Meet Sara Pizzi | Freelancer Artists

We had the good fortune of connecting with Sara Pizzi and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Sara, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
As immigrant freelancer artists in NYC, part of my daily commitment is to amplify my network, discover new opportunities, collaborate in the creation of new projects. This was not possible during covid-19 pandemic in 2020. After graduating from the Certificate Program Ballet-Contemporary track from Peridance Center, feeling completely isolated and constantly receiving confirmation that no-one would ever hire me in the near future, that was the propulsive energy, urge and inspiration that pushed me to define my own dance collective. I use the plenty of time in my favor, to read, research, explore movement and define my artistic voice and statement, defining which kind of artists I was and what my dance will speak about. But what become really life changing, it was moving in with my partner Aika Takeshima, becoming work partners and founding sarAika movement collective. Our movement quality was matching in an organic way, our mission and artistic vision blended in an extraordinarily strong mix of ideas and solid values to begin with. From there, we opened some online dance interactive experiences on zoom, where the audience and dance was creating together the performance – we collaborated with videographers and slowly when the city started to re-opened, people were already interested in our new work asking us to perform.This allow us to grow our audience, submit and get in a lot of performance opportunities and put solid roots to the identity of sarAika movement collective today. People appreciated our work, wanted to see and support it, growing a community of artists which wanted to perform for and with us. Now, sarAika has performed more than 50 times in NYC, having repertory choreographies and creating community workshops, dance classes and performance events.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
• What should our readers know about your work?

My art is based on any physical medium which can evoke any inner personal exploration, deeper analysis of our inner self, the creation of a safe place for discovering and questioning & can bring togetherness in solving some common social issues. This creates performances which break the concept of standard performance creating collaborative, conceptual, interactive art experiences & teaching any level and any age, prioritizing any class that involves people with physical and mental disabilities or for underrepresented communities. What sets me apart from others, I believe, is the themes my work underlines and the intention behind it. Breaking these two concepts down, the themes my dance represents does not start from a personal story or from my singular experience which rose a specific personal emotion; but are topical aspects within which everyone can resonate with. So my work speaks for/to/about people in order to be able to spark the imagination and inspire every individual no matter about status, language or experience. Regarding the intention: I’m using my technique to tell a story, I’m not using a story to show off my technique. I’m dancing for others, not for myself. My dance is an action of love, dance as social action. And I’m proud that in the last couple of years, this message was well derived, being able to perform all over NYC receding appreciation and growth back, being able to produce performances and classes which gave a huge benefit to our community starting to create a more diverse, inclusive and equitable environment.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?

Living in the intersection between Ridewood and Bushwick is a wonderful opportunity to give a taste of many local spots in both Queens and Broolyn. Loving the open spaces like parks to explore and relax or enjoying nightlife with live music and dance events, I can mention some spots among these two neighborhoods: Nowadays, Queens Brewery, Evil Twin, Evergreen Park, TV Eye, Ale House.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?

• Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shout out?

Definitely a big shout out I want to give to all sarAika movement collective team. As I mentioned previously, a huge part of the success of the collective is the sense of collaboration and we would have not achieved this level without a really supportive, creative and genuine team. Their contribution is essential inside the creation space and outside, allowing the collective to always perform high standard events and products. Best part of it is that sarAika will be always open to collaborate with different artists and non artists in order to expand our mission and art, and I personally cannot wait to see who is next.

Website: https://sarapizzi.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_sarapizzi_/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sara-pizzi-a514281a6/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/SaraPizzi3

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sara.pizzi.7

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrojXl1b6CortTwOIyKIvCA