Today we’d like to introduce you to Andrew Rodriguez.
Hi Andrew, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I’ve always been an artist for as long as I can remember, and I’ve always had the reputation in my family for being the “artistic” one. Along with my artistic capabilities came an increased sensitivity to the human experience that felt too much to bear at times. I began with mediums like drawing and painting growing up as I was always fascinated with artists who were able to capture the world through a series of life-like images bearing likeness to their real-world counterparts. Once I got a little older, I became involved in expressive arts such as singing and acting and quickly joined a theatre group where I got to explore these modalities a bit further. Although dance takes up a huge part of my life now, I never would have imagined being able to dance growing up, especially because I was afraid that if I ever pursued dance that I would be bullied. Throughout middle school and high school, I engaged further with singing, acting, drawing, and painting and these modalities influenced the way I perceive and handle art in the world around me now. Graduating high school, I made the choice to be independent and pursue dance the way I wanted to, regardless of others thought. I joined my first dance team and began to train at my first studio and since have had opportunities to compete and win at competitions, perform at a number of showcases, and audition for some of the world’s highest quality dance crews. Despite it all however, there was this unavoidable feeling in my chest that I needed to create my path in the world instead of continuing to follow other people’s artistic visions. An opportunity to create and display a dance visual fell into my lap in July of 2024 and throughout this process was when I realized where my heart laid. I have a huge passion for creating visuals with the human body because in my head, it’s like creating a real-life painting and capturing it for the human eye to see. With visuals you can capture a number of emotions and tell stories in a way that is unlike any other modalities. Since then, I have created several dance visuals and have had the opportunity to display them for friends and at festivals.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Definitely not: my biggest obstacle in the past (and one that I find myself running into time and time again) is my self-doubt and criticism. I do not take failure lightly and growing up, I always had such a negative view of myself. The beliefs that I do not deserve certain opportunities or am not good enough to engage with certain people have held me back for too long. When I started to take chances and fight against these beliefs, I oftentimes found that not only were they faulty, but they were also inaccurate and simply served to protect myself from rejection. My brain sometimes feels like it’s shrinking in on me, and I need to make the continual effort to remind myself that I am so much bigger than my doubts and insecurities. Most importantly, I need to remind myself that my art comes from me and is a reflection of who I am instead of the other way around.
Some of my other struggles include inhabiting environments in which did not serve me. As a queer individual growing up in a conservative, Christian environment all the way until college, it felt incredibly difficult for me to express myself in a manner in which felt appropriate. I constantly felt misunderstood and held within myself the fear of being judged as I did not want to experience mistreatment or rejection from the society around me. It was especially difficult when it felt like I was the only one who was expressing myself the way I needed to and that there was no one else doing the same thing I did in the environment I inhabited. The best thing I could have done for myself is leave this environment and find my own way in the world, where I eventually found people who appreciated and understood my art on a deep existential level and were able to love me in the ways I needed to be loved.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I am choreographer and creative director based in Los Angeles, California. I specialize in making visual art and in creating choreography both for the screen and for the stage. I am multifaceted in my approach, and I aim to capture a variety of emotions and feelings: whether that’s touching the human heart with the innate grief of humanity or exciting the soul with dope concepts. I am most proud of one of my recent visuals “Everything is Romantic” where I aimed to capture the beauty of being alive as I integrated voice memos from friends, relatives, and strangers that I captured over the past year that felt like “human” moments. What sets my work apart from other people is that I do not want to make something that is just “dope” or “cool”; I want to make something that sticks with people and that people will find themselves coming back to time and time again. I want to tell stories and I want to inspire, and I want people to watch my work and know that they are not alone in whatever they are experiencing. I believe that art should be impactful and my main goal in life is to just impact people with my work.
Is there something surprising that you feel even people who know you might not know about?
One thing that usually surprises people is that I am currently getting my Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology at Alliant International University. This tends to surprise people for many reasons: because I am 22 years old, because I pursue dance, because I do not necessarily give off the “graduate student” vibe. But psychology and therapy are things I am incredibly passionate about, and my goal one day is to have a private practice and see clients. Psychology and art for me are not too different: both are attempts to explain the human condition. The balance between academia and artistry is one that I find within myself as having too much of one or the other tends to leave me dissatisfied. Almost every artist I know has a day job and this is mine, and I hope to prove to people that while it may be difficult, you do not have to “choose one” career path like society tells you to.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://andrewrodriguez.my.canva.site/?fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAafokSXM5NlLDmTTUR2wfOVOF43wWBZLzF_Fbb-hlMy21E1EUFfCF2xbAz1ymg_aem_7HwxogTRHzmLmxsWgKM5pA
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/only1cubanito7/
Image Credits
@harmonmedia
@chasityjean
@ally.canti
