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.

This past summer, I had the opportunity to train at the Gus Giordano Jazz Intensive in Chicago, IL. During my week at Gus Giordano Dance School, I was introduced to Giordano technique in a masterclass taught by Jimmy Locust. During that masterclass, I was inspired by the movement vocabulary and use of the body in space. This technique centers itself around long extending lines of the arms and legs stemming from the torso and engagement of the core. As the week went on, we learned about Gus’ history and legacy from his daughter, Amy Giordano, in which she told us that he had written a book with the help of his wife, Peg Giordano, outlining his technique, The Anthology of American Jazz Dance. This book outlined how the technique looks as well as listing exercises to train dancers, and I knew that this was something I wanted to explore more and be able to read eventually. 

Recently, I have been accepted and will be attending the Professional Division Summer Intensive at The Ailey School, and will be studying Horton and Graham technique, another dance technique that has inspired and interested me since grade school. As much as I am still fascinated and intrigued by Giordano jazz technique, I anticipate finding inspiration in diving deeper into Horton and Graham technique after my studies this summer. I am also interested in finding similarities in these techniques and fusing two of my favorite dance styles, jazz and modern. 

I would like to create and showcase a choreographic work for my capstone, giving me more experience and confidence with creating choreography before going out into the professional dance world. Although my original thought was to create a live piece, I remembered my passion for filmmaking that had been set to the side during college to focus on my studies. Growing up I would constantly be making dance movies, stop motion animations with my dolls, or making stop motion dance movies with my dolls. I had also remembered in eighth grade I had created a dance film with my own choreography, lighting, and costuming, that had earned me a regional Scholastic Gold Key award. Exploring choreography in a film context could provide me with opportunities to experiment and play with lighting and costuming design as I have taken supplemental classes in those areas here at Ball State as well. I also believe playing with camera angles and framing the body from all angles could lend itself to creative avenues to exploring these dance techniques. 

Telling stories is something I have always done as well, but within the past few years I have found much difficulty in expressing stories through movement, specifically the challenge of being too literal versus being too abstract. Some stories that have inspired and captivated me for as long as I can remember is Greek Mythology, and the many different ways artists are able to interpret these stories and make them their own while still holding onto that original inspiration and story of the original myths. I think this would be a perfect avenue for me to pursue, researching stories to explain and comfort the idea of grief, something that has been a huge part of me and my entire families’ life for the past year. 

Over a year ago, my grandmother was diagnosed with ALS and over the preceding months we watched as the disease took her little by little. By the end of April, she would no longer be around to ask about my performances and dance adventures, something she still did despite being sick. Between being not the best with dealing with emotions and the following year being full with my busy schedule, I don’t think I was fully able to process this loss in a way that felt right to me. Using these emotions and feelings of grief, I will research stories from Greek Mythology that I would be able to express through movement where words have failed. This ties in with my research on Giordano technique, as Gus Giordano created a choreographic piece using a ladder in honor of his wife when she passed. This would be an artwork dedicated to one of my namesakes, a guaranteed audience member, and someone that won’t be here physically to see me graduate and follow my passions that we’ve talked so much about when I was growing up. 

My original plan is to complete this capstone in the fall so I would have the time and availability to research and attend auditions in my final semester. I also feel like I would be able to dive deeper into this project in the fall, soon after my return from The Ailey School. I don’t have any set plans on where I would present this film. I know there will be one showing here in Muncie on Ball State’s campus, but I am also interested in submitting it to the Hobnobben Film Festival at the Cinema Center in Fort Wayne, Indiana. I am not completely set on submitting this film there, as the festival is in mid-October, but I like the idea of challenging my vulnerability and showcasing my work for a larger audience than the Ball State campus. I don’t have an estimated length or music selections currently as I will be influenced by the myths and techniques I want to research as the project progresses.