Choreographing the Future: Hyperindependence and Human Connection

The music stops and seven dancers pant while kneeling on the floor, glancing up at Ellie Slowiak, their choreographer, for a sign of what’s next. Slowiak flips through the pages of her notebook, studying their contents until a sudden fit of laughter breaks the silence. It’s a melody heard only second to the piece’s song on Sunday nights in the Ralph Arnold Fine Arts Annex studio.

Every spring, students in the dance major and minor sign up for dance composition, or “dance comp,” as it’s colloquially called by students. While a requirement for graduation, students said they don’t see it as a burden. Rather, it’s a chance to express their artistry in a safe environment.

Ellie Slowiak, a third-year majoring in dance and psychology and member of The Dance Company, said she’s danced several different styles since she was three years old. While heavily involved in the art form in high school, competing both with and outside of her high school’s dance team, looming college decisions left Slowiak uncertain about what her future with dance would look like.

“It was never going to not be a part of my life,” Slowiak said. “But as a career, I still had my doubts.”

In love with Chicago and not completely certain about what she wanted to do next with dance, Slowiak submitted her initial application to Loyola solely as a psychology major. One week before auditions for the dance department were due, Slowiak decided — with encouragement from Anna Labriola, a third-year in the program at the time — to take a leap of faith and attend the audition.

Now, she said she can’t imagine attending college not pursuing both degrees. 

After three years spending countless hours rehearsing guest choreographers’ routines and walking out of the studio with aching muscles and mysteriously developing bruises, Slowiak is given the chance to be at the front of the room. 

She and 11 of her peers are taking dance composition with Senior Lecturer of Dance Amy Wilkinson this semester, challenging their artistry and leadership skills by creating choreography to be showcased later in the year in a performance displaying the choreographic and production skills they gained throughout the semester.

Auditions to find the dancers who’d bring their choreography to life were held earlier this semester, allowing any Loyola student — no matter their status as a dance major, minor or otherwise — to try out. From there, student choreographers compose their casts from the auditioners they believe will best relay their stories.

Hyperindependence is the central theme in Slowiak’s piece. She took inspiration from her own life, where she says she had to be constantly self-motivating to achieve her goals in dance. The piece also explores the darker side to hyperindependence which can lead to unbridled self-reliance capable of hindering future relationships when assurance for high-quality results can only be entrusted in one’s self.

“Being seen as independent is such a positive thing,” Slowiak said. “At least it’s my personal experience, where people look at me and say, ‘You’re so self-sufficient,’ and I’m like, ‘Yeah, that’s because I have to be.’”

Through creating her dance, Slowiak has seen she isn’t alone in experiencing these emotions. Dancers in her cast said they easily connected to the storyline of Slowiak’s choreography because they’ve also been subjected to relentless, oppressive autonomy.

Experiencing a taste of the dance composition class for the first time through Slowiak’s piece, first year dance and psychology major Reese Lutz said she feels like she’s required to be independent.

“I have to do a lot of things for myself,” Lutz said. “Then, coming to college, it’s just a reiteration of that. It can be really taxing, and it can take a lot out of you. I feel that being portrayed in the dance is really cool.”

Second-year dance major Nadia Edwards expressed similar experiences. Casted as a dancer in three composition pieces this semester, she said she felt a special connection with Slowiak’s work as the portrayal of her theme is an intimate process.

“I resonate with Ellie [Slowiak’s] the most,” Edwards said. “I get really inspired by all of them. Not just their choreography, but how they are in the space and how they interact with us.”

Slowiak said she doesn’t aim to combine her passions for dance and psychology in her future career as she appreciates both fields separate from each other. However, since starting the choreographic process, she’s realized how much her education in psychology has influenced her approach to her material subconsciously, comparing certain concepts in her work to psychology terminology.

In particular, she explained how the concept of avoidant attachment styles is reflected through specific movements in her choreography.

“I would love to be able to show that through dancers passing each other,” Slowiak said. “That’s one of the biggest things that I was thinking about. I want dancers to approach each other and then not acknowledge each other.”

This is the first choreographic work Slowiak has created of this length. While sharing art as personal as her choreographed piece can be nerve-wracking, Slowiak expressed excitement for the process.

“It’s so vulnerable putting your work in something that means a lot to you onto other people that can judge it,” Slowiak commented. “Being in a room that is cultivated to be good people and good movers and just kind souls, it’s so refreshing.”

Having the opportunity to be in the studio with her peers, not only as a conduit for their creativity, but to work side-by-side with them as fellow dancers in other composition pieces, has altered the delivery of each piece, according to Edwards.

“We’re all sharing these vulnerable things, whether it’s through words or through movement, so you get to really understand those people,” Edwards said. “I think it makes for a stronger performance.”

Currently in the earlier stages of learning choreography, Slowiak’s dancers shared what this experience has meant to them so far.

“Watching her go through the creative process and all that it really takes to choreograph and dance, especially for comp, it’s pretty intense and high stakes,” Lutz said. “Remembering that dance is still your passion under pressure, I watch her, she just loves dance, and she’s so great at choreography.”

Kylee Frederiksen, a third-year nursing major and dance minor who created a piece for dance composition last spring, has traded places with Slowiak — one of Frederiksen’s previous cast members — in the studio this year. 

For Frederiksen, there is an elevated level of excitement walking into the studios knowing her friends are going to be at the front of the room unmatched even when she went through the creative process of choreographing a piece herself. 

“The passion we have for dance and respect we have for a choreographer, no matter who it is, you’re gonna do well for them,” Frederiksen said. “But, adding the fact that I love her so much, it is bigger. I cannot wait to portray what she is wanting and I’ll do literally anything you ask me. I will do it with my whole heart.”

When it comes time for the public to watch the final dance, Slowiak welcomes all interpretations of the piece, only holding one goal for it herself.

“I would just like it to be seen,” Slowiak said.

Slowiak’s finalized choreographic piece — as well as that of the other student choreographers in her class — will be performed April 25 at Newhart Family Theatre. Tickets to the Dance Composition Showcase are on sale now through Loyola’s ticketing website.