Choreo & Fly: Shannon and Kevin
DISCO RIOT’s Choreo & Fly event is a part of this year’s La Jolla Playhouse WOW Festival! This festival (including Choreo & Fly!) is free for all members of the community. Join us for our kite flying + dance event at Jacobs park on April 29 & 30!
We’re excited to share more about our Choreo & Fly artists! Over the next couple weeks, as our Choreo & Fly event gets closer, we will be sharing a bit more about our artists’ pieces and dance journey. Our first two artists are Kevin Holland and Shannon Yu!
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Tell us about your history with dance, performance, and art practice. How has it influenced your voice as a choreographer? How have you grown as an artist and dancer?
Kevin: I’ve always had a love for creating, but I first started learning about movement when training as an aerialist in 2012. It wasn’t until community college that I began to learn about dance and choreography. Performing in circus shows, the focus and intention is solely on impressing the audience. Performing in dance shows, it feels as though the choreographer and dancers invite the audience in to experience something personal to the choreographer. So, it’s been difficult to try to incorporate both circus and dance elements to make something that feels personal to me and maintains a sense of wonder and showcases athleticism. Combining both of these backgrounds, I ended upon movement with extreme physicality that allows the audience to reflect on tension and expression within their own life. My choreographic voice comes from my own personal experiences and narratives but I enjoy that these themes appear in my work regardless of where the work stems from for me.
Shannon: I study multiple movement styles including breaking, hip hop, Wing Tsun Martial Arts, and Contemporary floorwork. Sound, photography, video, and drawing also interest me. All of these practices inform my creative process and give me tools to look inward and outward to challenge and find harmony.
What was your process for creating your piece? Do you have a source of inspiration or some ideas that you are working with?
Shannon: The source of inspiration for this piece comes from connection between each other and how we affect and uplift each other. Partnering, fast pace moves, humor, eye contact, building of sound score; all of these are elements of this piece that would contribute to building the connection with the audience.
Choreo & Fly incorporates kite-flying into the dance event. How have you incorporated the theme of soaring and taking flight into your piece?
Kevin: The point of inspiration for my piece was the wind that helps fly kites. I like the idea of standing still in the wind to fly your kite and feeling how mighty the wind can be on your skin. To me, it feels like it generates a lot of energy on my skin. Running with that idea, I also thought a lot about windmills and how wind generates power. With all of those ideas in mind, I used the quality of “mighty skin” as well as choreography that I feel generates energy or adrenaline for the dancers.
What are your hopes and dreams for the San Diego dance scene?
Shannon: We are visiting from NYC, excited to visit and participate in the San Diego dance scene! SHA Creative Outlet looks forward to connecting with the dance makers and audiences in San Diego.
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Kevin and Shannon will be sharing their work on April 29th & 30th! Our event starts at 1pm and 4:15pm on Saturday, and 1:45pm and 4:15pm on Sunday. RSVP with the link below!