Student Spotlight

Inspiration?

I don't feel like I make art as much as provide a medium through which art and beauty may be expressed. Dance is a very tortured art; there is a harsh measure of discipline to it, combined with an expressivity that no other medium can quite touch. At this point in my dance career, I feel as if it is my job to work on mastering the balance between discipline and expression. A great dancer may not be a necessarily great technician, but technique helps you be as versatile and strong as possible, and allows expression to flow more freely. As far as inspiration, I find it everywhere. Relationships, movies, music, art, photography, theatre, and other dances can all push me to explore my art further. To me, dance is the perfect art because it takes the million things you could think or feel, and translates them into a physical language. And everyone moves. Everyone knows what it's like to be pushed by music. Dancing is a universal language.

Influences?

I started taking ballet classes when I was four years old, so dance has more or less always been a part of my life. For me it is one of those things that grabs a hold of you and demands every bit of both mental and physical power you possess. I have never been able to understand people who put aside dance for other interests, because dance has always been that one thing that I could never consider letting go.

Why Cornish?

I chose Cornish for several reasons. I've lived around Seattle my entire life, and I spent the past two years taking dance at the University of Washington. I wanted a program with more intensity and more opportunities to launch into a career after graduating, and I didn't necessarily want to leave Seattle yet. I love Seattle's culture, and I see myself leaving after graduation to pursue a job with a touring dance company, so this just fits.