Personal Statements

As an artist, I find inspiration in so many aspects of art in the world around me whether that be music, visual art, or stories about the world around me. My whole life I have been surrounded by art and creativity, and I feel that this can be reflected in my choreography and approach to dance. I am also fascinated in the science side of dance and movement, the kinesiology of the body and muscular movement and how physics affects a dancer's movement and relationship to other dancers in the space. I find myself drawn to and inspired by jazz dance of all forms, contemporary, and exploring that mix of styles between them. I feel that opening myself up to the exploration of multiple dance styles and how they interact and can relate to each other allows me to find more physical expression and identity in movement. I treasure being able to continuously learn new dance styles, and search for opportunities to deepen my dance knowledge. Seeing how dance styles connect to each other in movement quality and in historical contexts is fascinating to me as well, learning how we can all be connected as humans together while still celebrating and embracing differences.

As a dancer, as an artist, and even as a person, I want everyone who I interact with to feel welcomed and supported. Saving space for kindness and empathy was something I grew up valuing, and will continue to value while making work in the future. The space I create with my colleagues is welcoming, and I don’t want anyone to feel like they can’t be their true self in the space I create. With that being said, I recognize that I am not perfect. I am young and still have a lot to learn about the world, but I am happy to do research and listen to what the people around me are saying. 

As a White dancer interested in making a career surrounding jazz dance, I think it is very important for me to know and recognize the historical and cultural impacts Black dancers have in the creation of jazz dance, and in result, the Africanist Aesthetics that live within the style. It is important to recognize and know the history in order to appreciate it fully. This also goes with my interest and appreciation about learning the cultures that surround dance, whether it is jazz, hip-hop, or West African. In order to fully appreciate a dance form one needs to be conscious of the history and how you use it, giving the correct credit. Without that knowledge and understanding, stealing and cultural appropriation is easy to take place. 

As a woman in dance, I am also interested in breaking gender norms in dance, whether that is an exaggerated persona of a character with the same or differing gender, or breaking away from the traditional “male/female” partnering set up. I am aware that even though I relate with the gender I was assigned at birth, I have many people in my life that do not, and I recognize so many other people feel this way as well. When approaching this kind of topic I hope that the space I create is welcoming to have my dancers and colleagues open to having a truthful conversation about how they would want to work. 

As a woman in the dance world, I see that I am part of a majority, and I have also seen the negative stereotypes of men and boys in dance firsthand. I strongly believe dance is for everybody who wants to dance, no matter age, gender expression, race, or body shape. Because of this belief, I wish to be and create that safe space for anyone who wants to dance. Afterall, I believe dance, and the arts in general, are a way to express yourself when words fail. When choreographing, dancing, or working with other dancers I will get to know them besides the basic introduction and get to know them to understand how best to support them when needed. 

As a dance educator, I find importance in building a well rounded dancer that finds mastery in technical skill, as well as fully understanding the working of their body and how their muscles and body supports technique. It is important to me to create a supportive and fun environment where dancers can hone their skills as well as being able to find joy and expression through movement. 

With a technique based background and learning about the kinesthesiology behind building a healthy dancer, I have found the importance of properly strengthening and stretching muscles to build the best technique and foundation for any dance style. I have discovered that a strong foundation in technique of the dance style builds healthy and confident dancers. I was able to learn how to use the muscles of the body properly while receiving a holistic approach to injury prevention, providing corrections with an anatomical approach. Conditioning and knowledge of anatomy in regards to dancers shows in the interactions I have with students, coaching them through soreness and body pain, and giving them access to resources to help manage and recover minor injuries. 

In the classroom, this will look like giving students cross training as a part of their warm-up, as well as fine tuning basics and fundamentals. Correcting posture in turning positions and extension positions allows dancers to build the correct muscles to make dancing physically easier. The goal is to prevent injuries as well as giving my dancers a strong proprioception and awareness of their body to be able to add performance qualities to elevate their dancing.  

Overall, my goal is to create a well rounded dancer that has a strong understanding of their tool and instrument, their body, as well as a strong sense of self to who they are as an artist and performer. This can be shown in their strong foundation of technique, performance and movement quality, and strength in conditioning and body recovery.