Pursuance of Curiosity: An Interview with Larissa Read, by Vienna Wong

Photo by: Savannah Gillespie

Larissa Read is a fourth year dance major student at Simon Fraser University, School for the Contemporary Arts. In an interview, she discusses her individual growth, inspiration, challenges, fears and discovery of future goals as she prepares for graduation.

Larissa began dancing at a young age. Despite asking her mom to put her in dance, she “didn’t love it in the beginning”. Larissa believes that you “learn to love dance” as you begin to find inspiration through practicing creativity. While considering University options after high school, she wasn’t ready to give up dancing, leading her to audition for the SFU dance program. Her time at SFU has broadened her idea of dance as she has been able to “become more versatile” through her studies of different contemporary dance styles. Although dance is an interest that takes significance over Larissa’s daily life, she spends her free time playing soccer recreationally and working as a Shift Supervisor at Starbucks.

As an emerging artist, Larissa’s view on art is heavily influenced by her motivation to learn as she believes “everything you learn influences how you move”. Larissa considers integral aspects of an artist’s craft to be “actively engaging in what you’re doing”. She believes that the key to success is “being open to growth”. As her practice develops, the social pressures from the art world develop with her. Discussing her education with family and friends summons waves of doubt surrounding her perception that it is “almost looked down upon to be an artist”. This uncertainty has carried to feeling the need to “apologize” when she talks about studying dance. However, with a growing curiosity of “all the different ways of moving”, she finds herself continuing to re-examine her future professional goals. While she never imagined being tied down to a desk job, she also never imagined she would pursue dancing professionally.

With the pressures of graduation fast approaching, Larissa finds comfort in her curiosity as an artist who is constantly learning and evolving as a dancer and choreographer. The “flexibility” of dance and the idea that it is “a practice that never gets boring”, gives her hope of a potential career as a dance artist.

Photo by: Charlotte Telfer-Wan