We wanted to give you, our fantastical readers and friends, a chance to "meet" a few of the LVDT artists. Readers, meet Grace.
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| Photo by Daniel Castro |
How are you involved with Seen Unseen?
I am performing and choreographing in Seen UnSeen.
How long have you been working with Leverage (including when it was aTrek)?
Since September 2011.
What do you find exciting about working with Leverage?
I find the opportunity to continue to dance and create work very exciting. After my collegiate life, I didn’t think that I would get the opportunity to continue dancing other than recreationally. LVDT has given me an outlet for expression over the last year and a half and I look forward to continuing my work with the company.
What would you like to say about your piece in Seen Unseen?
My piece, Fifth and Final, will take place in the Metropolitan Lofts space. My motivation for creating this work derives from the often cliché experience of going through a loss of a relationship. However, instead of being over-dramatic about this relationship, I am pushing my choreography and my dancers to display strength in their movement instead of sorrow. Each one of us has experienced some sort of relationship whether it be a friendship, kinship, romantic relationship or the like. To me, this piece is about how we pick ourselves up and learn from the situation to ultimately release that person from our lives and become a stronger person.
What dance experience do you have prior to/outside of Leverage?
I began my dance training at age 3. Growing up, I lived in Bloomington, Illinois and trained at McLean County Dance Association and Twin Cities Ballet. I trained mostly in ballet, modern and jazz from a young age through high school and was active in three companies: Bloomington Ballet, Contemporary Dance Theatre, and Orchesis Intercity Dance Company. These companies afforded me performance opportunities as well as choreographic opportunities at a young age. While I attended Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, I took non-major dance courses to continue to study technique. This opened a door for me to study African dance and work with a graduate student on his work. Upon moving to St. Louis, I found aTrek Dance Collective, now LVDT, and I am happy to be able to continue dancing and return to performing and choreographing.
Do you hold another job outside of LVDT? What challenges/opportunities does this present?
I hold two other jobs outside of LVDT. Mostly these jobs challenge my scheduling ability for rehearsals and performances; however, without them I would not be able to pay my bills. I work as much as I do as a teacher, dance educator, and fitness consultant so that I can do what I love which is dance. While it becomes challenging at times to schedule around my hectic work life, in the end it is rewarding to know that I work so hard every day so that I can continue to experience dance both as an educator and a dancer myself. In an ideal world, my dancing and performing would pay the bills, but we all know such is not the case. It also becomes challenging as a dance educator to continually be creative. I give a lot of my creativity to my students which then can affect my time for choreography for LVDT.
Stay tuned for Q&A's from other artists, coming soon!
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