Conversations with Marianna Koytsan

Today we’d like to introduce you to Marianna Koytsan.

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I am originally from Russia. I started dancing and exploring street dance culture back in 2008. Same year I actually got introduced to House Dance by Guiu Edson from Brazil who was visiting Moscow that year with workshops.

I was very fascinated by the style when I saw it first time. Mostly because of the music and the energy. I remember that day after I came home and I started to search for house music on the internet. I was looking for a specific genre of it but I didn’t know the names or anything. The first house song that I found was a mix of Nina Simone Here Comes The Sun by Francois K. Moving forward, I started to take different workshops and eventually, I traveled to NY for one week back in 2011, where it was my first time going to a house club Funk Box, where I saw a lot of dancers and just people of all generations who love house music.

I moved to NY in 2012 to pursue dance. I was enrolled in the Dance school Ballet Arts, where I studied ballet, capoeira, and contemporary. At the same time, I was exploring and studying the club culture of NY, specifically House Dance. Away from being in a dance school, I was going to sessions, clubs, and outdoor events that would play house music. Sessions are usually in a rented space that is open for everyone, and for every dance style but the person who is organising the session either plays specific music for example house music or there would be a live DJ.

One of the sessions that I was consistently going was House Head Session, Which was Created by James Colter, aka Cricket. It was every Friday at PMT House of Dance studio, and still now. That session was/it is a very special place for me. This is where I grew as a dancer and a person too.

This is where Crazy Natives Crew was formed in 2018 by Cricket.

In 2022 with the permission of James Colter, the session is organized and hosted by Lesar Stepputat and myself. We try to keep it as authentic as possible and also our goal is to have live DJs. We try to participate in festivals such as Dance Parade and do collaborations with different dance/DJ artists throughout the year.

In 2022 I also formed a dance company Neta-Kinetics, which means nimble, experimental, theatrical, ability.

Neta-Kinetics is a contemporary street dance company that combines rigorous training in house, breaking, hip-hop, and other forms of street dance with a playful and theatrical sensibility to produce dynamic works for the stage. We seek to build intensely physical, character-based worlds that weave in the diverse movement backgrounds of our group while keeping the integrity of street styles a primary focus of the work. All members are encouraged to bring their unique backgrounds to the creation of collective material, fostering individuality rather than uniformity. The members are Marianna Koytsan, Maddie Hopfield, and Jenya Romanovich.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Not really lol

I think no matter what you do, especially being an artist, there are always challenges, emotional, physical, or sometimes things that you don’t have control over.

I feel like one of them is feeling the fear but do it anyway. Also, being from a different country and learning/understanding a different culture can sometimes be challenging since sometimes you face a language barrier. But I do believe that in order to understand the culture you have to be open-minded, respectful, and willing to learn.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I teach at PMT House of Dance Studio. I collaborate with different artists by creating different performances.

My dance company Neta-kinetics performs at different dance festivals during the year.

My friend and  I host a house dance session every week, which is open to the community.  We keep it affordable so everyone from the community can attend.

Are there any important lessons you’ve learned that you can share with us?
Being professional and at the same time creative in your work. I feel like sometimes being professional puts us in a box and we keep mastering only one thing and not exploring other things as an artist. I believe that as an artist your creativity comes from daily life and also from exploring other fields or disciplines. And lastly, I would say trust your journey, it’s yours and only yours, everyone else has their own.

Contact Info:

• My Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mariannakoytsan/
• House Head Session: https://www.instagram.com/househeadsession/

Image Credits
Photographer: Sijia Zhang
IG: https://www.instagram.com/see_bysi/