We recently connected with Jordan Slaffey and have shared our conversation below.

Jordan, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

The most meaningful project I have worked on is my most recent work ‘SadFerociousJoy’. This piece consists of original music that’s sung and written by myself and music produced by Cody Perkins. Movement direction and choreography also created by myself. SadFerociousJoy’ is a piece I created about forgiveness. I usually make work based on my own life experiences and emotions. I was inspired to create this piece because I was in the process of forgiving family, lovers and myself. I was initially encouraged by this work because I had an old memory of my grandmother resurface in my mind while creating one of the original songs in this piece. Years ago I had the benefit of watching my grandmother actively forgive her grandfather from years abuse. Since I was younger at that time I was initially frightened by her wailing, crying, screaming and physical body language. In that moment I knew something profound was happening to her, but couldn’t quite understand the depth of what she was going through. Now that I’m of age to really understand I realized my grandmother was letting go of the trauma and pain she experienced throughout her years and finally reached a point of freedom only the act of forgiveness could lead her too. SadFerociousJoy’ was built around the idea of what does the process of forgiving look and feel like to someone. What are the stages of forgiveness is there are any. Throughout the 35 minutes of ‘SadFerociousJoy’ you get to see what it looks like for me.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Jordan Slaffey an Orange County/ LA native has been dancing since the young age of five years old. As a young adult started to find a deep interest in modern dance under the great Karen McDonald. Then Shortly after that She fell in love with Hip-hop and other urban styles such as House dance. She was blessed with the connection of hearing music differently and being able to hear music in nonorthodox ways. With her classical training and hip-hop training she discovered her speciality to be improvisational movement. She strives to bring experimental hip-hop movement combined with a layer of contemporary and modern undertones to the frontier of the artistic community and even the mainstream world.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

My particular goal is to bring healing as the face of my performances. I want to focus on getting out of the performative aspects of what an artist is usually shown as. I want people to experience healing and feel better after seeing my work. I want my work to heal everyone who sees my work.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect of being an artist is being able to do what I love. I love being an artist through and through and I love touching peoples lives with it. It’s a positive part of my life I love to share with people and I love feeling inspired and sharing my inspiration with others. I believe God gave me this gift and sharing this gift with the world is an indescribable feeling.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @jayslaff

Image Credits
Photography should be credited to Melody Benson.