Today we’d like to introduce you to Onnoleigh Sweetman

Hi Onnoleigh, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?

I grew up in upstate New York, outside of Rochester. As a toddler I loved to sing and dance and I can remember crying because I didn’t understand why I couldn’t get inside the television. I trained in dance on and off throughout my life and was memorizing plays in the third grade and would perform for anyone that would watch me. I knew from a very young age that the performing arts was my calling. At 15 years old I left my friends and family in New York and headed out west where I landed in Las Vegas, Nevada. It was a different world for me and I was fortunate enough to attend the Las Vegas Academy of Performing Arts for its’ first year. But things got rocky for me and I would spend the next four years living out of a back pack with no solid home life bouncing from home to home. At one point I was considered a runaway living in a small town in Utah. Even with no solid home life, my passion for the arts is what kept me going. I remember at one pivotal time when I was 17 I didn’t eat solid food for a month and lived off stale protein bars. When most kids were going to prom and learning how to drive, I was battling to survive. But I was a fighter and I was escaping abuse and trying to figure out my next moves. I walked into adulthood with street smarts, survival skills, a bit of a broken soul, with my life long dream of being an actor as my only driving force to keep going. I had all these dreams and visions but life dealt me some rough cards and I had to learn to play poker. After that I didn’t get to do much acting or train in dance. I was lost and I was grappling with experiencing the dark side of humanity at such a young age. I had not found my way yet, that is, until I found the Rave. When I was 21, I took a road trip to LA, where my friend took me to my first rave outside of Magic Mountain. We climbed a mountain until all of a sudden there was all this loud music and “ravers” everywhere. That was the start of my artistic vision. I ended up going to warehouse raves, parties, and absolutely falling in love with not only the culture, but the artistic and spiritual aspects I was experiencing. I was in awe of the dance, the movement, the interactive elements…I had a very strong vision that I would take the artistic elements of rave culture and put it on stage. And that is exactly what I ended up doing. By 23 I was living in Reno, Nevada running my own dance company, DJiing and throwing interactive dance events. People would see my shows and tell me how my style was so Burning Man and I had never been before. One of my dancers gifted me a ticket and the event just blew my entire soul wide open. I learned to fire dance and incorporated that dance medium with traditional dance. I found an array of artists just like me, willing to push boundaries of what performance art could be and all of my work was rooted in electronic music. I always say that rave culture saved my life. The music, the art, the expression, the connection; it became my driving force and I have spent over two decades creating, learning to be a producer and challenging myself and others. This is where I got my start in everything that I do. A jack of all artistic trades, I have become a multiverse artist expressing myself through different mediums. I have been published in books about rave culture, appeared in an array of reality shows, have written 5 screenplays, appeared in a multitude of films and television shows but it was rave culture that paved the way. Over the past five years I have been working on a docu-series called Discover the Underground, a cultural look at underground art, music, interesting characters and desert landscapes. I also create content every chance I get, launching my own YouTube channel Onnoland. I travel to remote locations in Death Valley and even did a behind the scenes episode of a movie I was in. This has been great practice in filming and editing before I take out the big guns and make a series happen.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?

The biggest obstacle and challenge has been perseverance in the face of adversity. One major component I learned over the pandemic is that you don’t have the time you think you do. I got hit pretty hard with Covd-19 during the summer of 2020. Instead of focusing on art or bettering myself, my focus for the first year became my health. I almost died multiple times and at one point had to learn to properly walk again. Movement has been a big part of my life and not even being able to lift a gallon of water let known perform or create like I had previously, was a big hit to my soul. You always think someday I’ll do this and someday I’ll do that, but time isn’t guaranteed and the time is always now. I talk about this quite often with my actor friends. People don’t see the struggle of what really makes us as artists. The rejection, the personal life matters and down right tenacity it takes to continue to create and crawl out of dark places when you want to give up on your purpose. But you can always find bits of success in yourself or your projects if you choose to. Whether its a big audition or just getting out there filming and creating something on your own, you gotta count your wins. I have a mott: Always be moving. In some way shape or form, keep moving, keep creating no matter the circumstance.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?

My current projects right now is my screenplay The Taxidermist. A dark comedy which is currently on the festival circuit. It’s a wild ride set in Las Vegas with a splash of sci-fi. A woman gets accused of drowning her puppy Snuggle Puss and gets deemed the most hated puppy killer in America. The screenplay takes readers through the fateful night and how the lead character Patty ends up becoming a Taxidermist. Lots of twists and turns and social relevance in this one.
I also have one movie out on Amazon Prime right now which is a crime thriller called Handshake which was filmed in beautiful Montana before the pandemic. In addition to film and writing, I also produce and create my own fire dancing videos in different desert landscapes outside of Vegas with different themes ranging from the dark feminine to rebirth. When inspiration strikes I call up my crew and we get to work on bringing artistic visions to light.

Alright, so to wrap up, is there anything else you’d like to share with us?

I am always open for artistic collaborations. Whether that be adding fire dancing to a project, working on films or creating just to create. I love helping other artists with their visions and the beauty that is the meeting of the minds.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/onnoleigh/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/onnoleigh.sweetman/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Onnoleigh
• Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/user-485839185/darkher-returns-1
• Other: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm9774071/

Image Credits

Personal Photo by: Damien Jay

Photos 1-7:
2: Jonathan Ruggiero
4 & 7: Jacqueline Khoury
6: Damien Jay