How To Be A Better Dance Artist

Art is a political act.

Dance is discipline and revolt.

My body is my country.

-Anabella Lenzu (Photo by Todd Carroll)

2019 seems so long ago, especially in light of this past year of coming out of the pandemic. Looking back at history of some notable events in 2019, included some fortunate and some not so fortunate such as the All Women Spacewalk, the Amazon Forest wildfires,  Trump’s Impeachment, and The U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team winning its second consecutive championship. A remarkable experience I had in 2019 was the inspiring conversation I had with dancer, educator, choreographer and writer Anabella Lenzu. She directs her own company, Anabella Lenzu/DanceDrama (ALDD), which since 2006 has presented 390 performances, created 14 choreographic works and performed at 100 venues, presenting thought provoking and historically conscious dance-theater in NYC. Full disclosure this interview was supposed to come out shortly after our conversation, so some of the references might not be applicable, however, the valuable insights that Anabella shares continue to be timely. I was excited to be reminded of some other resources I am researching based on her recommendations and also note that her 2nd book that she talks about is scheduled to come out sometime this year 2021 or later.

A few takeaways from our conversation:

• How important it is to have a support system as an artist
• Being open to process in the choreography process
• Making movement meaningful as a full body experience versus just aesthetics
• Why dance history is relevant

Other episodes of interest:

How Decisions Make Dreams Come True Thriving in The Betweens Links from this session: AnabellaLenzu.com Facebook Instagram Twitter 2019 Events Ana Laguna Romeo Castelluci Jan Fabre Louise Bourgeois Ana Mendieta

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