Getting to Know Olivia Scharff

by Nicole Harris

Photo by Clayton Raithel

We have been busy interviewing the artists we are working with for re{ACT} re{BUILD} re{COLLECT} at the Multicultural Arts Center.  Here is Olivia chatting about her time with the company so far!

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Nicole Harris: You have been working with Sam Mullen quite regularly for almost two years.  You will be performing two duets, Connexa (choreographed by Nikki Sao Pedro-Welch and Sarah Feinberg) and Firk II (choreographed by Karen Krolak and myself) in this concert.  Can you talk about what it has been like to work with Sam?
Olivia Scharff: Working with Sam has been wonderful! From the moment we met at Musing, we both knew we were kindred spirits and would get along well. This friendship is clear when dancing with Sam because our personalities mesh and performing becomes easy. I would like to point out that Connexa is especially easy for us. It is as if Sarah and Nikki set the characters on us specifically and we have a great time bringing them to life! 

Photo by Sarah Friswell Cotton

N:  When we did re{ACT} re{BUILD} re{COLLECT} in the OnStage Summer Series in July Karen created a new solo, [82], for you. Since then the piece has also been taught to one of our guest artists, Kim Holman.  Can you talk about what it was like to see a work you helped generate performed by someone else for the first time? 
OS:  I really enjoyed watching Kim perform [82] at Groton School in the beginning of February. This piece created by Karen has many different interpretations, which is what I love about it. I enjoyed how the piece had the same background and story but the journey throughout was different. It’s like if you give two children instructions to construct a house, the result you get will be a house, but the journey to create this structure will be very different!

You can catch Olivia at
re{ACT} re{BUILD} re{COLLECT}
on March 29-30th at the
Multicultural Arts Center in Cambridge, MA

Get your tickets today for
$5 off the door price!