Olivia Blaisdell was born in Connecticut, but raised in Los Angeles, where she grew up studying dance at The Vonder Haar Center for the Performing Arts. Olivia returned to the East Coast to attend high school at The Walnut Hill School for the Arts where she studied ballet, modern, and choreography with Michael Owen, Denise Lewis, Diane Arvanites, and Monica Lender. She has also trained with Hubbard Street, Joffrey Chicago, and Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet; and artists including Meredith Dincolo, Alexei Kremnev, Cindy Montoya, and Glenn Edgerton. In 2017, Olivia joined KAIROS Dance Theater for two seasons under the direction of DeAnna Pellechia. Currently she dances with Jennifer Lin, Kristin Wagner, and Boston University’s Dance Theatre Group.
She may be more commonly known as Olivia Moon Photography or halfasianlens as Olivia is also a freelance photographer in the Boston area. She has worked with artists such as Rose Eichenbaum and Whitney Browne and has studied photography at Jacob’s Pillow and the Art Center College of Design. Olivia is currently working toward her degree in Health Science at Boston University.
She may be more commonly known as Olivia Moon Photography or halfasianlens as Olivia is also a freelance photographer in the Boston area. She has worked with artists such as Rose Eichenbaum and Whitney Browne and has studied photography at Jacob’s Pillow and the Art Center College of Design. Olivia is currently working toward her degree in Health Science at Boston University.
ABOUT THE WORK
In [slō-fuh-jee-luh], Olivia explores the irony between finding and completely rejecting labels, using the video game The Sims as inspiration. In this game, users are able to create avatars by selecting and editing their physical features, goals, life paths, emotions, and more. How can something so complex in our reality seem so simple in virtual reality? Live performance is juxtaposed against projections of Sims avatars in the process of being built: a little comical and a bit dystopian. As the characters search for autonomy separate from the mold of their character build, the audience witnesses both a resistance and an inability to become truly vulnerable and authentic without the armor of the avatar identity. Any resemblance to real life? – maybe.
