Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to MarieElena Martingano. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, MarieElena thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

Towards the later half of 2023 I had been craving a deeper connection to other artists within my community and had been yearning for a period of experimentation and collaboration. In response to this internal call to action, I decided to create a new showcase entitled, BASELINE. The title BASELINE came about from the textbook definition – a minimum or starting point used for comparisons. BASELINE is a new work showcase that featured my original choreography set on my collective, MeMovement, as well as the new works of four invited guest Choreographers; Shaina McGregor, Madison Lynch, Damontae Hack, and Catherine Messina. I set a time parameter of roughly ten weeks for everyone to flesh out their brand new works to be shown in front of a live audience for the first time mid-May, 2024. By creating this group show format, it gave us all an incentive to push ourselves out of our comfort zones, establish new memories and synchronicities with other likeminded individuals, and held us accountable to bring our new ideas to life. One of the most memorable days for me during this process was our ‘studio visit day’. This day was towards the end of the process and it was a way for me to see everyone’s progress in order to choose how to best structure our performance lineup. The studio visits were uplifting and allowed me to step into the world of each choreographer. I remember feeling so inspired by their decision making and commitment to expressing their individual points of view, not to mention the talented and openminded dancers that they added to this project. I felt so much gratitude that these participating artists were entrusting in me as the vessel to bring BASELINE to fruition. Fast forward to the Spring of 2024, BASELINE went off seemingly without a hitch! I was so unbelievably pleased with how everything came together. All of our hard work had paid off and our incredible audience members, family, and friends were so supportive and encouraging about all of the work shown. After the two night event of BASELINE was through, my heart was truly bursting at the steams with joy. The execution of every production is still very much a learning experience for me and I definitely took some mental notes on how to continue to elevate and streamline the process, but all in all I will never forget that beautiful weekend.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Throughout my life I have always been driven to work and interact in creative environments. At the core, everything revolved around my passion for dance. From a very early age I was introduced to the dance world and as I’ve grown and taken steps in life, the same would parallel with dance. Dance allowed me to rise through my education and had spilt over into my personal and profession life thereafter. Once I had graduated college I was able to dance for various companies such as The Assembly Dance and Tabula Rasa Dance Theater. I’ve had many positive experiences performing the works of others, spending time training with directors and peers, traveling, and focusing on developing my skills. Aside from company work I also had the privilege to be featured in various music videos alongside Artists such as; BANKS, Silversun Pickups, St. Paul, and more. After experiencing the more commercial side of the industry, I learned a few things about myself. For one, even though I love performing – I had an itch to create my own work that was meaningful to me rather than executing the vision of another artist. Two, auditioning and trying to fit the mold can be difficult, but picking up new skills on and off camera allowed me to have the knowledge on how things are done and how to work alongside a production team. With this new knowledge and self introspection I was able to decide that it was time to share my own ideas with others. About three years ago, I started to form and represent my own collective, MeMovement. MeMovement is a forward thinking, project-based dance collective that is committed to presenting artistic excellence across all platforms. Heavily rooted in collaboration, MeMovement focuses on interpersonal connection as well as a heightened sense of physicality. Inspired by the aesthetics of shape and design as well as the narratives and experiences of real life events, MeMovement uses the body as a vessel to transform these influences into movement expression. MeMovement is currently focused on producing live dance events, dance films, open classes, and more! We are building and doing the ground work on an ever-shifting landscape, MeMovement loves working with and meeting new artists of all mediums. I am currently planning what our 2025 season may look like and I hope to connect with anyone and everyone interested in working together.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

For me it is so important to engage with artists and creatives in a real way. Liking a post on social media or sharing a comment can be good intentioned, however, in my opinion it is not making a strong enough impact or propelling the community forward. Real engagement to me looks like going in-person to support a live event (in real time), having a conversation about the art at hand or how we as artists feel about a topic, taking a class, making a donation that will support and aid the arts, making your art accessible, etc. There are so many ways to get involved, which is exciting, just be mindful about being authentic in the way that you choose to engage with creative communities.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

The most rewarding moments about being a creative are the moments in-which you surprise yourself. Whatever your medium is, we all every now and then experience these surprises or realizations of what we are truly capable of. Almost a sense of shock and pride that we were able to produce that thing or capable to achieve a personal goal. After the hard work is put in you can take a step back and look how far you’ve come on a project or overcome an emotional hurdle. For me, watching a piece that I choreographed being performed feels surreal. It’s hard to believe that your efforts all came together and now you can experience what you’ve created.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.memovementco.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/memovementco/

Image Credits

James Jin
Joaquin Bear
Alessandro Siciliano
Riya Paul