A R T I S T S T A T E M E N T
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What propels us to create? Why are we called and inspired to express ourselves artistically? Our expression of that urge is manifested in a variety of ways and is among the most intimate means of communication. This inner call, while expressed in highly personal and individual ways, is universal in its essence.
Creativity and the making of art is an integral part of our humanity. Primal in its appeal, it is also a highly sophisticated means of expression. Artful expressions can serve as a window on a culture as a whole or as a window to the soul of a solitary artist. We communicate through art and the artist, and public connect at the most essential of levels. Together, upon this common ground, we make safe a space to grow, share, learn and experience ourselves, one another and the larger world around us.
Examining innovative, sometimes-provocative, ways of molding matter in a temporary aesthetic container that changes through time and space allows our humanity to form and flow. The body is then transformed into a writable and readable subject. The mind, soul and spirit are rejuvenated and find solace. The phenomenological experience of dance reflects intellectual and artistic expansion. Those intellectual and artistic curiosities cultivate and promote personal and universal experiences that become revelatory moments in dance. The self, extending itself, becomes an agent for change and further bestows and perpetuates the renewed possibility for the continuum of eco-systems of movement and life.
Art, specifically dance is connected to sacredness and is an implement of being. The sharing of revelatory moments helps a dancer and choreographer stand in their own being. The viewer joins this shared moment in conscious and unconscious modus connecting movement to thought and memory that becomes a catalyst for response and new, more profound understanding. Projecting oneself forward through a mind body connection of a physical action frees us from rationality devoid of didacticism. The body has no problem holding and handling this paradox of life and we propel ourselves forward as a species. We witness aspects of our collective divinity in the celebration of the human form. The evolution of the human condition is an intriguing prospect for me as an artist to investigate.
Creative expression through dance, choreography and making art is a liberating probability for me. The intrinsic properties one has as a dancer/choreographer are elements and vehicles of excavations for me throughout this process. Those excavations have been challenging at times and posed questions that are fascinating launching points into unchartered territory and new discovery. Art, dance and choreography and the systems they intersect give me a fresh eye at viewing the world and the interrelationship of those systems. Everything is an exponent of thought and thoughts are connected to all living things. Movement can be play and the source of freedom, physical release, mental cleansing as well as an emotional refuge for the soul. Movement can be a spiritual re-indoctrination through physical exploration, defining and acknowledging space, texture, time, opposing gravity, will and the suspension of disbelief. Additionally, movement as cathartic release or an investigation that contributes to critical thinking can be a maddening proposition, joyous exaltation and a reaffirmation of the self.
Lastly, movement is an acknowledgement and/or expansion of the id and the ego. In these moments of revelation one may not recognize oneself, nor realize one is dancing. To paraphrase Nietzsche: dance is each and every time a new name given to the earth... Movement encodes a new world order to the planet with a shared purpose and a stratagem for dialog, compassion, creativity, spirituality and excellence. For reasons inexplicable, our inner monologues often find their most eloquent expressions via the language of dance. With joy and sometimes through pain, we reveal the range of the human experience in all its subtleties – the dark and light, the good and evil, the sorrow and the joy. With respect, honor and love we dance and in embracing this art, we embrace the dance of life itself.