The excitement of not knowing: Elise on RLP Presents

Performing in RealLivePeople Presents was an amazing experience. I really enjoyed sharing the space with such talented and fierce artists. Just watching what the other performers brought to the table was thrilling. Each piece had a strong and clear approach, whether it was about the exhaustion of explaining your move to the city or taking the spotlight from someone. I was inspired by the way the artists took their ideas and put them into movement, like Molly and Marlee smothering each other while asking the typical questions about their big move to New York or Sara removing Gina from the space so she could perform bigger than her. I was so inspired, it made me want to start investigating my ideas and create a piece of my own.

And that was just my experience from watching the other pieces! Performing in a piece with RealLivePeople was a different type of  opportunity to investigate myself as a dancer. I performed in Gina’s listening piece 3 times, a piece where the audience is invited to write down their interpretation, which we then use as an influence for the second and third time we perform it. Performing in this piece was totally out of my performance comfort zone, but I loved it. The excitement of not knowing what the intention of the 2nd and 3rd repetition would be was so fun. I have never performed in a piece that involved the audience so directly. I learned how different perspectives can influence movement, like having to scale my movement from little to big to follow the audience’s idea of the growth from childhood to adulthood.

As a dancer I get stuck in developing movement with the sole purpose of looking good versus movement that is created from a real feeling or intention, like making the choice to do an inversion because that’s my way of not listening to someone rather than doing it to show everyone that I can do this cool upside down move. Performing with RealLivePeople was a fun and exciting learning experience; I am thrilled to continue to grow as a dancer.

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Stepping out of my comfort zone: a look into rehearsals with RealLivePeople

How is rehearsal going so far?

Well I am definitely out of my comfort zone but I kind of like it. I am a dancer who enjoys the internal, emotional, “feely” kind of movement whereas RealLivePeople practices movement based off real emotion not the “dancer” emotion that I am used to. As human beings we find ourselves stuck in our daily routines, gestures, movement, etc. I have been stuck in my movement aesthetic for awhile now and rehearsing with RealLivePeople has honestly challenged me to step outside the comfortable corner that I have been in.

Photo Credit: JJ Tiziou

The piece I am rehearsing is about listening, and the movement truly comes from a real place instead of the overly dramatic, super feely place that has been a part of my movement style for so long. The first rehearsal was challenging for me, as I had to create movement based off listening gestures. For example, I was asked to nod the way I do as if I am listening to someone and make that nod into movement. This may seem like a simple task but as a dancer who is used to developing movement that will look “good” rather than movement that represents a real reaction, I was stuck. However, that is when I realized there is a lot more to movement than I have been practicing. RealLivePeople is helping me mature as a dancer and a choreographer. Though I realize that dramatic movement, gestures and faces still have a place in dance, I am beginning to let go of these a bit, and instead I am developing a taste for real, authentic movement. In the midst of this journey, I am thrilled to continue to grow as a person, dancer, and choreographer.