Meet Lisa! (And Learn About Site-Specific Dance.)

Greetings dancers! My name is Lisa, and I’m the newest fall fashion/style intern here at Dance Spirit. I’ll be sharing all my work here at the magazine with you as well as info, tips and fun-facts about dance (and life) in NYC.

I recently moved to the fabulous island of Manhattan from Fort Lauderdale, FL. My past four years, however, have been spent in Tallahassee (the capital of FL) as a dance major at Florida State University. Go Seminoles! I have been a dancer since the moment I could walk and have studied many forms of dance including ballet, modern, jazz, hip-hop and, of course, tap. I moved to NYC to follow my dream to become a professional dancer (a dream I’ve had since I was 7, and I’m sure most of you had it too.) In the very near future I plan on auditioning for every dance opportunity that comes my way. My other love, which is why I wanted to be the style intern here at DS, is fashion! Nothing gets me more excited (besides dance) than the runway! If I could draw (and believe me, I can’t) I would love to become a designer. This internship combines my passions in a way I never thought could be possible.

Here’s one of my NYC experiences so far. Stay tuned for more…

This past weekend, I had the opportunity to be involved in a very cutting edge dance performance. Dancing in the Streets is an organization devoted to putting dance out in the streets (literally) with site-specific work that’s open and free to the public. “Breaking Ground: A Dance Charrette” took place this weekend at Floyd Bennett Field in Hanger B, which is located in Brooklyn. The idea of Breaking Ground is to take five leading choreographers and place them in a site. They each have a zone within the site and only have five days to create work. The coolest part about this is the fact that the choreographers have no clue where the site is until the first day of the project! Floyd Bennett Field was originally New York’s first municipal airport in 1931. Nowadays, Hanger B is the area reserved for restoring old planes, helicopters and war vehicles dating back to the WWI and WWII era. The dance performance took place in, around and over these planes, with some of the choreographers even going as far as having their dancers perform on the wings! My involvement was to be a “flight attendant” leading the audience around the hanger in groups so that everyone could see all five works. Site-specific work is a very new way of creating dance that any one can do. Inspiration to make up your own dance can come from anything, including the space.

I pose a challenge to you: Pick a spot in your house or backyard and make a dance. See what you come up with. I bet you’ll be surprised!