The Dance Enthusiast Asks: "What is the most or least inspirational comment ever made about your work?"

Annmaria Mazzini, Dancer with The Paul Taylor Dance Company

Can I share something a peer once said to me?

My beautiful and inspiring friend Shanti Guirao (of Battleworks) and I were students at SMU together. After I performed in a particularly brutal and somewhat subversive theatre piece, she exclaimed to me with earnest and sincere congratulations, "I've never seen you look so ugly!"

I remember feeling both relieved and elated...the doubt I experienced working on that wonderfully frightening project felt instantly validated.

All at once I realized that there are no rules, there is strength in vulnerability, and there is liberation in diving into the darkness and meeting the shadow.

I continue to treasure that compliment. My sensitive and wise friend revealed a whole other world to me, one which continues to inform and enlighten my personal exploration in this art that I love so much!

Laura Peterson, Artistic Director/Choreographer/Performer- Laura Peterson Choreography – lpchoreography.com

I always feel really great when a critic has written something nice and I feel that I have succeeded at what I was striving for in that particular work.

But this one moment comes back to me more often. I had just shown a piece to a teacher I had and I remember that she looked at me pretty seriously and said, "Keep going."

Being an artist requires perseverance. I think about it when I'm tired or unsure or just in the middle of something hard. Keep going.

*Laura Peterson Choreography premier of new work Wooden - Culturemart at HERE Arts January 12,13. www.here.org

"Adagio is for your soul!"

It made me realize that dancing comes from within and technique is great but its all external, being a great performer is something else!

Nicholas Andre Dance will be performing at the Joyce SoHO Thursday December 17th- Sunday December 20th at 8pm

See: www.nicholasandredance.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdh3f57mARU