Dance has been my entry level right into a world of occasions and concepts. It has a manner of preserving you versatile in additional methods than one. As artists, we discover methods to make poetry out of the strange, reworking monochromatic realities into Technicolor utopias. Dance retains me related to life, to artwork, to my creativeness.
My profession in dance frequently emboldens and empowers my voice inside society, the place it could maybe in any other case be diminished on account of my race and gender. It has afforded me the area to face confidently inside my physique and to share many tales that unveil hidden elements of myself.
But since transitioning from primarily a dance artist to primarily a choreographic artist, I’ve discovered my collaborators and mindset shifting from week to week. Occurring the highway to work on a number of initiatives a 12 months, residing out of a suitcase, isn’t the simplest way of life. You’re perpetually encountering new artists and areas. With that comes the dreaded impostor syndrome: Am I skilled sufficient? How will individuals obtain what I’ve created? Will the dancers join with what I’m constructing? These questions had been holding me hostage.
I lately spent a month and a half creating with Dutch Nationwide Ballet and dealing with the younger professionals of Frankfurt College of Music and Performing Arts. Whereas overseas, I made it some extent to remain outdoors: frequenting museums, cinemas, libraries, markets, reconnecting with associates, holding hours of conversations about life with fellow artists. I attempted my greatest to inhale all of the tradition that suffused the streets, to drink within the inspiration.
At first, it was laborious to permit the movement to work its magic. However over time, I discovered it guided me again to that childlike enthusiasm: 9-year-old Rena, dancing my manner down the road to get to ballet class, or pirouetting on my mom’s kitchen ground. I spotted that my love affair with dance had as soon as been about flying inside my very own physique, and now was about creating worlds that permit viewers to fly. It’s thrilling to really feel that shift in my timeless love for dance.
I’m vibrating from new perception, and really feel that one thing contemporary is in retailer for this subsequent chapter in my life and profession. The immense gratitude for this artwork kind that retains on giving again is indescribable. I’m my greatest self due to this elegant self-discipline, and I hope that I’m able to share that with dancers and nondancers alike.
