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Photo by Jon Velez-Jackson, Lajas, Puerto Rico, 2024.jpeg

Interview with The Interior Beauty Salon

Interviewed by Nicolás Dumit Estévez Raful Espejo Ovalles Morel

Published April, 2025

Photo: Jon Velez-Jackson

“LVJ: During illness, I had the honor of experiencing all the tools I used to perform (and to prepare for performance) to rise up and support me to exist in the world and heal. It was like I was in a never-ending dance where I helped myself be…with a sense of pleasure, fortitude and safety. Mind you, I wasn’t 100% successful everyday, but who is?! I can say that some of my most meaningful dancing (and meditations) happened in my most ill state.”

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A mixed abilities dance company practices in the studio, some lying on the ground, a wheelchair dancer bends forward and other crouch low.

A Space For Us

Written by Larissa Velez-Jackson, Commissioned and released by Small Press Traffic and The Back Room, (2024)

Photo: Larissa Velez-Jackson

““I will admit there was a little bit of quiet weeping at the ballet barre during my first class, as the teacher played ‘God Only Knows,’ by the Beach Boys, for solo piano. A ballet class holds so much personal history (luxurious and traumatic) for many dancers — and now for the first time for me, this space accepted bodily difference. Such a nuanced, embodied discovery of person truth, weeping, and all, is exactly what I seek in performance.”

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Two dancers face each other, touching hands as they straddle in the splits creating a shape like a boat, or a bridge. Both are barefoot. In the background, a dancer far away splits the middle where the dancer's touch, arms lifted at their sides.

LARISSA VELEZ-JACKSON with Mike Stinavage

Mike Stinavage, The Brooklyn Rail (2019)

Photo: Ian Douglas

"Since I clasped hands and danced with an elder named Marta during the dance party that ends Zapatografía/Shoegraphy, I’ve kept an eye on the choreographer: interdisciplinary artist Larissa Velez-Jackson."

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On stage, Larissa Velez-Jackson strikes a pose: arms outstretched, energy out the fingers, in a pair of silver character shoes. Next to them, Talya Epstein covered from head to face to toe in all white -- with just their eyes visible, kneels next to Larissa. The stage is set with pairs of shoes scattered around the stage and displayed.

Review: The Footwear Follies of ‘Zapatografía/Shoegraphy’

Siobhan Burke, The New York Times (2018)

Photo: Andrea Mohin

"Through this all, Ms. Velez-Jackson seems to be questioning entrenched conventions of contemporary performance, in particular the convention of performing for an audience of insiders..."

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A portrait of Jon and Larissa Velez-Jackson. Jon's brown hair falls into his face, casting shadows. Larissa's curly black hair frames their face, red lipstick popping.Chest to chest, Jon turns his head to face the camera while Larissa faces Jon, eyes closed.

A Dance Troupe Adds Fresh Faces. The Youngest Is 66.

Siobhan Burke, The New York Times (2017)

Photo: Sasha Arutyunova

"'Larissa teaches the art of performing,” said Ms. Flanagan, 75, 'so it’s not just get up and do the moves, which I’ve done in the past'... For all the jokes about fame and failure that run through Yackez’s lyrics, they’ve won some devoted fans."

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Dancer Malcolm-x Betts performs a "death drop" on a sidewalk-chalked city street. One leg lifted in the air, the other bent under their upper body, hands behind them to catch themselves, head tilted to the sky, grinning. Onlookers point and cheer.

Aunts Is Back, Turning City Blocks Into Dance Floors

Gia Kourlas, The New York Times (2021)

Photo: Krisanne Johnson

"Velez-Jackson, a choreographer and interdisciplinary artist with a strong base in improvisation, said that much of her work got its start at Aunts events...'Working live through improvisational material in front of an audience is really where the research would happen,' Velez-Jackson said. 'It’s when you’re in front of live people that it’s much more real — you get better.'"

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Larissa and a group of dancers perform on a stage awash in pink and purple light. Dancers walk and crawl, many with their arms extended out in sharp-angled ways. The dancers all wear different patterns and colors on top and bottom.

IMPRESSIONS: 32nd Annual Performance Mix Festival

Cecly Placenti, The Dance Enthusiast (2018)

Photo: Kathryn Butler

"What follows are a series of hilarious anecdotal phrases that begin to make less and less sense in any linear way, but the parody rings true for anyone who has engaged in bodywork sessions. Like children who blurt out whatever comes to their minds, the performers create a whimsical atmosphere that feels comfortable, engaging, and real."

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Three dancers onstage in ascending height floor positions caught in motion with mirrors reflecting them.

All from Scratch

Martha Sherman, danceviewtimes (2016)

Photo: Ian Douglas

"When 'Star Crap Method' works, and Velez-Jackson and her dancers click, there are moments of marvelous physical humor, honesty, and even beauty...The ephemeral gift of dance – that you are either there for a spectacular Moment, or that you’re not – is the promise of 'Star Crap.'"

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