What I love about Dana’s work is how she fuses contemporary and hip hop styles; how she has created a sharp, cool, erotic style; how she displays incredible musicality and understanding of movement; and how she utilizes terrific music. She is one of my favorite choreographers, not to mention an incredibly sweet person, and so, as part of my unwavering support of her and her work, I thought I would feature her on the blog by showing some of choreography and letting her talk about her background, her inspirations, her company, and her goals:
I started dancing when I was three, and when I saw my “strawberry shortcake” costume I cried and told my mom I didn’t want to dance anymore. Then, when I was eight, I begged her to dance again. And I’ve been at it ever since.
I grew up on Long Island and danced at a competitive studio for about three years, then decided I needed more ballet. I went to a ballet academy for three years as well as a performing arts high school for my junior and senior years. After high school, I went to the Ailey School as part of the fellowship program for two and a half years. It was the best decision I ever made. I did everything – African, Graham (my favorite), modern partnering, ballet.
What keeps me going is hearing from people that I have inspired them in a certain way, and seeing my students grow is something very special to me. One of my proudest moments was seeing my full-length show, “Vatic,” come to life. I didn’t think I could do something like that. A dream of mine is to see the show come to life again on an even larger scale.
My company, Dana Foglia Dance, was formed very naturally. I had been using the same dancers for a while to do my work, and it just fell into place. I hope my company can leave a legacy, travel the world, and inspire!
No comments:
Post a Comment