Today we’d like to introduce you to Sara Pizzi.
Hi Sara , can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I’m a contemporary choreographer, dancer, and dance teacher. My career started in my teen years with street-style dance, being part of the dance agency “Spotlight Work Team,” which allowed me to perform for national events, competitions, TV shows, and advertisements commercials. Therefore, my career had a drastic change of direction once I moved to New York in 20217. My education has become primarily based on ballet & modern techniques, landing on the complete focus on the study and application of contemporary dance, being able to create an organic and unique style that mixed my urban background with a more academic and technical aspect. Now, six years later, my art is based on any physical medium that can evoke any inner personal exploration, deeper analysis of our inner self, creating a safe place for discovering and questioning & can bring togetherness in solving some common social issues. This creates performances that break the concept of standard performance, creating collaborative, conceptual, interactive art experiences & teaching at any level and any age, prioritizing any class that involves people with physical and mental disabilities or for underrepresented communities. These are the goals of my movement collective, which I founded in 2021 with Aika Takeshima. I am naming it the sarAika movement collective, and I look forward to expanding my network and dance abilities to other contemporary dance companies/organizations. I trust in this project, and it makes me proud that last year, we grew so much, performing every month for organizations/events and different DEI obeing able to assist and represent underrepresented communities and voices. Thanks to the success of this year, the schedule for 2024 and 2025 is full of exciting projects, making me proud of myself and the NYC dance community. In the meantime, as a performer, I’m currently working for several dance companies based in NYC and for various aspects of projects that can include pure dance or collaboration with visual and performing artists. I’m a company member of Valerie Green/Dance Entropy (also teaching artists for afterschool programs), Six Degrees Dance, Faustine Lavie Dance Project & I’m the dance captain of The Next Stage Project. In addition, I was recently a project-based member of Kaleid Dance Collective, Reza Collective & I was a guest artist/choreographer/dancer at more than 70 events/organizations based in the five boroughs of NYC from 2021. I’m a dance teacher for the Woodside on the Move program, teaching dance to the combined class that sees youth and seniors together – and a dance teacher at Dalton School and DanceWave. Lastly, I’m a videographer/photographer assistant for BECCAVISION.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The struggles I’m facing right now as an independent artist living in New York are the lack of time, the highest risk of burnout from work, and losing your goals. Time becomes a slippery object you can barely grasp, slipping to your fingertips. Being a freelancer pushes you to be able to work every day and every time, and managing time efficiently must be part of your skills if you don’t want to lose your social life. Feeling you are doing too much at the same time and not doing enough is one of the most concrete and struggling feelings I have (and I’m sure I’m not the only one). Learning to say no to opportunities and focus on defining what is helpful, satisfying, and productive for the success of your career is one of the biggest struggles all artists like me suffer in this city. The increase in the importance of presence in social media is not helpful too, pushing everyone to compare themselves with other individuals, losing track of whether they are doing what their heart is telling them to do, or because they are inside the copy mechanism of becoming someone that you are not just because that looks like happiness? Having a daily reminder of who you are, what you want, and doing only what will help you to proceed with your career, pay your rent, and make you happy is a lifesaving tip that will allow you to decrease your daily struggle and have more time with your beloved ones.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
My art is based on any physical medium that can evoke any inner personal exploration and deeper analysis of our inner self, creating a safe place for discovering and questioning & can bring togetherness in solving some common social issues. This creates performances that break the concept of standard performance, creating collaborative, conceptual, interactive art experiences & teaching at any level and any age, prioritizing any class that involves people with physical and mental disabilities or for underrepresented communities. What sets me apart from others, I believe, is the themes my work underlines and the intention behind it. Breaking these two concepts down, my dance’s themes do not start from a personal story or from my singular experience, which raised a specific personal emotion, but are topical aspects within which everyone can resonate. So, my work speaks for/to/about people to spark the imagination and inspire every individual regardless of status, language, or experience. Regarding the intention, I’m using my technique to tell a story; I’m not using a story to show off my technique. I’m dancing for others, not for myself. My dance is an action of love; dance is a social action. And I’m proud that in the last couple of years, this message was well derived, being able to perform all over NYC, receding appreciation and growth back, being able to produce performances and classes which gave a huge benefit to our community starting to create a more diverse, inclusive and equitable environment.
We’d be interested to hear your thoughts on luck and what role, if any, you feel it’s played for you?
I consider myself lucky because I have always been surrounded by people who love me, support my values and goals, believe in my vision, and push me toward growth and success; or individuals who were completely against me, pushing me down, disvaluing me, giving me the power to work harder to prove them that they were wrong. This dichotomy made me strong, resilient, and stubborn in following my dreams and goals. This is my vision regarding “luck”, but following your line.. I believe it is more about “being aware” of the opportunities that are around you. The luck is all around you, but it requires strength, introspection, passion, and awareness to grab it. All the “lucky” moments in my life were more determined that I was able to see those opportunities, be open to the unknown, be capable of my professionalism and skills, showing passion and goals. I’m spending my life being ready to grab the opportunities; to be lucky is a skill to cultivate every day; it is a mindset where the ‘unluck” can “unlock” new possibilities and new potentials.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://sarapizzi.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_sarapizzi_/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sara.pizzi.7
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sara-pizzi-a514281a6/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/SaraPizzi3
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrojXl1b6CortTwOIyKIvCA
Image Credits
Conrad Turner Mikhail Lipyanskiy