Movement in the Making. An interview with Emily Bosak by Breyanna Oldham

 

Emily Bosak is a dance artist from Langley, B.C. Starting at the age of 3, Emily has kept dancing throughout her life. After graduating high school she could not picture her life without dance. From there she attended Simon Fraser University as a dance major to further her education in dance and fulfill her passion and drive for movement. While attending school, Emily has learned a great deal of modern and contemporary dance and has had the opportunity to be exposed to many different genres and styles of movement. Emily is currently in her 3rd year of University and is hoping, given the current circumstances of the global pandemic, she can perform on stage again in her 4th year. 

Q: As many may know you are an emerging dance artist. What is your dance background and how did you start dancing?

A: I started dancing when I was really young, taking recreational ballet. Even though I don’t like to admit it, I was a super girly girl. I loved princesses, tutus and all the Barbie movies. I was obsessed with watching Barbie dance in those movies so my mom signed me up for ballet. I started out at Walnut Grove School of Music and Dance and danced there until the age of 12. It was more of a recreational school meaning it was pretty small therefore I didn’t have much exposure to how big the dance world was. I had a wonderful teacher named Jenny Kozmenko who started my love for contemporary. She choreographed a contemporary ballet piece that we competed with. It was so weird and I just connected with it on a different level. I’ve always loved ballet too but sometimes the structure and discipline of it was too much. I really wanted to express and move around a lot but in ballet you had to always keep your ribs in and keep your body tight and controlled. When we could express, that was always my favourite part. With contemporary it was so different and I was just vibing with it *awkward giggle*. The movement was nothing like I'd seen before. 

Fast-forward, I moved to Abbotsford and joined a studio that was more focused on competition. It was a lot of hours spent training and learning choreography, going to a lot of competitions and it was a really competitive environment. Lastly, I joined my final studio and it was such a nice change in space. It was still competitive but not in an unhealthy way. From there, I was in the process of graduating and my mom and I were researching and saw SFU had a dance program. I wasn’t going to be a dance major at first. I was going to major in communications and minor in dance but I was told you can’t minor in dance so a dance major it was.

Q: At SFU there are quite a few opportunities where you are able to take choreography classes or choreograph for dance shows. What is your creative process when it comes to choreographing?

A: I haven’t done too much choreographing. It hasn’t been something that’s been on my radar. Choreographing is a really cool process but I have issues with it because I’m so indecisive and I am my own worst critic so anything I make up is obviously *says sarcastically* not going to be good enough, but when I do choreograph I am very music based. I usually start with finding a piece of music first and then I try to embody the music and find movement that goes with the sound or movement that accentuates or goes against what is being provided.

Q: Something that goes hand and hand is choreographing and teaching. When giving dancers choreography you have to teach it to them. I know you recently started teaching, do you prefer teaching over dancing? Do you see yourself teaching in the future?

A: I started teaching little kids ballet last year. This fall I started teaching at my old studio, where my sister now goes. I like teaching but I don’t love it. I prefer taking class myself so it was weird to take on the position of responsibility and leadership while conducting a class. I think I could see myself teaching a bit more in the future but ultimately I really want to be a performer/dancer first before I go into teaching full time. 

Q: What do you like most about teaching?

A: It’s really rewarding to work with kids and help them establish a new skill and see them improve. It’s the best when we reach the end of class after we have done all this rigorous work *giggles*. At the end of class I always play freeze dance with them and they just go nuts! It’s the best! They just throw their heart and soul into moving around and have so much fun *expresses a huge smile*. It’s amazing to see them have so much joy from being able to move their bodies and listen to music.

Q: While teaching kids a new skill feels very empowering and rewarding, the kids must feel frustrated sometimes when they aren’t able to get a new step right away. I know us as adults, we get the same way too. With that being said, what do you think your biggest strengths and weaknesses are as a dancer?

A: Some of my biggest strengths are that I like the physicality of dance. I really like dance that is exhausting, difficult and that gets your heart rate up. I also think that I have a pretty good…..facility? *says hesitantly*. This is something I hate about dance because all bodies are dancing bodies. You don’t have to look a certain way or weigh a certain amount to be able to be a dancer. I do feel as though, because of my previous training, I’m pretty flexible. I’m tall and I have really long limbs. I can take up a lot of space and so it’s fun to be able to travel and go so far.

A: Some of my weaknesses are that I don’t pick up exercises or choreography very fast. I need things to be repeated multiple times for it to be in my body. Musicality is another thing I struggle with. Even though I can’t choreograph without music, I somehow can’t stay with the music. Sometimes I just want to do my own thing and take my sweet time but the music is fast and I’m….slow *giggles*. 

Q: Every dancer has their strengths and weaknesses. Their strengths keep them going in their practices and their weaknesses, at times, can tear them down but also push them to be their best. At times when your weaknesses push you to your lowest, what reminds you of the reason you dance? What gets you back up again? 

A:  I’ve been dancing my entire life and it's become a huge part of my identity and who I am, but I also think it’s so powerful to be so connected to your body. A lot of it is a control thing for me and to have that strength and ability to be able to do what dancers can do, empowers me. Dancing also keeps me physically fit and that’s something that is really important to me. Being able to maintain my health not only physically but emotionally and mentally. I remember from the talk we had with choreographer Bill T. Jones and how he was saying some ignorant person had said to him: “You probably don’t think that much when you dance, do you?”. I do think when I dance but it’s more in the moment. It helps distract me from anything negative that may be going on. It’s an escape.  

Q: What would you say is your biggest accomplishment so far in your dance career? What is a goal of yours you want to accomplish in the future?

A: Honestly, I would probably say getting through school and dance during a pandemic. It was definitely difficult some days because I just missed everyone so much. I think it really is a big accomplishment to say I've been a dancer during this time. 

A: My biggest goal is that I really just want to make a career out of dance. Even if it’s the shortest period. For example, being in a company... or even. Actually *thinking deeply*... no.  Being in a company is a dream within itself! Even if it’s dancing with a company for a short time I would be very happy with that. I also find that commercial dance and contemporary dance are often seen as two different worlds but I still haven’t dedicated myself to one world. Obviously I’m interested in the contemporary dance scene but I would still love to dance on a movie set or dance in a music video. Overall, being able to say I’m a paid dancer and prove to myself that dance can be a viable career.

Q: In the dance world, especially in the entertainment industry, there are a lot of problems such as under paying dancers, treating artists like they aren’t people. So, If you could change one thing about the dance community, what would it be and why? 

Emily: What was that movie on Netflix called with Sabrina Carpenter?

Breyanna: "Work it?"

E: Do you remember that scene where… what’s his name?

B: Jordan Fisher? 

E: Yeah! He takes her to see these breakdancers who are disabled. When I saw that I was like “Yay! Finally this is actually shown in the media.” So I think differently abled bodies should be represented more in the media. They deserve more hype!