Life & Work with Eli Dewitz

Today we’d like to introduce you to Eli Dewitz.

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?
It all started back in the 90’s in a little place called Kansas City. A town known for its hole in the wall jazz clubs, the best barbecue around and you guessed it, The Wizard Of Oz. Back then, my mom was an aerobics instructor and we had music playing constantly throughout our house. She used to joke that she could leave me in a room with mirrors and music for hours and I would keep myself entertained.

I think she preferred somebody watching me though, so she put me into dance class. Little did she know, that single decision to enroll me into a tap class at age five would impact my life forever. From an early age, I was passionate about performing. I may not have been the best dancer, but I sure had the biggest facial expressions. When my teachers asked us to dance full out, I was not playing around. For many years, dance was just a fun hobby for me. I enjoyed where I was placed and was content dancing in the intermediate level. In 2005 a new show aired called So You Think You Can Dance and my eyes were opened to all of the creative possibilities that could be available to me as a dancer. We would record every episode and my friends and I would rewind each dance until we learned the whole thing and could do it with the dancers on TV. I started roping my friends into a lot of dance schemes outside of class. We would slant objects on a bed to use as a prop, try out new lifts over a pile of pillows and design costumes. This is when dance really started to become all I cared about. As I got older, my love for dance grew deeper and deeper. When I was 13, the studio I spent so many years at closed and I moved on with my friends to the next closest studio. This dance studio was ranked as one of the top studios in the nation. Needless to say, I had some growing to do to be able to keep up with my new teammates.

However, I was not intimidated by this challenge. I loved every second of these new opportunities. I was getting to work with some of the industry’s best choreographers and I soaked up every minute of it. This was a whole new world to me and a world I knew I wanted to be apart of. So I started choreographing on my own, taking extra classes and staying late some nights at the studio for several hours to work on my improv. When I turned 16, I was given my first opportunity to choreograph and dance in both a music video and a short film. As I finished out the rest of my competition years, I stuck to competing my own choreography and it usually placed well! It was never about winning for me though…just the fact that I got a few minutes to share a piece of my heart on stage was what brought me joy. Dance has always been such a sacred thing to me and if my performance could affect one person in the audience than that’s all I cared about. That’s all I still care about and it’s the reason I still am pursuing dance to this day. Now, that young, passionate, midwestern girl from Kansas has been living in Los Angeles for six years doing what she loves.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I think it’s safe to say it’s never gonna be a smooth road to pursuing your dreams. I’ve without a doubt run into obstacles. When you’re in an industry that’s so competitive, it’s gonna be hard for things to always go smoothly. I’ve had teachers that I really looked up to let me down and had other dancers try and sabotage me. Professionally, I feel that the route I wanna take is different than many commercial dancers and that in itself comes with obstacles. However, all of these things make those relationships with mentors whom I can truly trust that much more special, it makes me mentally stronger and gives me more clarity and passion behind why I do what I do.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
On paper, I’m a professional dancer, choreographer and teacher but I’d like to consider myself a dance creator and storyteller. My first and foremost mission is changing the hearts of people through dance. Whether that’s teaching, choreographing or performing. The constant question that I think of when I create is why am I creating this? What’s the mission and the message that I want to share with the audience? Does this have the potential to help someone? Will this piece bring joy to someone or allow healing? So when I choreograph, I pay very close attention to how my heart is leading me to move because I truthfully believe there is power in organic nonverbal communication that comes out in movement. When I moved to LA to expand my education and exposure to the dance industry, the one promise that I kept to myself was that I was not willing to lose who I am to what the industry says I should be. I constantly put my faith in God and go where He leads me. I just truly do what I can to be a light in this world.

We all have a different way of looking at and defining success. How do you define success?
Genuine Happiness.

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elidewitz/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Eli-Dewitz-Choreography-1531038650470834
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuiKfZbo_9s1joml9LD4_Zw

Image Credits
Alexis Sherrill Katie Rich Lexi Deleon Sophia Tatum focuslexi