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Creative portfolio |
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Biography
Berenis Leonard possesses the voice of a story teller. It began with her studies in dance at the age of 5 in a small town called Mariposa, where she immersed herself in the styles of Ballet, Jazz, and Modern. By the age of 11 she was a soloist as well as teaching and choreographing her own work. At the age of 17 she started her journey into the Latin world of dance and joined a salsa team only to then continue to explore and learn bachata. Leonard also picked up on some belly dancing from local classes. When she moved away to go to UC Merced she joined the dance team as well as Hula and Tahitian club. In 2014 she moved to Sacramento where she began taking dance classes at American River College. In 2015 Leonard went to the Dominican Republic with a nonprofit organization called OutReach360 – where she taught dance and English to underprivileged children in summer camps. In 2016 she choreographed an all ladies bachata piece for American River College. Leonard also began dancing professionally as a belly dancer with Jodette’s Belly Dancing Academy throughout the Sacramento Area. Currently Leonard is dancing with California State University Sacramento dance companies and studying dance and kinesiology as her major. Leonard’s dancing can be described as full of energy, a highlighting of feminine energy- but encompasses all aspects of what that energy can be. Her choreography naturally carries some vague sense of nostalgia, with a focus on a character all of her making.
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Artistic Statement
I dance to bring compassion, connection, possibility, and hope into a concrete world. I dance because it makes me whole, and when I am whole, I am a better person. As a choreographer I aim to bring this wholeness to my dancers. For my Senior Capstone project, I used my dancer’s personal stories to connect and transform them with relatable content around human condition and behavior. We worked on our self talk and practiced affirmations as an exercise. I created a safe place for us to explore our pain. My movement is influenced by many genres such as oriental dance, capoeira, contemporary, ballet, and hip hop. I love exploring floor patterns and formations. I use structured improvisation to create movement thus using a more collaborative approach with my dancers. I was blessed to work with eight different dancers. I used free-writes to inspire movement and connection. Uniquely, I created in a theater dance space but my performance and work is site specific. I used videography to emphasize a narrative and explored how to bring concert dance into the meta-verse world. Instinctively, I explored themes around inner child healing, codependency, mental health, human suffering, and the love and healing that lies on the opposite end. Ultimately, my goal is to share the beauty and colors that art brings to life to my dancers and the audience. Without it, life is colorless. I believe art and dance can bring more understanding and love into our world. It is such a powerful tool for conversation and social activism.
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