A Dancer's Perspective- I Have Lived a Thousand Years

Read about dancer Carey Newmark's experience creating the promotional video for Stretch Dance Company's newest production,  
I Have Lived a Thousand Years.  (To watch the final product, click here!)

Carey Newmark as Elli Friedmann.

My experience making this video was one of both happiness and sadness.

Happiness because I was honored, excited, and hopeful with the project. I am honored to be a part of a project that has such large potential of a long-term successful show; especially portraying the central figure, Elli Friedmann. I am always excited to work with Lyndell Higgins on projects because she is so organized, detail-oriented, and talented in her direction. I am always happy with projects as long as I am dancing; it is my happy place. Lyndell provides me with opportunities for my passion in dance. I am also beyond hopeful that the message of this show brings more awareness to the community and hopefully the world. The Holocaust is a very important time to never forget.  Our world today is a reminder of how far humanity has grown in acceptance of different religions and faith, but we still have a far way to go and this production will only keep that message alive!

On set with Lyndell, Chris Higgins, and Carey.

The video also was a piece of sadness for me. I feel very attached to the message because I come from a Jewish bloodline and family background. My honor to my family who passed in the concentration camps allowed me to dive deeper into my feelings and emotion to bring the piece/video alive. Everything felt real for me.

Therefore, the acting process was easy to connect to. I have never worked on a dancing role with this large amount of acting before. It was a lot of work to add a more exaggerated emotion while dancing. Moments where I felt I was expressing the correct emotion, Lyndell had wanted something different. So it was those moments I really had to work on mentally imagining how to change and focus my attention differently to portray Elli Friedmann more accurately.

On set rehearsal with Lyndell and Carey.

The choreography was easy to dive into emotionally because Lyndell's musicality is spot on. The happy soft moments were graceful and carefree in my body and the angry, sad moments were filled with sharp and explosive choreography. Lyndell definitely sees her work specifically and makes sure the choreography is done just that way.... Even if you are a right dominant dancer and she has left choreography... you make it happen! I was willing to have as many takes needed to get the choreography perfect on film. Talk about multiple blisters on the feet!

Again, I was more than honored to be asked to portray Elli and worked hard to bring her alive within me and make her proud. I'm very excited to see the potential of this show to come!


-Carey Newmark

Stretch Dance Company

Stretch Dance Company... Who are we, what do we do, and where are we going?  These are the most popular questions I receive about the company I created in 2010.

I'm Lyndell Higgins the Executive and Artistic Director (EAD) and founder of Stretch Dance Company or SDC as I'll casually refer to it.  I will often be the author of the SDC blogs (indicated by the "L" at the end of the entry), but you will also hear from design team members, crew, and performers.  This blog is to give you insight, a backstage look, and firsthand experiences of the goings on at SDC. 

First, Who are we? What do we do?

Let me start with the mission statement.  "To create a safe working environment for professional artists and to educate and entertain the community about art, humanity, culture, and history through presenting theatrical dance productions based on an emotional and realistic portrayal of the human experience."  Such a mouthful, but anything less would be insufficient. 

I started with the mission statement even before the name or logo.  Once I had it tailored, I looked for our name.  In noticing what I deemed as the most important words, I saw this:   "To create a safe working environment for professional artists and to educate and entertain the community about art, humanity, culture, and history through presenting theatrical dance productions based on an emotional and realistic portrayal of the human experience."

So in my way of thinking, which is often difficult to explain or understand, I saw the letters S E C H C H T E R, without using all repeated letters, it spells Stretch.  Thus Stretch Dance Company!  "Stretch" is a great word.  Its implications go far beyond the art of pushing oneself to achieve in dance.  I hope to stretch all aspects of our performers and audience members beyond the physical.

SDC will use dance in new ways to enlighten and educate audience members.  Much like Swan Lake, each production will have specific characters and plot to follow, but will not be confined to one dance style.  The dance style will be determined by the character being portrayed. 

Where are we going?

Well, in deciding on our first production, I was inspired by the ongoing presence of racism and discrimination that is still ever present throughout the world, even in our country.  With all of the technological advances in the world along with our ability to literally travel anywhere in 24hrs, I'm amazed, disappointed, ashamed, and frightened that we have not evolved further in our humanity.  I am hoping to create a production that illustrates what can happen when we are not tolerant or understanding. 

I am hoping that SDC inspires people to think of all of humanity as "US" rather than the standard "US vs. THEM."

We are projecting to have our first performance at the end of 2013 or the beginning of 2014.  We are still withholding exactly what we are planning to do, but throughout the year, it will slowly be revealed to you.

Follow our Blog, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Newsletter for all of our updates.

Thank you for the support!

-L