Today we’d like to introduce you to Christen Sewell Weimer.
Christen, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
My life has been enriched by the direction and guidance of incredible women. To each of these women, I owe immense gratitude and love. Each in her own way, each woman has embodied grace, strength, humility, kindness, love and fearlessness, and each woman has been a bright light, illuminating my path.
I spent the majority of my childhood training as a rhythmic gymnast. As an adolescent rhythmic gymnast, I trained at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and I competed nationally and internationally. When my coach announced her retirement soon after my fifteenth birthday, I was devastated. I’d spent much of my life training, and at that moment, I felt as if I had nothing.
The summer after my coach retired, one of my friends invited me to take a ballet class at the summer intensive at Atlanta Ballet. Although I had not yet registered for the summer session, Reiko Kimura (one of Atlanta Ballet’s fiercely talented ballet instructors and a former ballerina) – who observed me during class – invited me to officially enroll at Atlanta Ballet’s Centre for Dance Education. Under Reiko’s careful eye, I learned about turnout and petite allegro. I took classes with Reiko and with other instructors at Atlanta Ballet’s Centre for Dance Education the following year, and my first ballet classes were with dancers who were half my age. I came alive each time I heard the music.
During my senior year of high school, I performed the role of “Marya” in Atlanta Ballet’s Nutcracker, and I was also featured as a rhythmic gymnast in the Dungeon Family’s music video, “Trans DF Express.” That summer, I accepted a scholarship to train at the Juilliard School in New York. At Juilliard, I met Mary Cochran, who would soon become a mentor and friend. (A natural performer, Mary danced with the Paul Taylor Dance Company for 12 years, and later served as Chair of the Dance Department at Barnard College, Columbia University.) During her classes, Mary cultivated a safe space for Fine Artists, and for Fine Artistry.
I spent my freshman year of college as a Ballet Major at Indiana University. At IU, I had an opportunity to train with incredible teachers, one of whom was Violette Verdy. Violette’s warm demeanor and genuine kindness inspired the technical precision and musicality of her students. Although the training at IU was exceptional, while I studied as a Ballet Major at IU, I missed New York City.
In 2003, I transferred to Barnard College, Columbia University. During my time at Barnard, I immersed myself in the world of Contemporary dance. Mary Cochran, who had just accepted a position as the Chair of Barnard’s Dance department, continued to encourage me to find an authentic voice through movement, and to that pursuit, I directed my focus, drive and passion.
In 2005, a foot/ankle injury prevented me from dancing as freely as I once had. During the Spring of 2005, upon careful consideration of my future after seeking the informed opinions of Violette, Mary and medical practitioners, I decided to have foot/ankle surgery. After the procedure, I was advised to temporarily cease all weight-bearing activity.
In order to maintain my stamina, in the mornings before my academic classes, I swam and gave myself ballet classes at the Barnard pool. I also turned to writing, painting and to using pastels. Every night, I imagined what it felt like to dance, and I visualized myself moving without pain. In 2006, I graduated magna cum laude from Barnard with a major in Psychology and a minor in Dance.
After two years of intensive physical therapy, I slowly started to move gently through ballet barre exercises while laying on my back, and then while standing. My body remembered how to execute each plié, tendu and dégagé. I learned to stop when, and if, I experienced pain.
Shortly thereafter, I received a company contract from Joanna Brooks of Brooks and Company Dance. I performed with Brooks and Company before returning to New York in 2009 in order to pursue a MFA in Dance at Tisch’s School of the Arts at New York University. Months before graduating from Tisch with my MFA in Dance in 2011, I received a company contract with Bodiography Contemporary Ballet, an Adjunct faculty position at La Roche College and a faculty position (dance) at Act One Theatre School all in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
In 2013, I returned to Atlanta in order to serve on the faculty in the Dance department at Kennesaw State University. Since 2013, I have been employed in part, three-quarter and full-time capacities as a Dance faculty member at Brenau University, at Spelman College, at Clayton State University and at Kennesaw State University. Throughout the course of my career, I have created new works for the Dance majors at La Roche College, at Kennesaw State University, at Clayton State University and at Brenau University, as well as for the company dancers of Bodiography Contemporary Ballet. While pursuing my undergraduate and graduate studies, I choreographed solo and group works for the Dance majors at Barnard College, Columbia University, and at Tisch School of the Arts, New York University. My choreography aims to explore the myriad ways that memory and experience are manifested in the body, and how movement may facilitate freedom.
Before attending Tisch, I had the opportunity to train with T. Lang (Artistic Director of T. Lang Dance and Founding Chair of the Department of Dance Performance and Choreography at Spelman College), who had recently moved to Atlanta. Never had I witnessed someone move so freely and authentically. T. Lang embodied a sense of abandon that I knew also existed within me.
My experience at Tisch changed my life. I had the opportunity to pursue an independent study with Cherylyn Lavagnino (who later became a mentor), that explored various ways that mindful movement and idiokinesis could be infused into a ballet class. The goal was to create the framework for an anatomically-informed ballet class that could facilitate longevity for a dancer’s professional career.
I understand dance to be a physical manifestation of the soul.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
The road has not been a smooth one. Below are some of the struggles that I have encountered:
1. My rhythmic gymnastics coach retiring.
2. My foot/ankle injury, my ankle surgery in 2005, and my two-year journey of rehabilitation. Living in NYC on crutches is not easy!
3. In 2015, my youngest brother died by way of suicide. My life will never be the same. I am still very much grieving.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with Brenau University Dance Department – tell our readers more, for example, what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
I am currently serving as an Affiliate Instructor in the Dance department at Brenau University. I teach Ballet and Modern Dance technique, Improvisation, Contact Improvisation, Dance Appreciation, Dance Repertory and Conditioning for Dancers. As a dance educator, it is my goal to nurture dancers as they explore authentic movement by uncovering the stories within their bodies. In order for this to occur, technique is essential. For the dancer, technique provides a necessary foundation for physical expression. My purpose for training artists how to move technically and efficiently is that they may eventually experience total freedom in movement.
I take great interest in teaching trained dancers how to use neuromuscular directives to encourage detailed decision-making as they train and move. The outcome of this process aims to support anatomically sound movement that results in an ease and economy of effort that will facilitate a long and effective dance career. Freedom of movement can be achieved when the mind and body are fully engaged and a dancer’s artistry has been fostered.
Brenau’s Dance department is a special place. The class sizes are relatively small, so each student receives a lot of attention. As a faculty, we do our best to help each student actualize his or her goals. We are committed to providing a safe environment, so that students are able to better understand themselves as performers, artists, scholars, instructors and/or dance and movement therapists.
So, what’s next? Any big plans?
I hope to continue to create work that inspires social and political change…choreography that explores the myriad ways that movement and experience are manifested in the body, and how movement (dance, somatics, yoga) may facilitate healing.
I also hope to continue to inspire the next generation of aspiring artists to understand the power of their artistry, so that they may then create art that encourages change in their communities – change that inspires understanding, healing and restoration.
Contact Info:
- Website:christensewell.com, https://www.brenau.edu/fineartshumanities/dance/
- Email:csweimer83@gmail.com, cweimer@brenau.edu
Image Credit:
Photos provided by Charles Bubba Carr
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