Meet Renuka, Laura and Maria, the backbone behind McGill’s Mosaica Dance Company. Keep reading to find out more about Mosaica and their upcoming dance showcase in March!
Anna Stuber for HC McGill (HC): How did each of you first get involved with dance?
Renuka Giles (RG): I come from a family of four, and all of us danced. Being the youngest, I was always sitting in the studio lobby watching my siblings dance. Throughout my childhood I did lots of different extracurriculars like tennis, violin, piano, swimming, and rhythmic gymnastics, but dance was the only thing that I continued to do. I started with ballet and while I hated it when I was young, I fell in love with it as I got older when I realized its beauty and value as a technical base for so many styles. I quickly took up other styles, and am continuing to learn new stuff every day!
Maria Mejia (MM): My mom wanted me to have good posture and confidence so she enrolled me in ballet. It was instant love from there!
Laura Kim (LK): My best friend and I started dancing together when we were three years old. The two of us had tried a few different extracurricular activities together, including socce and piano, but dance was the one that stuck with me.
HC McGill: How did you come to co-coordinate the Mosaica Dance Company?
RG: Mosaica is a company that is contributed to equally by all of the members. Everyone choreographs pieces and runs rehearsals, as well as planning the lighting, costuming, staging etc. As coordinators we are responsible for handling the logistics including booking space to rehearse and perform, organizing outreach performances, promoting the company, funding all of our work and acting as mentors to the new members. We were chosen as the coordinators by the coordinators last year and will have to select our successors soon!
LK: We were chosen by last year’s co-coordinators for this school year, based on what they thought were essential traits to leading the group. Our role is called ‘coordinator’ and not ‘executive’ for a reason: we are an egalitarian group and are responsible for coordinating and handling logistics, but everyone in the group is treated equally and dances together!
HC McGill: Tell me about the company and the styles of dance you perform.
RG: We train primarily in lyrical/contemporary and jazz. Every week we warm up and practice technique that is the basis for most styles. That being said, all of our members have a different background ranging from ballerinas to hip hop dancers, acrobats and contemporary dancers. This is what makes Mosaica so unique – it provides a forum for dancers of all styles to train together and learn from each other. This year’s show has some special styles including Broadway jazz, contemporary pointe, afro-jazz as well as the usual favourites.
MM: The company is comprised of 20 versatile and technically brilliant artists of all dance styles. Our company artists have trained extensively and competitively in ballet, jazz, lyrical, tap, hip-hop, musical theatre, pointe, modern, and contemporary.
LK: Most of our training is based in jazz and lyrical. However, something very unique about Mosaica is that our dancers also have training in a wide range of other styles, and all of that is show cased in our show! Our shows have included hip hop, tap, jazz, lyrical, Broadway, and even classical ballet! The best part about Mosaica (in my opinion, at least) is that we are not pigeon-holed into being a company that performs only in one style: we do a bit of everything!
HC McGill: Tell me about the vision for the company and it’s future.
RG: This year, we really wanted to bring the focus of the company back to our roots. Many of us came from very high intensity training programs in high school dancing for up to 15 hours per week. Training to this extent is obviously impossible for a full time undergraduate, so we have reduced this to about eight hours of time dancing including training, choreography and rehearsal time. We spend a lot of time ensuring that our dancers maintain the technique that they joined the company with, by training during our company rehearsals. This is important as artists to facilitate more dynamic choreography, and also as athletes and to keep our bodies safe.
MM: This year, we’ve really focused on the quality and refinement of the company’s artistry and technical execution. Our company is comprised of technically and artistically brilliant movers and creators. This year, we’ve really taken steps in the training we implement and the choreography and pieces we take on. We have done this to ensure that each artist in our company, and the company as a whole, grows and moves forward, bigger and better than before.
LK: This year, we have focused a lot on the importance of a good technical foundation. Our performances will not be top notch if the basis for the choreography is not solid. However, as there is no consistent executive team each year, different coordinators do different things with the company, and the tone and future of the company differs based on each group of coordinators and their personal visions for the group.
HC McGill: What’s the most rewarding part about being leaders of the dance company?
RG: Mosaica is easily one of the most supportive group of people I have ever associated with. The dancers are not only supportive artists, who continually support the endeavors of other members, but they are constantly attending the events of various McGill arts groups such as Urban Groove and AUTS in order to build a strong sense of community within a school with no fine arts degree programs. I am so honoured to be able to work with every single member as they are all such genuinely wonderful people. I cannot begin to describe how proud I feel to be able to call Mosaica my home and to represent a group of strong, intelligent, and determined people.
MM: Seeing each performance piece come together. Every artist has their own “specialty”, and seeing individual movers come together and create a piece is beautiful. The amount of love and support each company member has for the other is so inspiring. Working with these talented people, the creative and rehearsing process, and everything coming together is rewarding, every step of the way.
LK: I think it is amazing to see a group of people come together doing something they love as a team. You don’t necessarily need to be the leader of Mosaica for it to be rewarding, but as a coordinator, you’re able to see it from a bird’s eye view. It’s also very rewarding to see the company members that we selected during the audition process flourish in the company, make new friends, and become a part of the Mosaica family.
HC McGill: What are your hopes for students who join the company?
RG: Mosaica is about keeping the spirit of dance alive for those who, like me, cannot live without it. I hope that every member, past, present and future has felt the support, love and safety that Mosaica has provided me in creating, and learning the art of dance throughout my undergraduate career. I have every faith that the coordinators and company members of the future will continue to do so, and keep the beauty of Mosaica alive.
MM: My hopes for students who join the company is that they get to experience all that I have in my past four years with Mosaica. These dancers have truly become my second family, and have been a great support network while at McGill. I also hope future students continue to be challenged physically and artistically in their craft of dance. All of our dancers come from various dance backgrounds and experiences, and I hope that by joining Mosaica they are able to find a welcoming space to live out their love for dance.
LK: It’s amazing the number of times I have heard people tell me that their dance friends are their best friends. It might be cheesy, but it’s absolutely true: being able to share a passion for something with your friends is very important! Plus, when we’re spending more than eight hours a week together, it’s impossible not to get close. I love watching new company members (and old company members!) create connections with others. It makes the company feel more like a family, and I hope that all of our new members can really feel like they are a part of that family.
HC McGill: How can students get involved? What previous experience with dance do they need to have?
RG: Mosaica has auditions every September shortly after activities night and this is the best way to get involved! We are unfortunately unable to host multiple audition sessions, but Mosaica performs at a number of events every year, and holds occasional open classes. It’s hard to say what previous experience an auditionee would need to have in order to become a member because everyone is selected for a different reason. We don’t specifically look for the most flexible dancer, or the most athletic dancer; each new member brings something special whether it’s their unique style, their personality, their work ethic in rehearsal or their ability to learn choreography quickly.
MM: We encourage all dancers from all backgrounds and training to come try out [in September]! We typically look for a strong technical base but also those who are willing to put themselves out there and try new things.
LK: We host a relatively vigourous audition process in mid-September. Most of our dancers have many years of experience at studios while they were growing up, training mainly in jazz, lyrical, and ballet. We have had people audition for the company many years in a row before earning a spot, and we really encourage anyone who has any sort of interest to audition!
HC McGill: Can you talk a bit about your upcoming show in March?
RG: Our show in March is the final performance that Mosaica does every year. It is also the only show that features the choreography of every single one of our choreographers, along with some very special guest performances! Our show this year is taking place at D.B. Clark Theatre at Bishop and Maisonneuve. We perform for three nights on March 12, 13 and 14, 2015.
MM: We have very diverse numbers this year, as usual, ranging from African jazz to ballet pointe to dancehall. We’re very excited to showcase everything that we have been working hard towards all year.
LK: Our show is the crux of our dance year! Since we don’t have a show in the Fall semester, we put a lot into our show in March. This year, we have guest performances from all over the McGill arts community, including a cappella groups as well as the other dance groups on campus. We are really looking forward to being able to share three nights of dance together with our audience!
HC McGill: What’s your philosophy at the studio?
RG: As I mentioned earlier, our mandate as coordinators this year has been to really emphasize our dancers training in safe ways. This involves properly warming up and stretching, but also taking appropriate breaks and supplementing our rehearsals with whatever activities each dancer feels necessary. It’s my personal philosophy to always be open-minded when I am in rehearsal or training. If something is out of my comfort zone I try not to be satisfied with mediocre attempts to re-create the movement, instead I challenge myself to watch the choreographer and ask lots of (sometimes annoying) questions until I have captured the movement more accurately.
MM: Never get comfortable. There is always something you can work on, do bigger, and get better at.
LK: One of my philosophies when I’m in rehearsal is to take my time to learn what I’m doing correctly, and to ask questions when I don’t understand. We all want our show to look good, and to do so, we need to take the time to do it right the first time! There are no stupid questions, and I think it’s important for all of the dancers in the company to remember that so that we can keep our pieces looking professional!
Check out Mosaica’s video!
Images obtained from the interviewees.