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Seattle’s live performance industry is typically booming during the holidays—but not so this year. A company performer at the famed Can Can Culinary Cabaret shares how she’s navigated a year of shutdowns.
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Madison Mi Hwa Oliver, a company dancer at Can Can Culinary Cabaret, performs during the cabaret's "Wonderland" show, an annual winter event, in 2018. With no live performances this year, audiences can still watch "Wonderland" on video by purchasing a Show To Go package from Can Can's website. Image by Nate Watters.
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During any other year, the holiday season is when the performance industry is kicking into high gear, offering everything from various interpretations of The Nutcracker to festive variety drag shows. For Can Can Culinary Cabaret company performer Madison Mi Hwa Oliver, it’s a time when performers and audience members really feed off of each other’s amplified seasonal energy. “Everyone is just a little bit happier and a little bit brighter and excited around the holiday times,” says Oliver. “It was cool to be able to heighten that emotion for everyone that came through the door at the Can and to be a part of that with them.”
Since joining Can Can in 2018, the intensity of the venue’s holiday performance schedule—holiday shows typically run from October to mid-January, with up to three shows a day, six to seven days a week—was an adrenaline rush Oliver leaned into. Combining comedy and burlesque, the shows' intimate setting and audience interaction set the stage for a lively experience, not just for patrons, but also for Oliver and her fellow performers.
This year, of course, the pandemic has changed everything. Not only is the energy and intensity of live performance absent (Can Can is completely shut down), but, like the rest of us, Oliver can’t take the down time to visit family—in her case in Southern California. “I’m taking it day by day, but it’ll be interesting to see what the holidays turn out to be like,” she says.
Oliver first started dancing at age 3, pursuing ballet seriously around age 9. Training at Tracy Dee Academy of Dance in Placentia, California, she participated in summer intensives with the Houston Ballet and Ballet West in Salt Lake City. Her first job was with the Nevada Ballet Theatre in Las Vegas in 2013, but a workshop with acclaimed modern dance choreographer, Donald Byrd—also the artistic director of Seattle’s Spectrum Dance Theater—led to an audition and job offer at Spectrum. She took the job and moved to Seattle in 2015 with a shift in perspective: “It was a completely different way of moving—very foreign style to my body—something I had never done before. So, I found a lot of intrigue in that and grew to really fall in love with the environment and the process.”
Two and a half years later, she joined Can Can. Oliver appreciates the sense of camaraderie and lack of competitiveness in Seattle’s performance community and enjoys the city’s small-town feel and various crossovers between the dance, live music, and theater industries. It’s a tight-knit world, one that has not been able to interact with an audience, nor within itself, in the same way this year.
Like many industries, live performance has had to pivot to survive. In many cases, organizations and venues have been offering the live show experience via video (Can Can, for example, has virtual shows and dinner packages available, filmed from live pre-pandemic performances).
For performers, transitioning current projects from a live experience to a screen-based one, as Oliver has done as a freelancer and collaborator, makes for a dramatically different kind of interaction.
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“I’ve found myself not necessarily wanting to move. That’s not the outlet that I’m going to, and it always has been, so that’s been an interesting thing to reflect on.”
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“When it’s just you in your living room or bedroom and you’re trying to find motivation for music and setting and the movement itself—it’s been tough for me personally to find things to draw from,” says Oliver.
For the first time in Oliver’s life, turning to dance has not been the automatic answer. “I’ve found myself not necessarily wanting to move. That’s not the outlet that I’m going to, and it always has been, so that’s been an interesting thing to reflect on for myself.” The space in Oliver’s schedule has given her time to move in a different way, namely hiking. She’s been taking in the outdoors and the opportunity for exploration she previously didn’t have the time for, discovering favorite hiking spots such as Snow Lake and Coldwater Peak.
Welcome or not, the new normal has forced Oliver into a place of introspection, both personally and professionally. The isolation of virtual interaction has shifted her focus from how to observe and move as part of a group to her own sense of movement and artistry. A self-described extrovert who says she’s an open book, but emotionally reserved, Oliver has also experienced challenges in her own life. This year has given her the space to find some personal deliverance, figuring out emotionally healthy ways to process struggles and grief. “It has been an incredible growing experience for me personally and something that I’m actually very grateful for.”
The radical shifts of 2020 have led lots of people to question what they want, or address what they’re missing, from the way they were living their lives pre-pandemic. That’s been true for Oliver, too. She’s largely supported herself during this time through gigs with TCM Models and Talent, where she’s done everything from commercial work to virtual runways and voiceovers, things she hadn't had time to try before. The indefinite postponement in her performance schedule has sparked excitement for new prospects and potential creative collaborations.
Her multidisciplinary interests are also reflected in the work of women Oliver admires, including Seattle-based actor, director, and choreographer Kathryn Van Meter, with whom Oliver worked and collaborated—at Spectrum and on performances including with the Seattle Opera and in a music video. Another is Spectrum company dancer Nia-Amina Minor, the cofounder of No)one. Art House in Los Angeles, with whom Oliver has lived and performed with. She praises Minor’s “brilliant mind” and work, as well as her dedication to activism.
Where exactly Oliver will be next year and what she’ll be doing remains a mystery—but filled with possibility, not fraught with fear. Whether through the lessons of a global pandemic, social justice activism, career pivots, personal life shifts, or some combination of the above—2020 has been a year of reckoning, not just within ourselves, but also with how each of us fit into a larger whole. Art shows us who we are, and, as Oliver points out, the people who make it continue to find channels of expression despite obstacles, not just for financial survival, but because it is a calling that endures. “In this time when we can’t be with others, and touch others, and see others, and work together in the same physical space, we’re still creating the same, if not more,” she says. “Because, you know, we have to.” By Nia Martin
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This portrait is from a series collaboration with a friend before the COVID-19 outbreak. The pandemic has caused dancer Madison Mi Hwa Oliver to branch out her career, adding modeling and acting work to her repertoire, and spurring her to challenge herself more professionally. Image by Vincent Lopez.
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She Made It
HOLIDAY EDITION
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Got last-minute holiday shopping and treating to do (for others or—let’s be honest—yourself)? We’ve covered a lot of talented local womxn in this section throughout the year (see our Instagram page), and there are so many more. Find your next gift at one of these womxn-owned businesses...
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Tuesday Shop's gorgeous hand-dyed or remnant print kimono-style wraps and scarves by designer Rian Robison.
Supply Chain’s jewelry (plus a few leather bags), impeccably curated by owner, Katie Donnelly Meurk. All of the store's goods are made by womxn from around the Northwest and beyond.
Salua Lingerie’s lovely, light-as air pajamas and lingerie, along with swim- and resortwear, from Colombian-born Shadia K’David, who followed in her mother's lingerie designing footsteps.
Denesuline ceramicist Natasha Alphonse’s beautiful, terrestrial-inspired clay bowls, cups, and vases. Shop online or at select shops, including Saltstone Ceramics and the Frye Art Museum Store.
Books! Local authors, including Ijeoma Oluo, Lindy West, Erica Barnett, Rosie Mayes, Susanna Ryan, and Aran Goyoaga have all come out with books (the latter a recipe journal) this year. Find them at your neighborhood bookstore.
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Treats from Chef Kristi Brown’s newly opened Central District restaurant, Communion. Pair a Christmas pack of macarons (caramel horchata and bourbon hot chocolate for us, please!) with a fun cocktail kit.
Velouria’s care packages—pick a selection of quirky and cool small-batch goodies; those artichoke-print cotton undies?—owners Cat Wilcox and Chika Eustace will wrap ‘em, include a note or card, and ship it.
Veque's luscious vegan nailpolish. Founder Audrey Siu created the enormously successful line partly to reconnect with her heritage—her Vietnamese parents built careers in the U.S. in the nail business.
The Works Seattle’s DIY kits. Make your own bubble tea, beeswax wraps, bath bombs, and much more. Owner Kellie Phelan carries items from several womxn makers.
Badder Body’s body butters. Catch Acacia Corson on weekends at the Georgetown Trailer Park Mall and nab the winter collection—three lotions with warm winter scents like spruce and pear—or the stocking-sized 1-ounce Litti Bitti Pretties.
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ATTN:
What we are seeing and doing this week/end
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Washington state is currently subject to Governor Inslee's new restrictions until January 4th, 2021 (be sure to check the latest Stay Home, Stay Healthy guidelines). We're highlighting organizations that support womxn in the community as this turbulent year comes to a close.
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Niki:
Young Women Empowered (Y-WE) provides mentorship programs for womxn ages 13–26 to develop self-confidence, form leadership skills, and explore careers. Mentorship focuses on environmental justice, coding, writing, and more. Donate or volunteer.
Percussion Farms grows healthy food with locations in Seattle's Central District and in Auburn. The urban farm, cofounded by Shanelle Donaldson and Molly Brashear, offers gardening and food preservation classes, employment, and volunteer programs for people leaving the prison system. Donate (money or tools and supplies) or volunteer here.
Ada Developers Academy is a tuition-free non-profit coding school for women and gender diverse adults focused on low-income, underrepresented, and LGBTQIA+ communities. Nearly 100 students graduate from Ada annually, ready to work in tech. You can donate here.
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Nia:
Powerful Voices is a Seattle-based organization run by womxn of color with a focus on social justice and creating a safe space for young womxn of color to build confidence and empower themselves. Contribute here.
Jubilee Women's Center works with womxn overcoming poverty, trauma, and other serious barriers to help them rebuild their lives and access resources. The pandemic has disproportionately affected womxn in a number of ways, so these services are especially crucial. Contribute here.
West Seattle Food Bank not only provides groceries, but other essential resources, such as rent assistance (and I wanted to shout them out as they do important work in my neighborhood). As you may remember from Issue 10, single womxn households with children are the demographic most affected by food insecurity nationwide, and the pandemic has only increased these numbers. Contribute here.
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How can we support each other in the community? Let us know about your resource, event, or recommendation on Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook and ping us with the hashtag #partsandlabornews.
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That's all for now! Like what you're reading? PASS IT ON! Forward this email to friends, and give us a follow on Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook. Look out for the next issue in the new year, January 11. New readers, check out past issues here and SUBSCRIBE!
Have an idea or comment? Send us an email.
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