Featured Choreographer- Adrienne Kiesel
Our final choreographer to be featured for this year's showcase is Adrienne Kiesel. She has been very hard at work in both the choreography class AND and production class. As she is a student in both classes, her piece reflects her work in both. You won't want to miss it! Below is an interview with her.
What are you working on in choreography class at the moment?
I'm currently working on choreographing my own piece for the showcase. This is a trio, or a dance with three dancers, based on life experiences. I'm also working to collaborate with the other students in the class in different parts of their choreography.
This year’s showcase is site-specific. What does that mean for you?
This will be my first site-specific piece to be involved in. I think it will be really interesting to see how this goes, especially due to the fact that we will be in a pretty large space with different nooks, spaces and large open areas. Learning to move and be inspired to move based on the location has been a growing experience for me.
Tell us about a choreographer you admire.
I'm pretty new to dance, but one choreographer that inspires me is my first dance instructor here in Austin, Kari Lehman. I studied with her in her contemporary modern class at a local studio by my house, Dance Austin Studio. Her movement was so beautiful, powerful, and strangely therapeutic for me. While I was usually frustrated that my body couldn't always move the way I wanted it to, I was definitely inspired by her strength and creativity. Any choreographer that can translate genuine emotion into their work has my respect.
Can you tell us about your piece in the showcase?
My piece for the showcase is based on my personal journey of figuring out how to integrate an old way of living with a new path in life...a path of choosing life no matter what. I believe that our pasts are extremely important and valid in who we are, but not wanting to stay stuck in it, or let it define me. I don't want to shy away or fear the future anymore, I want to smile at it.
What advice do you have for someone interested in studying dance?
If you have any interest in dance at all, or even if you have none at all, I believe you should give dance a try. Being able to move your body and work things out is actually very different than working things out verbally or mentally. Movement can access a different part of your brain, memories, and places in your body where hard things might be stored. I believe that movement is very therapeutic, as well as healthy and beautiful. Give it a try!
What are you working on in choreography class at the moment?
I'm currently working on choreographing my own piece for the showcase. This is a trio, or a dance with three dancers, based on life experiences. I'm also working to collaborate with the other students in the class in different parts of their choreography.
This year’s showcase is site-specific. What does that mean for you?
This will be my first site-specific piece to be involved in. I think it will be really interesting to see how this goes, especially due to the fact that we will be in a pretty large space with different nooks, spaces and large open areas. Learning to move and be inspired to move based on the location has been a growing experience for me.
Tell us about a choreographer you admire.
I'm pretty new to dance, but one choreographer that inspires me is my first dance instructor here in Austin, Kari Lehman. I studied with her in her contemporary modern class at a local studio by my house, Dance Austin Studio. Her movement was so beautiful, powerful, and strangely therapeutic for me. While I was usually frustrated that my body couldn't always move the way I wanted it to, I was definitely inspired by her strength and creativity. Any choreographer that can translate genuine emotion into their work has my respect.
Can you tell us about your piece in the showcase?
My piece for the showcase is based on my personal journey of figuring out how to integrate an old way of living with a new path in life...a path of choosing life no matter what. I believe that our pasts are extremely important and valid in who we are, but not wanting to stay stuck in it, or let it define me. I don't want to shy away or fear the future anymore, I want to smile at it.
What advice do you have for someone interested in studying dance?
If you have any interest in dance at all, or even if you have none at all, I believe you should give dance a try. Being able to move your body and work things out is actually very different than working things out verbally or mentally. Movement can access a different part of your brain, memories, and places in your body where hard things might be stored. I believe that movement is very therapeutic, as well as healthy and beautiful. Give it a try!
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