An Interview with Emerging Dance Artist Sarah Kennedy

                                                      

Q: Tell me about yourself! Who are you and what do you do?

A: My name is Sarah Kennedy and I am a third year dance student at Simon Fraser University. I started dancing at the young age of four years old. I grew up surrounded by the competitive dance world in Toronto, Ontario. I also graduated from an Arts high school, where I also participated in the dance program. You could say, I was definitely surrounded by dance for most of my life. I mainly specialized in Acro, until I moved to Vancouver to attend SFU, where I now mainly train in the dance style Contemporary and Ballet.

Q: When was the first time you realized you were an emerging dance artist?

A: That is a bit of a difficult question for me as I am not sure if I consider myself an emerging dance artist yet. I am currently training in a pre-professional program at SFU, and I personally consider an emerging dance artist as someone working in the professional dance world and is presenting their work to the world on a greater scale than I ever have before. Once I graduate, I plan and hope to create various pieces and showcase them through different platforms. 

Q: I'll simplify it for you, when did you consider yourself an artist?

A: I would say it was last semester when I took a dance composition course and created a dance film. I was then able to take that dance film and submit it for shows for the first time. In the past, I was auditioning other dancer's works and never submitted my own pieces and choreography.

                                                          Photo by Emma Kennedy

Q: What angers you about the dance world?

A: In regards to the contemporary dance scene, it is the pressure to create connections. I have found most opportunities arise from creating a connection with someone. In laymen's terms, they say it's who you know. I understand that a lot of industries work this way, it can just be a little frustrating at times. I hope in the future, my abilities speak for themselves, rather than if I know the person hiring me.

Q: What do you find hinders your creativity?

A: Well, the COVID-19 pandemic definitely hasn't helped. I am not able to move and create in a studio setting, and I find a proper dance environment allows me to focus and create. The lack of socialization is another factor. I pull energy and inspiration from others I am surrounded by and eliminating that, has made me realize how much I have use it in the past. I feed off of others for creativity, especially their movement. Their movement inspires my movement. 

Q: Do you have any tactics to pull yourself out of this slump? Do you have an example of when you were able to accomplish this?

A: This past summer, I took a course where we learned a new movement style called Fighting Monkey. This new movement vocabulary really inspired me to create. I would spend hours after class turning on some music and just improving. I explored so much and it felt really good. I would sometimes give myself movement prompts and record them. I find I pull a lot of my movement from my acro background and floor work and go from there. Sometimes my movement will flow in to something else and sometimes it wont. I guess I also pull from flying low technique. I enjoy how grounded they are in their movement. In summary, movement motivates me to create.

                                                         Photo by Emma Kennedy

Q: If you were to give a piece of advice to a student at the beginning of their post-secondary education in dance, what would it be?

A: I would say be as open as possible. Let yourself be accessible to everything and anything. Try not to be paralyzed by the way you think you move as a dancer. Don't restrict yourself to one way of moving. Also, don't be afraid to perform and create in your first year. I was afraid, and I regret it now. Know that every oppurtunity that comes your way is a chance to learn. You learn by doing. 

Q: Is there anything dance has taught you other than physical movement?

A: Definitely, mental strength. Dance has taught me to be very adaptable, in many ways. Specifically, during our current situation of being in a pandemic, when it comes to being restricted to our space literally, I am learning to be very adaptable. I don't believe I would have learned that, to this scale, if I wasn't a dancer during this pandemic. Also, the restrictions we have as dancers with not being able to perform live right now, we have had to transfer everything to film. I don't believe I would have been able to explore that, to that degree, without the pandemic taking place. Lastly, just being a dancer and constantly having aches, pains, and injuries, you learn to adapt your movement under your circumstances. 

Q: Do you have any hobbies or other interests outside of dance that you are passionate about? 

A: I love cooking! I was actually, originally thinking of going to culinary school instead of dance. When I was younger, I went to a tapping of a cooking show in Toronto, and that experience really inspired me. As I progressed in dance, I kind of fell out of cooking, but I still love to cook in my spare time. I did a lot of cooking during quarantine, I created this new dish called pineapple shrimp, it was so delicious. I also got the chance to bake my first pie from scratch!

 

                                                    Photo by Emma Kennedy