Original piece – coastline

coastline

coastline (2022) was Talia’s second solo piece choreographed for Harvard Ballet Company’s show on exhibition at the American Repertory Theatre in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She showed impressive courage and drive as she took on choreographing her own piece after only one semester of being with the company as a first-year in college.

April 2022

coastline (2022) portrays the joy and peace that can be found in transitional, “in-between” periods of life despite their initial instability and discomfort.

Dancers: Sedina Ackuayi, Erin Aslami, Adrienne Chan, Kate Guerin, Scout Stevens, Payton Thompson

Music: “February 30″ by ABBOTT

Videography by Daniel Huang

Message from Talia:

coastline is a piece very near and dear to my heart – it was the first piece I made for HBC, and my first time coordinating with a lighting designer and staging in a proscenium setting. the idea for the piece truly came from the pages of my journals, having just entered an uncomfortable, unstable, and liminal time in my life. college is a strange time as you’re not fully independent, but also not fully a child relying on others to help guide you as you navigate your life. it’s very much a stage of in-between and adjustment, which can be really difficult to deal with at times. I love looking to nature as a way to help explain how I’m feeling, and I spent a good chunk of that winter break in Florida by the ocean. I remember taking walks along the beach and thinking the line between the sand and sea was a good analogy for where I was in that stage of life. I felt as if I was treading the line between child- and adult-hood, which felt as unstable and impermanent as the waves coming and going from the shore. I tried to incorporate this feeling within the choreography, with lots of spiraling, swirling, non-stop movement as a way to resemble the anxieties I was experiencing during that period of my life. what I love about choreography is the potential for it to resonate with those watching – every milestone, transition, and life change brings its own challenges but also provides the opportunity for new excitement and peace. this piece was like an escape for me, a way to turn the discomfort of this new change into something beautiful and take a moment of peace amongst the chaos, and I had hoped that the audience could resonate with it in whichever stage of life they were currently experiencing. this was also the first time I got to work with dancers from all around the country, and it was so fun to watch their different training and dancing styles blend together in the most beautiful way. I’m still so grateful to this day for this piece and the friendships and memories that came with it!