Meet Jamie Williams

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

Hi Jamie, what led you to pursuing a creative path professionally?
I think I chose a creative/artistic career because I really can’t imagine myself being truly fulfilled without art in my life. I’ve modeled my career after the Japanese concept Ikigai, or “reason to live.” I have found something that I love, that I’m good at, that I can be paid for, and most importantly, that the world truly needs. My father in law likes to ask the question, “If you won the lottery, would you still work?” And my answer is always yes! Not only because I love what I do and who I get to do it with, but also because I KNOW it has purpose and I KNOW I’m making a difference.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I’m the Dance Program Coordinator and a professor at San Jacinto College. I’m also one of the co-directors of Artists for Hope, an annual charity concert event in which all proceeds are gifted to a local chosen organization that makes a positive impact in our community. I’m a company performer and dance educator with Frame Dance. And I’m an independent choreographer.

What I love most about my career is the impact that it makes. I love watching students fall in love with dance and helping them figure out how they can make a career out of it. I get to help them take their next steps into their future and watch who they will become. I have been a professor of Dance at San Jacinto College for the past ten years, and I LOVE MY JOB. My colleague, Jennifer Salter, and I have designed a program where students feel safe to explore and grow, but they also feel challenged in a way that helps them get to their next step, whatever it may be.

What I am most excited for this year is the launch of our new Certificate of Technology in Dance Instruction. This is a three semester certification that prepares graduates for a career in teaching dance within a studio setting. After several years of curriculum design, surveys and conversations with dance studio owners in the greater Houston area, and presenting to several boards at the college and state level, we are thrilled to announce that our certificate program has been approved and will launch in Fall 2024. We are so excited to be able to offer an additional path to success for our students!

This year is also a landmark year for Artists for Hope. I started this event ten years ago. I had just started teaching at San Jacinto College, I had just gotten married, and my mother had just passed away. There was a lot of “new” to navigate, and so far I didn’t feel like I was doing it well. During the second week of school, one of my students in my ballet class asked to speak with me. She was tearful as she explained that her mother had just been diagnosed with cancer, and she wasn’t sure what to do. She felt torn between her goals in dance, and being there for her mom. Not knowing exactly what to say or how much to share, I told her that if I had the chance to spend more time with my mom, I would take it, and that dance would always be there if and when she was ready to come back to it. After that meeting, it fell heavy on my heart to do… something. So the idea for Artists for Hope emerged. I invited all the people at all the Houston dance companies I knew to participate in two days of master classes and two nights of concerts, and to my amazement, every one of them said yes to donating their time and talent to this event. That first year we raised nearly $1,500 for the Cancer Research Institute.

With the help of my co-director, Jennifer Salter, we have improved and expanded the Artists for Hope event; each year it gets better. We now invest our time in choosing smaller organizations that have a direct impact on our local community. In addition to two days of free and public master classes and two nights of concerts showcasing Houston’s dance companies, we have added: 1) an International Dance Film Festival that streams online for free during the week of the event, 2) a Community Based Company Premiere that showcases a prominent choreographer gives young dancers the opportunity to perform in a new work created specifically for Artists for Hope 3) and a raffle that is supported by and promotes small local businesses.

Over the past ten years, the Artists for Hope Event has raised tens of thousands of dollars to support local organizations in our area. I am excited for this years event as we will celebrate our 10 year anniversary of Artists for Hope with some big surprises!

I’m excited for the work I will do with Frame Dance this year as a member of the Frame Dance Community Ensemble and as a dance educator. Frame Dance, and its founder/artistic director, Lydia Hance, have been a foundational part of the Houston dance community for many years, and offers some of the most unique programming in Houston dance. From MetroDances, site specific performances that travel along the Houston metro rail, to MultiGen, a multigenerational group of movers and creators, to Frame X Frame, an internationally acclaimed dance film festival, I’m proud to have been part of the Frame Dance family for the past ten years.

The newly developed Frame Dance Community Ensemble is a truly unique offering in the Houston dance community. Following one of our core values, that dance is for everyone, the Frame Dance Ensemble is a group of movers and dancers of all ages and abilities that explores, creates, collaborates, plays, and performs. Led by Lydia, we focus on creating site-specific work grounded in modern dance technique that challenges perceptions and expectations about who dance is for and where it takes place. We believe that all bodies are dancing bodies, and that dance, movement, and art should be accessible. You can catch me on Thursday evenings teaching the Adult Modern Dance Foundations class and working with the ensemble. Come join us!

This year, I am also investing in creating and presenting my own work as an independent choreographer. For ten years, most of the work that I have created has been set on the students at San Jacinto College and has been presented within the academic realm. With this year being a milestone year for me, I’m taking my work, a solo I created on myself, on tour. The work, STUFF, follows a character who is managing a physical hoard of stuff to a soundtrack of her own thoughts and anxieties. It is a candid look inside the mind of my grief journey and the mental fluctuations that have impacted my decisions. I’m excited to premiere this work outside of an academic setting and begin a new chapter of my career presenting work as an independent choreographer and performer in Houston. The Houston community will be able to view STUFF at Mind the Gap in October.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Honestly, if my best friend was visiting the area, she would probably know the best places to go more than I would. I’m very much a home body and I actually live in Pearland, a suburb of Houston. My bestie, Jessica, and I both love to eat and walk and talk. I would imagine a chill day date for us in the spring would be coffee and pastries at Common Bond and strolling the Museum of Fine Arts Houston. Then continuing the stroll at McGovern Centennial Gardens, maybe catching a performance on the lawn at Miller Outdoor Theatre, then late night tacos and red velvet cake at Velvet Taco. I also love PCR (Pearland Coffee Roasters) in Pearland and want to give a shout out to Hinzes Bar B Q and Country Kitchen in my home town of Wharton, TX.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I owe a lot to a lot of people:

My parents have always been my biggest cheerleaders. They have supported me in this path since I was a 3 year old studio ballerina. They have made everything that I’ve done possible.

My husband John who grounds me and lets me continue to twirl around and be myself.

Sheila Taylor, my dance teacher for 16 years at Taps and Mats Dance Studio in Wharton, TX.

Laura Dobbins Beal, my very first ballet teacher.

Elizabeth Gillaspy, who at a two week summer dance intensive at TCU saw a shy, awkward, less than mediocre teen, and encouraged her to keep dancing.

Jonathan Charles, who pointed a finger at me, summoned me over, and asked, “So what are you going to do with your life?”

My teachers and mentors in the Sam Houston State University Dance Program: Jennifer Pontius, Dana Nicolay, Dr. Cindy Gratz, Andy Noble, Dionne Noble

The Integrated Movement Studies Program in Salt Lake City, Utah: Peggy Hackney, Janice Meaden, Cadence Whittier, Robin Konie

Jane Weiner, who gave me my first internship at Hope Stone Dance that opened so many doors for me.

My friends and colleagues in the field who make me smarter and continually give me chances to keep making art.

The San Jacinto College Dance Program that has given me a place to continuing growing, creating, and teaching for the past ten years.

Countless students who have come through the San Jacinto College Dance Program and changed my life.

Everyone who has ever given me a job: Claires School of Dance, Dance Du Coeur, Memorial Dance Center, Hope Stone Dance, Maxine Silberstein at the Jewish Community Center, Frame Dance, Aimed Dance, The Institute of Contemporary Dance, San Jacinto College

Website: https://www.sanjac.edu/programs/areas-of-study/arts/dance/

Other: https://artistsforhopehouston.net/ 

Image Credits
Gilded Sun Photography Lynn Lane Jennifer Salter