"Process of an Emerging Artist" Paige Wichers Interviewing Teighan Hauff

 

This is a discussion with an emerging artist on what her own personal process and art making experience looks like. Teighan Hauff is a dance educator and contemporary artist from Edmonton Alberta, who is in the process of finishing school and is looking towards the future. She shared with me what her process of making work looks like and what her hopes are for her career. Our experiences and how we work is all determined by our own individual preferences and is constantly being tailored over time which is applicable to Teighan.

 

Paige Wichers

Hi Teighan, it is nice to see you again. Let us start by talking about why you dance?

Teighan Hauff

I do what I do because I love it, it has been my passion for my whole life, and I never felt like I could leave this dance world.  Movement makes my body happy and energized and it is an important element in my life.

PW

That is lovely to hear that it makes you so happy. I am curious to know how do you work? What does your process look like?

TH

My process is messy. Typically, I start with a theme or a subject I am interested in. Then I think how about how that subject can be turned into movement and how I can express that through my body. Lately, I have been filming a lot, so I think about where the camera should be placed and if the camera should move or stay stagnant. This type of thing I think about later or sometimes the camera comes up before the project has even started, so it depends on what kind of project I am working on and how my brain is working that day.

PW

You said you start with a theme so what themes interest you?

TH

Themes that can offer people to think about life or revaluate certain topics is important to me. Sometimes they are more personal themes like family, but a lot of the time I think about outside social themes and how those individuals are feeling. During the pandemic I was thinking about how to express the general publics feelings and how they could relate to what I was working on. My process follows where the world is at that moment and I find a lot of my themes from that.

PW

Would you say that a lot of your work is relatable?

TH

I would say that is the aim of my work is to be relatable. You cannot hit every single person’s emotions, but I do think that I try to make it available for everybody for both dancers and non-dancers.

PW

Coming from a place of relatability I would assume that lots of experiences have shaped your work. Are there any experiences that have affected your work the most?

TH

I feel like watching other people’s processes has allowed me to decide what does and does not work for me. When I am in someone else’s working environment, sometimes it is negative, I apply the things I have learned from that to my own process. Life events and certain experiences have also impacted my work and how I have reflected on that can or cannot be something that I would like to put into my work either now or later.

PW

You mentioned learning from even negative experiences, are there any barriers that hinder your process?

TH

 I think environment for me is huge so if I feel like there is some sort of energy that is conflicting where I am, that is a huge factor.

PW

Can you expand on what types of energy?

TH

I would say negative people or even if the weather outside is bad, the rain for example, can affect my want to be there. I want a stable environment where I am comfortable and the people I am working with are also comfortable.

PW

Have you found an environment that helps you create the best work?

TH

I think that is hard to answer because of pandemic restrictions currently, I do not have a physical space. I think the obvious answer would be a studio, but I do not think that always true because when you are making works sometimes different things affect it. If I were always in the studio it would be bland. Working from home I have learned that so many things can affect work, so I do not know if I have a particular space. I think that kind of goes back to wherever I feel comfortable and inspired.

PW

Being comfortable is important. Teighan it has been so nice speaking to you so to wrap up our conversation, what are your hopes for after this program at Simon Fraser University?

TH

I hope to continue to teach and pass on the knowledge that I have learned through SFU and my other experiences. A dream would be to continue working with film and an even bigger dream would be to build a studio and make some sort of company. I think that teaching is my first step.

Link to Teighan’s most recent work:

https://youtu.be/mLHio324zf4