Aaron Davis ‘14 is known across campus for being a bit of a mini-superhero, mastering his passions in running, dancing and singing. Davis runs track and cross-country, majors in dance and sings in an a cappella group, Williams Street Mix. I talked with him about balancing such diverse passions and hobbies and what it means to blur the line between athleticism and art at Conn.
Libby Carberry: How were you introduced to Conn? Why are you such an active member of the community here?
Aaron Davis: I was introduced to Conn first when my older sister graduated from here in 2004. Before then, she brought me and my eight brothers and sisters on campus, so I kind of knew the community before, but in a different context, like a middle schooler looking in. Then I applied to the Williams School, and got a scholarship from Williams. I also took a dance class [at Conn] through the New London Scholars Program, which is tuition free, and got a feel for college before you actually go to college. I took 251 with Shani Collins and was introduced to West African technique. I loved the atmosphere of the dancers … I felt at home, which was inevitable because I’m from New London.
LC: Was being in such a big family influential?
AD: Clearly! I don’t know, because I was in such a big family, I realized I had such a strong support, not only from my siblings, but from a mother, two grandparents who are always there and the nieces and nephews that I have. It created a venue for you to really do what you like and know that there are people pushing for you and want you to do the best that you can. And also teaching them and growing with them. So I definitely feel like being in a big family is something so invaluable for me.
LC: What was it like to be the first one in your family to go to a private school? As the second to youngest, how did you take it?
AD: It was bittersweet, because I knew that I was the only one to experience an education that presented more opportunities, just because [Williams] had more funded money. At this time, the arts in New London public schools were cut. My sister who loved the clarinet couldn’t play because they cut the music department. I could do a cappella, band, jazz band … I wanted to make sure I wasn’t taking things for granted. It upset me because I knew that I was able to do all these things, and then when I told all my brothers and sisters I was taking Latin … they didn’t know what it was. I would have to take a stand to be active in my learning.
LC: So you’ve always had incredible perspective. How did that perspective drive you as a student and human being?
AD: I have a more focused direction of what I want to do. It all came from being self-aware in a positive way about what I wanted to do and why I was where I was. Why I was taking the classes I was taking, what I could be doing at that point in my life as a seventh grader. I think the main thing that I learned is being able to communicate with people and realize that everything is connected and draw from different experiences and correlate and make those things come together. Not force the connection, but see the connections. Whether it be from the arts, dance, arts and humanities … it really put me in a trans-cultural, interdisplicinary perspective, as well as taught me how to be open minded and take things in a way that things can be connected even if you think they’re not.
LC: Running and dancing are both very physically and mentally demanding. How do the body and mind relate in your experiences?
AD: The body and the mind are almost inextricably linked. By training the body, you’re also training the mind. Both running and dancing – though they might be seen as in different places, dancing is in the studio or on the stage and running is outside on a track – you really do see a connection between having a really strong mental capacity in order to get through some of the physical things you’re going through.
It helps me balance a lot of things. Whether it is just going to do homework, it helps me have a clear focus and engage in things a little bit more. Running and dancing can both be seen as improvisation. This past race for the New England Division 3, I lost my shoe. I didn’t think it was gonna happen, but it did and I kept going. You’re always thinking and it helps you in life. You learn to improvise when things come at you that you didn’t expect.
LC: Performance is an important aspect in dance and a cappella, at least it is very obvious as you perform in a very specific frame: a stage. Do you find performance in running as well?
AD: Performance is definitely something that we all do, whether we’re aware of it or not. We perform on stage, but it doesn’t just have to be on stage. When I go to a meet or even when I’m running in practice, I’m training for a performance, I’m rehearsing for a performance. They’re all performances in a way.
I don’t think that a performance has to be related to an audience. If there’s just one person watching you that could be a performance, or you could just perform for yourself. It’s easier to perform for yourself. When you’re running that’s all you have. If you don’t have this big group of people in the middle of the woods when you’re taking a run, you’re performing for yourself, you are the audience. Sometimes it’s easier to see a performance in light of an audience. I think that’s what makes you proud of what you’re doing, because I’m not performing as just Aaron Davis, but as a member of a community in New London, as a Conn Camel, as a community of dancers, of runners in the New England division…
LC: So if dance and running are so similar, through performance, improvisation, physicality and mental training, why do you do both?
AD: I do both because they inform my body differently, and I like that. I’m not pigeon-holing myself as just a runner, just a dancer. I’m informing my body differently so that when I encounter something, I can pull from both running and dancing. I can relate more than to just one or the other … The main reason I’m able to do both dance and athletics is because both departments support each other given that my coach and teachers are flexible. Big thanks to Coach Butler.
LC: Do you find dancing or running more or less of an art than the other?
AD: I think they’re both art. I think movement is art. That’s how I see it. To be able to move and express yourself through the body is something I’m really interested in and to be able to say so much through movement in the body, I don’t think it gets more artistic than that. Just by walking, it can be so mundane, it just takes a person to raise that question and then you realize, oh, everything we do is art.
LC: What is your proudest moment in athletics and the arts?
AD: I think the proudest moment I had in linking dance and running and also a cappella, was when last year in the fall during the faculty dance show, Shani Collins cast me in her piece ‘Lulling In A New Plantation Economy,’ in a role where someone would be running for about a good 12-15 minutes just in place, and then slowly moving downstage. And I never stopped running until the end of the piece. At first I was like, oh that’s it? And then I thought about it more, and how it related to the piece. It seemed so mundane, but as I went deeper into it, it became really profound and wonderful. There’s this one rock, running for peace, happiness, for joy; running away from something. And of course with the role I felt comfortable because I was a runner so I knew, just focus on your form, and then the form went out the window! I dunno, Coach might’ve thought my form was a little rough. [laughs] I did appreciate combining those two. Then after I was running I sang the lullaby, I finished the piece with the lullaby and then others on stage began running. It was a nice cycle. •
