This Is A Dangerous Place...
Sara Y.
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I am sharing a five minute excerpt from a piece of choreography I created in my junior year. The original piece is nine and a half minutes. I got to perform in the piece (red shorts, blue top), direct thirteen dancers, create costuming, and design lighting. Every year at San Francisco’s Ruth Asawa School of the Arts, our director selects two students to choreograph large-scale pieces for the advanced level dancers. If Andrea chooses you, you get to lead the group in rehearsals one day a week for four months, then perform your piece in a big, beautiful theater at the annual SOTA Dance Concert. Last winter, my piece “This Is A Dangerous Place…”, set to music by King Crimson, was selected! My piece is about inner conflict — how we drive ourselves crazy with obsession, then let go and experience joy. In the first movement, the tension builds until the dancers can’t contain it anymore. In the second, we’re liberated. We surrender to the primal rhythms and dance with total freedom. The piece ends with pure release, for us and the audience. My goal was for the audience to become one with the dancers. I wanted them to actively participate in the experience. I studied how Kyle Abraham seamlessly fuses the relatability and dynamism of hip-hop with the fluidity of ballet. I also pulled from my diverse background in contemporary, ballet, hip-hop, jazz and West African. The mix gives the piece a fresh, accessible sensibility.
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Creativity is empowering. When I am choreographing and dancing, I am powerful. I am authentic and true to myself, flaws and all. Creativity is living without fear. It’s tuning in to the rhythm and beauty of the world. Creativity is full of joy.
