Kayla Harley

Who am I? I am a whisper A pair of eyes A friend and sister A heart that loves big and hard I am a force, that moves and grows and asks senseless questions I am a spirit that propels this body of mine onward until the work is done. I am a loud laugh and a deep well of tears. I am an unknown being even to myself a self already made just waiting to be realized and soon actualized in space and time. I am a moment. A belly full of butterfly wing-tips. I am the quiet thoughts of your mind when our eyes or our bodies touch... I am a vessel of goodness, fighting hard to maintain that goodness, while being true to myself where ugliness at times get in the way.

There is a young lady by the name of, Chelsea Harrison. She is a Cincinnati, Ohio based actress, artist, playwright and co-producer Trained at the Duke Ellington School of Arts in Washington DC and a recent graduate of New York University, she premiered her written and produced play entitled Daughters of the Bayou. It is a retelling of three Louisiana  women, the unveiling of a dark family history that involves voodoo, the sacred teaching of herbalism, sex slavery and death. Concerned with the recent events of today, particularly the shootings in Charleston, South Carolina, Chelsea was inspired to write this play to bring Creole heritage to the forefront of our knowledge. She saw the folly in being ignorant to our own history so she created a world where we can experience the truth about ourselves as Americans although "...complex, multilayered and bursting with color", as written in the Director Statement. The play premièred at the Weeksville Heritage Center in Brookl...

No MIRRORS is a self-affirming statement that invites dancers to take ownership of their artistry, identity and their inherent sense of beauty.  As dancers we have grown accustomed to using a mirror as an integral part of our learning and development. The idea is that by seeing the body move in space with our own eyes we are able to measure the angles of right and wrong, according the to rules of technique. However we forget that the mirror is a two-dimensional surface that reflects the image that is shown; while the perception of what it is shown, lies within us. What do I mean by this? Take for example: a tendu a la seconde. Standing at a distance from the mirror, the foot appears to be pointed and detached from the standing leg 180 degrees from a frontal view. But the anatomy of the body is such that the foot would more likely be extending at a 120 to 160 degree angle on the point of the circle, which is the circumference of the body in space (three-dimensionality or 360 deg...

My experience with Collage Dance Collective, similar to that of YoungArts week as a senior in high school, was one of those pivotal moments for me as a growing artist. Reaffirming. Encouraging. Edifying. Inspiring. I was quiet most of the time. Absorbing the information I received by watching how professionals work. They were tentative in rehearsing each step, inhabiting corrections right away and assessing the needs for their body to make the movement appear seamless. As a whole the company supported one another by communicating openly and honestly, it allowed them to become intimate for a show that was due in less than a week. I use the words they and them....because it wasn't until a few days later did I realized I was swimming in that pool of professionalism and artistry as well. Unlike my experience at River North--I wasn't being shoved into a corner copying movements from someone else's body and pasting them into space when it was my turn. The weight of physical a...

What is your relationship to the mirror as a dancer? Are you dependent on it? Use it as a source of information? Is it a complete distraction or interference with your ability to move through space? All of these realities are true and valid in the lives of dancers today...surrounded by images of ourselves all day everyday in the studio we are forced to examine our bodily-being and to grapple with the idea of perfection. The mirror, a source for information, provides a two dimensional image of what actually exists as three-dimensional object in space. Essentially the experience or relationship to a mirror image of ourselves is one on the surface of who we really are. The perspective of ourselves, what we see, and what we think we see is often shaped by the specificity of technique and the nurtured ideas of beauty in the dance world. How can we begin to shift our interaction with self-image on a daily basis in a way that doesn't deplete our confidence and create doubt? Please ...

It's been an amazing four day journey auditioning for and working with Camille A. Brown in New York. Funny thing, before coming I was so worried about how I'd do, not in terms of the audition but with the movement. I felt like maybe I had lost a sense of my natural groove, the groundedness in the aesthetic of Black movement since I'd been so upright and on my toes with River North's six-step pirouette jazz classes and Hubbard Streets reoccurring tombe-coupe-jete during Ballet. But no, it was there. I found it with ease and I soon connected it with this pleasure to be in my body for the first time in a long time. I even found a tap side to me LOL imagine that y'all!! There was characterization, there was confrontation, moments of deep thought and discussion and there was humanity. Altogether in a brief series of rehearsal days. I felt like I was investing my full self as an artist into the work, my observations of life as well as my experiences as a dancer found...

Dwana Smallwood. This a woman who has that "in your face" kinda realness and yet a humble graciousness about her that makes you smile. She is friendly to my spirit which has chosen her as my favorite dancer....ever. A memorable moment I take from an Alvin Ailey dance documentary entitled Beyond the Steps,  she channels her inner Dwana, the one whose movement comes from the loins of her childhood nurtured by the streets of Brooklyn and onto the concert dance stage. Never mind how raunchy her movements looked on the surface, Dwana was being herself, her full self. With a capacity to be free, bringing an authentic street funk to her dancing she too knows how to pull the reigns in and show off technical proficiency with a magnetism that keeps the audience wanting for more. This what I love about her the most. Dwana is always Dwana. True to herself, constantly listening to her inner being and putting confidence into the mix. http://www.dwanasmallwoodpac.org In the blogpo...