Jason McDole is in motion. He shifts in his chair, his face lights up
and—though he is merely stretching for an apt phrase, jumping into a
description, spinning out a story—the precision and expressiveness that shape
his dancing are evident. One of eight dancers hand-picked by Twyla Tharp for
her recent tour, a yearlong gig that culminated with performances at the Joyce
Theater in August, McDole is now wondering what lies ahead.
No matter where he dances—and the Pennsylvania native who graduated from
Juilliard in 1997 has already performed with the companies of David Parsons,
Robert Battle, and Lar Lubovitch, in addition to Tharp—critics tend to single
him out as "a real find—utterly committed, very musical, with a deep
suppleness to his back and hips" (Robert Gottlieb in The New
York Observer).
Jason McDole (Photo by Lois Greenfield)
McDole first trained to be an Olympic gymnast, but a knee injury at 12 brought
a year off—and the realization that his heart wasn't in it. After his
grandmother pestered him for a year about taking dance, he finally walked into
a ballet class—and was hooked. His first teacher saw McDole's potential even
before he did, and soon encouraged him to study modern jazz and ballet at the
Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera Academy of Musical Theater. He gained additional
experience touring locally with their musical-theater performing group, the
C.L.O. Mini-Stars.
But Benjamin Harkarvy's ballet class at Juilliard was an eye-opener for
McDole. "I didn't realize that another level of dance existed," he recalls
with awe. "Ben exuded such energy and perfection and demanded that, in all the
details. I was prepared to make ever more demands of myself, almost from the
very first class."
Rising to a challenge was nothing new for McDole, who has functioned with only
21 percent of normal hearing since birth. He wears two hearing aids (which
boost his hearing to about 50 percent) and concentrates intently on watching
lips when in conversation. "I learn a dance visually," he explains. "I learn
the counts, I understand the timing and rhythm. Luckily, I have a knack for
picking things up quickly." That and watching the other dancers gives him a
good sense of the choreography and his place in it. Initially, he says, he
doesn't hear the music; once the movement is in his "muscle memory," he can
"let that go, and kind of open up my ears a little bit more and concentrate on
the music." Sometimes he takes the music home and lies very close to his
speakers to listen. "When I'm dancing, then I know it's there, setting the
pace."
Upon graduation, McDole joined David Parsons' company, following in the
footsteps of Robert Battle, another Juilliard alum a few years ahead of him
with whom he had formed a special alliance at school. Several Battle works for
the Parsons Dance Company put McDole front and center, including the athletic
duet Strange Humors (with music by John
Mackey) and Isolation , a solo with music
by Steve Reich.
After more than three years with Parsons, McDole felt he was ready to move
on—and choreographer Lar Lubovitch snapped him up for Men's
Stories, a critically acclaimed 40-minute work that
drew from the personal histories of the nine male dancers Lubovitch worked
with as the piece evolved over a six-month period. McDole has engaged in a
number of other projects, including a major show for Radio City Music Hall by
Graciela Danielle that was unfortunately cancelled, and a gig with
Israeli-born choreographer Zvi Gotheiner for the Joyce Theater's "Altogether
Different" series. He also danced with Robert Battle's recently formed company
just before working with Twyla Tharp. But steady work in the dance world has
become tougher to come by since the terrorist attacks of 9/11, notes McDole,
and many choreographers—working within the constraints of available
funding—are forced to re-form and then disband their companies as individual
projects dictate.
McDole—who has given master classes for the Parsons and Lubovitch companies
and is on a rotating schedule of weekend teachers at the New Jersey Dance
Theater—says he finds teaching fulfilling, but wouldn't consider himself a
real teacher yet: "I can teach what I know
at this point, sharing what I've gathered in my short time." And some day, he
also hopes to mentor other young, hearing-impaired dancers. "I'm convinced
they really do have an advantage, because they have such sensitivity to what's
inside. I owe that to myself, and to other young people who can dance with the
best."
