10 Questions with ADJI

This year’s Artist-In-Residence uses dance as storytelling.

By Ross Leonhart

Adji Cissoko was born and raised in Munich, Germany, where she trained at the Ballet Academy Munich. After dancing with the National Ballet of Canada and later moving to the United States to join Alonzo King LINES Ballet, Cissoko’s dance career is both extensive and impressive, and it continues to develop now as a choreographer in addition to dancing.

We caught up with Cissoko ahead of the Festival to dive deeper into where she’s been, and where she’s going.

1. You performed at the Vail Dance Festival before (2018, 2019), what memories do you have from your time here?

“I have just really fond memories. It’s always such a good group of dancers, artists and people coming together, I always feel inspired – I’ve watched all of these people that I don’t get to watch dance on a regular basis. And then I feel comfortable to explore and try new things. It’s special and unique. And then you have the outdoors, and it’s such a beautiful feeling dancing on that stage and feeling the wind, feeling the audience. Such fond memories...”

2. What are you looking forward to this year as the Artist-In-Residence?

“My goal is to dig deeper into my roots. My dad is from Senegal and our last name ‘Cissoko’ is very well known there for my family being griots, and griot means ‘storyteller.’ Actually, my cousin is the 22nd generation of kora players, which is a Senegalese string instrument. Back in the day, they would play this instrument for the kings to pass on stories, continue on traditions, so they played a very important role, and to this day this has been in my family and I always thought, ‘I’m not doing that because I’m not playing the kora (even though now I’m learning it).’ I realized a few years ago that what I’m doing with my dance and my movement is exactly the same – I’m also a storyteller in my own way. So it’s kind of full circle – I became what my name already knew I was.”

3. You’ve mentioned in previous interviews that Alonzo King asked you to spell your name through dance to help loosen up –what other tips and tricks have you learned over the years that might help young, aspiring dancers?

“Sometimes it helps me when I just close my eyes and am guided by music. Music has a big impact on me. Sometimes, especially with LINES, we play with so many different music options. Sometimes he’ll be playing African drums, and suddenly my body knows how to react to that. Or I hear the kora and I move in a way that’s like ‘Oh, it’s always in me, but I’m not always moving like that.’ But giving into music is a big one. And what I’ve learned through Alonzo, too, is not trying to be pretty. That’s a big thing because my training was all about looking pretty or having perfect lines. But especially when you build work, that can really prohibit you to go further and go deeper than you just looking at what it looks like. You want to scratch all that and ask ‘What am I trying to say?,’ or ‘What is the message?,’ or ‘What am I experiencing?,’ or ‘Which idea am I playing with?’ And so I’m super inspired of how Alonzo works with that because that works for me – the moment I give up on that, I find new shapes and new movement forms, and I’m not worried about if this is ugly or pretty. It doesn’t matter because it’s so much bigger than that.”

“Don’t think about it as right or wrong. If you think about movement as right and wrong, you’re blocking yourself. You want to kind of allow yourself to just see that what you create, what you build, what you dance – this is it because it’s coming out of you, and it can’t possibly be wrong. It’s so hard to explain, but once you can focus on that then the world suddenly opens up to you. But if you are kind of restricting yourself then it just becomes really hard to build something that’s genuine and pure and meaningful. Focus more on the message rather than the image maybe.”

4. Growing up in Munich, Germany, how did you first discover dance and how did you get on the path of a professional dancer? “It actually started with going to a school doctor. Before you go to elementary school, you see a school doctor who does a few tests just to make sure you’re ready for school. And one of the tests that I had to do was draw a snake and say something at the same time, and I was struggling with that. And so the doctor said to my parents that I was totally ready for school, just that my coordination and spacial awareness can be improved, and he suggested to put me into dance. My parents knew I loved to dance anyways so they just put me in ballet and jazz dance, and that’s how I started dancing. It’s such a crazy story. And of course I had already been dancing around the house all of the time.”

“After my first ballet class, the teacher came up to my mom and told her that I needed to do this professionally – ‘She’s so talented.’ But my parents didn’t want to push me into anything so they told the teacher that it was still just a hobby, no need to do this professionally. But my teacher was so persistent – talking to my parents after every single class. And then eventually they said OK I can audition for the Ballet Academy of Munich, which is a free academy but they’re very selective. And then I auditioned and I got accepted and from then on I just kept passing the exams and moving on from level to level. My parents kept asking me if this was what I really wanted to do because I was missing birthdays and parties for friends, but I loved it. Looking back at it, the Academy was a perfect fit for me because I have the German side of me – that discipline and hard-working side – and that was what it was all about there. And at the same time I have the artistic side from my dad that just loves music and dance, which is also very much what the Academy is about. So I had that perfect balance of truly enjoying to move, and also enjoying the hard work.”

5. Describe your dance style in 1 word, and then just openly describe your dance style: “Personal.”

“I think my style of dance is personal, original and deep. For me, I’m always expressing something. I think that’s where my storytelling comes in. I am dancing like I would imagine a griot to dance ballet. I’m so in it, I feel like my face does things, my hands do things – it’s a full-body experience – and that’s the storyteller in me coming out.”

6. Who are some of the people that you really look up to that you’ve worked with over the years?

“I get asked this question all of the time, but honestly for me, maybe I’m just really lucky that I’ve worked with so many amazing people, but I actually get most inspired by my colleagues at LINES. It surprises me because it’s been almost 10 years, but if I take the time to watch I’m just so moved because it’s so deep. We are like a family.”

7. You are known for your willingness to try anything – is there anything you still want to try dance-related or non-dance related?

“I think I just really want to play the kora and then see what happens and how I can incorporate dance, poetry and kora playing. Kora playing usually has spoken word and singing, and I really enjoy writing and I have a lot of poetry. So I feel like if I can get to a place where I can basically also create my own music or incorporate that with movement, that would be so cool.”

8. You know quite a few languages, how would you describe the language of dance?

“I think the language of dance is a universal language, and that’s what I find so beautiful about it. I think you don’t have to speak English, German, French or any of this and you can still somehow feel something when dancers express themselves through movement. If I’m improvising, sometimes I feel like suddenly I’m speaking the language of my ancestors somehow -- I don’t recognize it and yet I feel super connected to whatever I’m doing, so I think it must be my ancestors.”

9. When you’re not dancing, what do you like to do?

“I’m currently learning the kora, how to play it. I like writing. I sometimes do these writing courses online or free journaling. But I’m also somebody who loves the sun, so as soon as I’m off I’m looking for a place that has sun. I love food. Just being comfortable and happy.”

10. What’s next for you?

“I have so many things that I could see myself doing. But in general, I just see myself expanding. When I was younger I always said I’d retire from dance at 30. And now I’m 32 and I think ‘Absolutely not.’ I’m just starting to understand movement really. I think I want to keep teaching. I want to keep choreographing. I want to keep dancing. But I also want to start building. I have this dream of building a school in Senegal and bringing ballet to places where it’s not super common. Senegal has a lot of dance – they naturally dance every single day. But I think they’re so hungry for different forms of dance. And down the road maybe have another pickup company that does projects. Who knows!”