Artist Statement
I am a contemporary dancer, choreographer, and creative visionary with these being foundational to my identity as an artist. Dance gives me the freedom to express the ambitious ideas that exist in my mind and helps me live a bold life and to tell what story I want to tell. I am inspired by dramatic and eclectic performances, like those of Michael Jackson, how contemporary dance can always change, and the ability of popular music to navigate movement and tell a story. My choreographic practice centers on dance driven to be entertaining, informing, and perspective-changing, with a goal to explore what is considered innovation in dance. I aim to do this through the melding of my choreography, theme and production elements, and the accompanying music. My dances are athletic, intricate, and dramatic and typically represent an emotion of my current headspace or a feeling that needs dance to be expressed.
I am a student first and foremost, always exploring and centering much of my creation process on free movement and then using specialized dance techniques to form those into phrase work. My body’s response to music is integral to my choreography as it helps bring the personal element to the dance, with my mind attaching a narrative to it afterwards. When creating, I typically establish a beginning and ending formation idea beforehand, and then let the movement created in the studio guide the progression of the dance. The choreography is created at the moment of teaching, which allows me to trust my intuition and be open to the dancers, their abilities, and the space as influence, and most importantly alleviates the pressure of perfection.