We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Sara Pizzi a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Sara , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Earning a full time living from one’s creative career can be incredibly difficult. Have you been able to do so and if so, can you share some of the key parts of your journey and any important advice or lessons that might help creatives who haven’t been able to yet?
Yes, I’m proud to share that right now I achieved to earn a full time living from my creative career, but it hasn’t been a smooth road which took me years to accomplish this stability and still cover so many aspects and skills. Regarding dance, starting from dancing from smaller scale companies or for only project based companies, I’m now a stable company member for different dance companies which allow me to have a set schedule and income monthly, still giving me time to join some short term projects in NYC and abroad. On top of it, experience and acknowledgment in my community, permit me to start teaching in different facilities, from teaching my own dance classes in dance studios, to be faculty for community and afterschool programs and dance academies. In addition to this, with my dance company, in a few years we have built trust which developed in residencies, workshops, laboratories, open classes, commissions and performance opportunities, which beside filling my time schedule fully, also contributes to support my lifestyle. To also mention that part of my creative work is to capture dance by photos and film, which allow me to network and also grow as an artist & sometimes being model for some dance projects or campaigns.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I’m a contemporary conceptual dance artist, which includes also being a choreographer, dancer and dance facilitator. My career started in my teen years with urban/commercial dance, being part of the dance agency “Spotlight work team” that 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. 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, my art is based on any physical medium which can evoke any inner personal exploration, deeper analysis of our inner self, the creation of a safe place for discovering and questioning & can bring togetherness in solving some common social issues. This creates performances which break the concept of standard performance creating collaborative, conceptual, interactive art experiences & teaching 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 own movement collective that I founded in 2021 with Aika Takeshima, naming it sarAika movement collective, looking forward to expanding my network and dance abilities to other contemporary dance companies/organizations. I really trust in this project and it makes me proud that last year we were able to grow so much, performing every month for different DEI organizations/events, being able to assist and represent underrepresented communities and voices. Thanks to the success of this year, the schedule for 2023/24 is full and this makes 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 some projects of various aspects that can include pure dance or collaboration with visual and performing artists. I’m a company member of: Valerie Green/Dance Entropy (which I’m also teaching artists for afterschool programs), Six Degrees Dance and Reza Dance Project. I’m dance captain of The Next Stage Project & Light Painting NYC. In addition to this, recently I was a project based member for Kaleid Dance Collective & I was guest artists/choreographer/dancer to more than 60 events/organizations based in the 5 boroughs of NYC from 2021. I’m dance teacher for the program Woodside on the Move teaching dance to the combined class that sees youth and seniors together – I’m dance facilitator for MUSICAMENTE institute, offering classes for individuals with autism. Lastly, I’m a videographer/photographer assistant for BECCAVISION.
Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?
My drive is my mission and I’ll work hard everyday in order to accomplish it. Identifying myself as an activist artist, I create art for and about people & my art is based on any physical medium which can evoke any inner personal exploration, deeper analysis of our inner self, the creation of a safe place for discovering and questioning & can bring togetherness in solving some common topical aspects. This creates performances which break the concept of standard performance creating collaborative, conceptual, interactive art experiences & teaching any level and any age, prioritizing any class that involves people with physical and mental disabilities or for underrepresented communities. For how pretentious it can sound, I want to contribute to the evolution of the dance work, breaking the wall between artists and non artists, making the dance world more accessible to learn and understand. This is why I believe what sets me apart from others is the themes my work underlines and the intention behind it. Breaking these two concepts down, the themes my dance represents does not start from a personal story or from my singular experience which rose a specific personal emotion; but are topical aspects within which everyone can resonate with. So my work speaks for/to/about people in order to be able to spark the imagination and inspire every individual no matter about 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 as 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. This is my mission and I’ll work each single day to reach my mission to as many people as possible, from performance, to education to open collaboration and evolution of the performing arts.
What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?
Better education and normalizing arts as a career path, receiving the same benefits and recognitions of other careers and jobs. I feel that most of the common sense regarding arts, artists and arts as career paths come from the incorrect perception of art. Art is not well delivered in school programs, not being recognized as an equal subject of study or not being integrated in each subject, and without having the same importance in the educational curriculum. Art is seen as extra, either for the elite or for entertainment as artists are considered extraordinary people and creators of entertainment. Don’t get me wrong, visual and performing arts are the colors of this black and white world, but why should distinguish or separate these two entities without making them accessible for both sides? Art in education, besides teaching directly the history and tools of the art itself, integrating some visual or performing art aspects in each curriculum class, in the delivery, structure and learning, can be revolutionary and beneficial for so many people. Art is not only entertainment, it can educate, provide solutions and bring togetherness or arising solutions or awareness around topical aspects without stumbling into harsh statements which can be harmful or ineffective. Artists and all art forms should be able to be integrated as a regular basis of our lives as everyone should have access to benefits, insurance, recognition, stability without navigating along unpleasant boundaries along daily conversations, resistance regarding career path and hard life choices.
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
BECCAVISION SDF MEDIA Rauch Battista Rnvnycvision E.M bruno