NDEO's Artistic Merit, Leadership and Academic Achievement Award

With the recent acknowledgement of the Black Lives Matter movement, I began my choreography journey specifically focused on black women. This work that I have submitted, “Surrender to the Chaos”, depicts the process of picking and choosing one’s battles. In order to avoid common stereotypes, I believe I, a Black woman, have been forced to assimilate myself heavily to European culture. I believed that by adopting their standards, I would be more included and valued as a human being. Even in this way of living, the racist acts/tendencies did not stop. I have learned that power resides in the way I responded to these situations, and I transferred this all into my work. The biggest challenge I faced when applying this experience to my piece was what movement could show the manipulation I put myself under. The use of small arm gestures shows the frequent changes I made to myself, in order to create a more “appropriate” version for others to see, while the bigger arm gestures simply show me releasing this immense amount of pressure. Another element I wanted to bring to the piece was the feeling of instability, believing I was not firm in who I was as a person or artist. This influenced me to incorporate movement that would take me off-balance throughout the piece. Overall, the time I spent towards this solo enabled me to use my artform to show a glimpse of my struggle.

Finalist - Tyler Burden - Harrison High School (NY)

The intent behind my original choreography was to explore the contrast between what is traditionally considered “beautiful,” or “perfect” vs. “ugly,” or “imperfect,” and how these opposing ideas can be illustrated through movement. I was inspired by my personal journey of recognizing the harm in perfectionism, and by conceptualizing the process of learning to accept and embrace imperfection as a process of redefining the way in which I view beauty. From a young age, I viewed my perfectionism as an asset, and it took quite a bit of time for me to recognize the extent to which this unhealthy tendency was hindering my personal development, especially as an artist. Perfectionism prevented me from discovering my authentic self, and it was when I realized this that I was able to begin growing into the dancer that I am today. I titled this piece “Beautifully imperfect” to reflect my belief that acknowledging the beauty in imperfection is a fundamental aspect of the path toward self-love. Throughout the piece, I chose to convey the process of self-acceptance over time through repetition of certain movements that become continuously more authentic to my individual style of moving as the work progresses. One challenge that I often encounter during the choreographic process is fully trusting myself and allowing myself to be vulnerable and take risks. However, reminding myself of the original intent behind this piece enabled me to lean into the process and embrace it as one that truly is “beautifully imperfect”.