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Jenna Davis and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jenna, what role has risk played in your life or career?
Being a dancer, I think risk has a strong vitality in my body and my artistry. I find a lot of freedom in my practice when I am searching for extremes, and these places where I feel like I am in conversation with things that I am at the mercy of, like gravity and time. I can’t tap into new and farther ranges without letting my curiosity be bigger than my fear. And I am constantly trying to take this courage and the risk that is home for me in my practice into other areas of my life, where I am actually much more timid. Being an artist, you are asked to take hundreds of risks every day. I feel you have to befriend the unknown and trust yourself when it is surrounding you.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I am a dancer, creator, and movement photographer. I have always been dancing, since the very beginning. My body is my home. One of the beautiful gifts of being a mover is being in delicate conversation with my senses and my body as I walk through the world around me. I think I process and understand a lot through movement and sensation. I am very curious about how the body holds experiences, interactions, and resonance truthfully, and this feeds into how I tell stories through movement.

In my first year at SMU I picked up a camera and almost instantly realized this new channel for understanding the communicative capacity of the body. I started studying film alongside dance. People started really trusting me to witness them vulnerably and prolong what I saw, which to me was and still is a massive privilege. It also invited this new understanding and honoring of time and eyes into my own movement practice. Both movement mediums have a lot to lend each other. In the same way I think about truthful embodiment when I am dancing, I am curious about how to preserve someone else’s sensation and presence in my photography.
As I work with both of my practices professionally, they continue to unravel alongside each other. I have come to understand when one part of my practice is feeling overwhelming or confounding, I can search for clarity in the other.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I love Corner Market, 1418 in Plano, and Wild Detectives. There are some pockets at White Rock and along the Katy Trail if you need some quiet and nature. And if you want to see some cool art and meet the people making it, I would suggest anything going on at Arts Mission, Dallas Contemporary, or a Nostalgia and Noise event!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Definitely my mentors and everyone I have gotten the chance to share space with in practice! I feel like every time I take the stage or share something I have created, I am a little kid showing someone the coolest rock collection on the planet. And the rocks are all of this beautiful information, vulnerability, and pieces of themselves that my mentors and peers have let me collect over the years. I would not be where I am or who I am without them.

Website: https://jennaldavis.cargo.site/

Instagram: @_jennaldavis_

Image Credits
Photos by Olga Rabetskaya, Alexa May, and Jenna Davis.

Photos taken of Maria Golici, Colin Gross, Lauren Kravitz, and Shayna Ambers.