FPP spoke with dancer/choreographer Ashley Byler about high/pop art mash-up, the infantilization of dancers, and K-Pop.
Your choreography is often comedic, employing deadpan, sharp but good-natured personas. Could you talk about your influences?
I grew up loving Saturday Night Live, Carol Burnett and Michael Jackson. I also loved Dolly Parton, Dustin Hoffman in Tootsie, Hee Haw, Solid Gold, The Mandrell Sisters, and later, In Living Color. I guess there was a lot of gender exaggeration, southern-ness exaggeration, just exaggeration to the point of absurdity in my childhood. To read the rest of the interview, go here.