about the artist
olive Dance Theatre’s mission is to validate indigenous American hip-hop dance forms, specifically breakin’ more commonly known as breakdance, through the creation and performance of new dance theatre works domestically and abroad. Jamie Merwin is the founding Artistic Director of Philadelphia-based olive Dance Theatre. She and her company are equally committed to the tradition of breakin’ and the creation of contemporary dance theatre. She holds a BA in Theater and Dance with minors in Criminal Justice and African-American Studies from Temple University, as well as a Teaching Artist Certificate from The University of the Arts. She has received a PCA Fellowship in the Arts for Theater and a Ford Foundation FAAR Fellowship. Current members of the company include: Jason ‘Native’ Doe, Lor ‘Lao’ Song and Husain Abdul-Zahir.
UPDATE: It’s been a long road since we welcomed olive Dance Theatre to Olney in 2019 and despite best laid plans, their time as well as everyone’s else’s were interrupted in March of 2020. It has taken three years for Jamie Merwin, artistic director of olive, to re-establish her footing post-pandemic. In lieu of what was originally envisioned as an open studio for break dancing and hip hop creators, Jamie has pivoted from that to individually embracing Olney through her “human being-in-residence” at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church’s Senior Wednesdays. Since November 2022, she has been immersing herself in this senior community and exploring ways to meaningfully engage the attendees through reciprocal exchange and just being “present” with them. The opportunity to learn from Jamie’s experience of how Olney Culture Lab can serve the aging population in the Olney neighborhood is new terrain and we are eager to find out what she learns.
notes from the field
While this piece by olive Dance Theatre was not technically a part of The Olney Embrace Project, nonetheless, we were thrilled to have been able to share their performance of a new work that was originally created for the Wawa Welcomes America Festival last summer in July 2022.
This was reprised on Saturday, October 1, 2022 at the Tacony Creek Park Music & Arts Festival, held at Grover Washington Jr. Middle School.
Event & Activity Dates for olive
- No available dates for now
