Ashley Jones, a graduate student at the University of California, Irvine (UCI), is nothing apart from stellar, with an extensive background in dance and business across several schools including the University of Southern California (USC) for her Bachelor’s, Cal State University, Long Beach (CSULB) for her Master’s (MA) and UCI for her Masters of Fine Arts (MFA). As her time as a grad student at UCI comes to a close, she reflects back on her history and what has led her to follow her passion for dance.
Jones immediately fell in love with dance at a preschool afterschool program. After the amazing time she had taking the class, she relentlessly begged her mom to pursue dance further, which led to her enrollment at the Orange County Dance Center in Huntington Beach, owned by Terri and Anthony Sellars.
“One class turned to two, two to three, three to five, six, seven, eight, and then from there I was training privately, competing, dancing in commercials, performing 4 full-length ballets a year, and beyond,” Jones recounted in an interview with the New University when asked about her background in dance. “As long as my grades were solid, my parents supported my investment. By age 12, I was dancing 25 hours a week.”
But dance was not Jones’ initial game plan.
“I assumed a dancer career was something of a pauper lifestyle and with stellar grades and accolades, I got into several top 20 schools,” she said.
Jones committed to the USC for Business and Political Science with the goal of becoming a lawyer or getting involved in city government. Still, she never gave up on her passion for dance and spent her years in Los Angeles dancing and training with Emmy-nominated choreographer and teacher Gregg Russell in tap dance as well as master tap teacher Linda Sohl-Ellison, along with many other big names in the industry.
Even in the workforce, Jones never gave up her drive for dance.
“I graduated at the peak of the recession when no one was hiring and wound up working at Northrop Grumman in global supply chain. I would work there from 6:00 am – 2:40 pm and then would go teach dance after work,” Jones said.
After nearly six years, she took a chance on herself and pursued dance full time as an adjudicator for dance competitions while simultaneously dancing in companies such as Contempo Ballet and Chis Baltes’ Jazz Spectrum. After receiving her MA in Dance Education at CSULB, Jones was presented with a spot in UCI’s MFA program.
Business and dance have very little in common, but Jones decided to switch career paths after finding herself surrounded by people who genuinely loved their jobs.
“I hated my job. It felt like work,” Jones admitted. “[The people in this program] inspired me to follow my passion, and without a real plan, I decided I was just going to teach as much as I could and see what happened from there. It was worth the risk!”
At UCI, Jones continues to employ her extraordinary work ethic and prove her dedication through her work in the MFA program. When asked what it’s like to be a student while also acting as a teacher, Jones has some fascinating, enlightening insights.
“It is insane! I have never had one job in my entire life. I have always worked beyond full time and that has been the secret to my success. I outworked everybody. I was never the best dancer. Maybe not the best teacher. Certainly not the best choreographer, but I did work the hardest in most every circumstance,” Jones said.
She also spoke about the difficulties that come with taking on so much, especially when others are relying on her.
“Balancing full-time units while also trying to teach is rough. It makes it difficult to be available to your students and give them what you need as oftentimes you are trying to just fill your own cup,” she said. “The MFA is more than a full-time program. I wish I had tips on balancing, but to be honest most days I feel like I have let someone down. I just try to be apologetic, fair, and breathe when I can.”
While her memories have been slightly skewed in this time of “abnormal learning,” Jones is inspired by the people she works with here at UCI. Even in this transitional period, her hard work continues to pay off, showcasing her multifaceted expertise and determination to succeed.
“I am most proud of receiving the graduate dean’s dissertation fellowship and my research colloquium speech and presentation,” she said.
Tap has always been a major focus for Jones, though it is continuously overlooked in the dance community. There are fewer and fewer people pursuing tap and offering it as an accessible form of dance for continuing generations. Underwhelmed by “lackluster” tap classes meant for adults, Jones found Steve Zee, a well-known expert in tap dancing.
“We’ve been working together for some time now, but he really inspired me to be a great teacher and to know as much as I can about the art form.”
When asked about what inspires her musically, choreographically, and as a dancer, Jones had a plethora of answers to offer up about her diverse taste in music.
“I try to be as intuitive as possible. I am obsessed with music, sound, instruments, etc. My favorites are from the Motown era, but you will find everything from Melissa Etheridge to Kanye West in my show.”
It is no secret where her ingenuity stems from.
“The excessive amount of time listening to music has provided me with a lot of knowledge and options when it comes to choreography,” she said. “I can tell you names of albums, song lists, song history, etc. Music is the biggest source of my inspiration.”
At Irvine Valley College (IVC), Jones is serving as a faculty intern, where she is studying different elements of community college including the curriculum and what kinds of students pursue their education at community colleges. She is currently working with their dance students on a piece that will be showcased along with her research in a tap-based performance on IVC’s campus.
“Eclipsed,” Jones’ concert at IVC, is complex, innovative and sports a feminist outlook on women in the dance industry. Jones has crafted this show to perfection, toiling away for months on choreography, costuming and working around every dancers’ complex schedules.
“All of the works within my concert are focused around women whom I refer to as ‘the silenced majority,’” Jones said in regards to her process of forming the show and how the dances fit in relation to one another.
“I’ve always found it odd that as a majority of practitioners of the form, we are not the decision-makers, artistic directors, or leading in numbers at all,” she said. “The standards for men in dance are so much lower and many times I see quotas being filled by putting men and women on faculty in equal numbers or men being admitted into programs because, well, they need men. Dance is inherently unfair to women in my view and the bar for us is much higher.”
Much like her taste in music, the show is incredibly varied. “One dance highlights the amazing Billie Holiday, another deals with breast cancer, ‘Eclipsed’ shares the history of women in tap dance and how this has evolved. It is a girl power show!” she said.
When asked what was next for Jones, she responded simply and optimistically, “I have no idea! I have been interviewing for faculty positions and I am hopeful that something will come my way. Regardless, I just plan to continue to pursue dance and education in some way.”
An incredible student, teacher and choreographer, Jones is a phenomenal representation of the type of student UCI should be very honored to have. Her commitment and diligence cannot go unnoticed as her devotion to this specialized craft can only benefit the dance industry and this school as a whole.
Lillian Dunn is an Entertainment Intern for the winter 2022 quarter. She can be reached at lbdunn@uci.edu.
