Artistic Statement
Living in the skin I’m in requires a daily artistic and spiritual practice for survival. To exist, I must be attuned to all the ways I move, speak, and dress and how I sneak up on myself emoting, feeling, hoping, cursing moment to moment living in America. This used to stress me out, but now I find peace in releasing control and embracing a flowstate of going and not-going. I teach this attunement. There are rare moments when I am called to perform on stage, in class, at work where the audience celebrates my voice. Through my calming demeanour and joyful curriculum, as an actor, after-school program director, adjunct professor and theatre producer, I make more space for me, for others like me, and for others ready to love my people.
I work with many tools for living. Music gave me the gift of being heard and felt while providing me with the safety of not being seen. Sports helped me develop self-discipline, strength, endurance, and teamwork. Dance helped me to discover the freedom to adapt and express my body and soul with intention. My experience as a Director and Choreographer has helped me to see and articulate how people move themselves, each other, environments, cultures, and identify the needs that drive them forward despite obstacles. What I’ve learned through my studies as a teacher and professional actor is that in order to create a role and build character for yourself, on or off the stage, you must investigate the roots of who you are, grow the branches for who you want to become, and comprehend the ground on which we stand, both individually and collectively. Then we can choose to observe how we each behave under any given circumstance, and appreciate the traffic of all our goals. Seek first to understand. Peace in the release. This is core to my teaching and artistic philosophy.
These elements of creativity help me survive. I now manifest the life I want to live through daily artistic practice. I share these ways with students, peers and mentors of all walks. Together we give and hone tools. As a creator, tutor, instructor, youth caregiver I cultivate visceral experiences to encourage members of my community to celebrate and diversify one another’s creativity so that we may heal, create life we want to live, and take the actions necessary to live it.