Today we’d like to introduce you to Laurie Sefton.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Laurie. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I was reared in the heat of California where I learned to see issues through an emotional lens. My work and art extends and expands upon that native Southern California childhood. I am daughter of two disparate disciplines—aerospace engineering and the visual and performing arts. My father’s precision and secretiveness born of his career as an engineer brought to Southern California during the Cold War is reflected in my work as is the more flowing dynamic influence of my mother, an accomplished visual artist and pianist trained at the Peabody Institute in Baltimore. Growing up on the edge of the San Fernando Valley in wilder times, my family witnessed the test rocket launches emblematic of the Cold War struggle. Coyotes howled in the distance during my childhood. From these two families and the rugged Southern California landscape of my childhood I have drawn inspiration, energy, and creativity to create my own unique and challenging style of choreography. Clairobscur embodies that choreography, that energy, that creativity.
I went to UCLA and received my BA in Dance. It was a rigorous program of technique and choreography classes. I studied with many amazing teachers, all of the classical modern techniques, Graham, Horton, Cunningham, Limon plus ballet and several cultural specific styles. I started Clairobscur Dance with a partner immediately after graduation with the idea that I wanted to make work that didn’t look like any of those codified techniques, which is what is now called contemporary dance. I have been choreographing ever since.
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?
Of course there have been challenges.
When I first started out, I knew quite a lot about what I considered the important things choreography, technique and dance styles. I didn’t know anything about fund-raising; grant writing, promotion, publicity, and a whole host of other things. I’ve learned along the way and asked for help when I’ve needed it. It can be challenging keeping all the balls up in the air, choreographing new work, managing the dancers, scheduling, writing grants, collaborating with other nondance artists: lighting designers, composers, costume designers. There never seems to be as much money or time, as I would like. Artists are some of the hardest working people around, a rewarding group to work with and it is an exciting, exhausting and fulfilling pursuit.
Please tell us about Clairobscur Dance.
Clairobscur Dance was born in California, breeds in Los Angeles and treks around the world transmitting issued based, rhythmic, quirky, dense and detailed dance-based art. A contemporary dance company; I function as the resident choreographer, artistic director and director, we produce, create and present choreographic works for a global audience. My work is issue-based and conveys complex ideas about politics, bullying, privacy and security, immigration and the human condition.
My choreography tends to be emotional, dense, detailed and highly physical. It takes a special dancer to learn and perform my work because there are so many layers to the choreography. By dense I mean that while a dancer’s hands and arms are each performing their own detailed movements, gestures and patterns their legs are often executing complex, equally complicated steps. Nearly all of the music/sound I use has been created specifically for my work. I love collaborating with composers and spoken word artists and they add yet another layer of meaning, complexity and density to my work.
I am proud of the quality and artistry of the work that we produce. Audience members are often deeply, emotionally affected by my work.
My work is different from many other choreographers as it appears as a dense tapestry of movement. I condense large amounts of movement into short amounts of time, where the details are given as much value and significance as the big full-body gestures. This makes the visual effect imbued with so much emotion, symbolism and content that it creates an engaging, immersive experience for the viewer.
Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
I gotta say I’ve always been a lucky person. Lucky to have many talented and honest people in my life. Lucky to be able to create interesting engaging work that touches people.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.clairobscurdance.org
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: clairobscurdance
- Facebook: Clairobscur Dance
- Twitter: Clairobscurdanc
Image Credit:
All Photos by Denise Leitner, with the exception of the photo of Laurie Sefton which was shot by Laura Jane Williamson.
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