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Jaimie Goodwin Hits The Road

 

Shaping Sound, the innovative young dance company created by choreographers Travis Wall, Nick Lazzarini, Teddy Forance, and Kyle Robinson, kicks off its new tour Oct 11. "We think of ourselves as a commercial dance company," explains lead dancer Jaimie Goodwin. "The show is a hybrid between what you see on TV and the experience of live theater." The World Dances spoke with Goodwin about her experience performing with Shaping Sound, her stage presence, and advice for aspirational commercial dancers. 

What has it been like preparing for this tour and what's in store for audiences?

 

Last time, the company's first tour, we were starting everything from scratch. This time we're better as a group at everything and the process is more relaxed. There's a really clear vision. We're keeping some of the numbers from the last tour but smoothing out the edges. There's great flow of ups and downs, with heightened emotional pieces complementing the more subtle pieces and making them more beautiful.

 

What lessons or experiences from the first Shaping Sound tour will you draw from this time around?

 

Last time, I never left the stage for more than 45 seconds at a time. I gained so much endurance from that and became much stronger. I could feel my body changing and adapting to the demands of the material. I felt like I grew more importantly on a more spiritual, artistic level, though. I was able to really connect with the audience. I was fully engaged with my character and with the other dancers on stage and I think the audience could feel that and engage with us.

 

That kind of stage presence can seem almost magical, as well as elusive to developing artists. Could you please describe how you cultivated that connection and engagement?

 

As a child I was really shy. My teacher would always tell me that I had strong technique but that I had to go further.  Experience in life made me connect better in dance. Dance has always been my therapy. I didn't want to show emotions. I was embarrassed or scared to open up. My mom died when I was 17, and then I had no choice but to express those emotions because I didn't know how else to deal with everything I was going through. At first I'd just try a little at a time through improv. I found that I could bring emotions I explored through improvisation out in my performance. Dance is acting-based. Emotions in acting need a trigger from your personal life, so you have to experience life. When you find real emotions inside yourself and connect them to your movements, your audience will feel it.

 

What advice would you offer young dancers who aspire to have a career similar to yours?

 

Try to become as versatile as possible and as strong in ballet as possible. At conventions, a lot of kids jump right to "the cool stuff," but you can't.  If you build yourself a good foundation of body awareness and technique, you can do anything.  Don't get caught up in fads and what's "cool." Try everything, all the styles, but always go back to your foundation to keep it and yourself strong.

 

READ MORE about Jaimie's impressive experience, her inspiring advice for coping with injury, training for a successful commercial dance career, conquering a fast-paced schedule and what's ahead for Shaping Sound.

 

by Tamara Johnson 

 
Kathryn Posin Dance Company Returns to 92Y with "Voices of Bulgaria and America"

Amar Ramasar, Megan Dickinson & Amber Neff Photo by Lois Greenfield

Posin and longtime collaborator Momchil Mladenov celebrate his native country by bringing together American and Bulgarian artists in a shared vision.  A company of ten stellar dancers including NYCB Principal Amar Ramasar, Bulgarian Varna Gold Medalist Boyko Dossev, Yumelia Garcia of the Joffrey Ballet, Amber Neff, Megan Dickinson and others will appear in three premieres. Performances are October 17 on the Fridays at Noon Series and October 17-19 on the Dig Dance series at the 92nd Street Y. Tickets and information.

 
Creating Connections: CEMA Dance

CEMA Dance, a collaboration-based dance company in NYC, premieres its latest multimedia work, STILLED, Oct 2 and 3 at Gowanus Loft. In a recent interview, company Founder and Artistic Director Rachel Hagan reflected on the creative dimensions opened up by working in multimedia, her creative process, advice for young dancers, and more. Watch video excerpts of the full-length piece and get tickets here.
Dancers Tara Lynch and Kayla Farris
Photo by Stephanie Crousillat
Please tell us about STILLED and the process of creating it?

 

We're really excited. This is the company's first evening-length piece and our first piece incorporating film. We started the process the first week in April, so it's been quite a while in the making. We started initially with the question, "What prevents an individual from moving forward?" I posed the question to the dancers first to see what they'd come up with both verbally (what ideas resonate from that question) and physically. We did a lot of improvisation and building phrases from those ideas, and then built from that to see how the dancers and ideas could interact with the space, with the projected film we're including in the show, with the music, and of course with each other. It's very intentional.

 

 Why did you choose to create STILLED as a multimedia piece?

 

This is the first large scale work that I'm doing with film, which is really different and scary for me. It's been something I've been interested in for a long time though. Once you work with film you have so many other elements to consider. You have more options and more ways to manipulate the eye. I'm always thinking about that in using a space. Where do I want the audience to look? How do I get them to look there? When they look in a certain direction, how will it affect the way they interpret what's happening? With the addition of film you can go behind the audience, higher or lower, have someone in clearer focus than someone else.  It adds a whole other dimension that creates more depth and relationship within a space.

 

What pointers would you offer dancers interested in founding their own companies?

 

Really dive in. In college (I went to NYU Tisch) I was always looking to do festivals and to have as many experiences as possible outside of, as well as through, school. There's a level of experience that comes with producing and seeing other people produce work, being part of fundraising, and all the other elements that go into actually running a company that's incredibly valuable. It'd be lovely if you could just focus on creating your work, but the reality is you have to think about all these other elements. It becomes so much more complicated, especially once everyone is out of school and freelancing. You need a foundation in funding, working with designers, coordinating/managing everyone's schedules, finding space, etc. If you have those managerial skills it gives you a huge advantage and makes it easier on everyone.



By Tamara Johnson  
 

TheWorldDances E-Newsletter Team

 

Publisher: Karla Johnson

Editor:       Tamara Johnson

Producer:  Kristyn Burns

October 1, 2014
 
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