INTERVIEW WITH CHOREOGRAPHER ALEXIS ANDIOLA

Alexis Andiola was raised in Midland, Texas. She is an ACC dance major whose favorite styles of dance are hip hop and modern.  Some fun facts about Alexis are that she loves the color baby pink, the movie Spirited Away, and the IT book. Her favorite series is OITNB and she also enjoys listening to pop music by Ariana Grande or Kehlani.  After ACC, Alexis plans to attend a university and study dance & drama. She is well on her way to becoming successful. 

Alexis titled her piece, Libre, it is a Spanish word that means freedom. In this film, she would like to express a story in which the audience will feel the ups and downs as she not only faces her fears but also faces her truth. For Alexis coming out was not an easy process mentally or physically and she really wanted to emote that feeling within her dance film. Her success in coming out to her family inspired her to translate it into dance form. She hopes it brings light to a message of how difficult it can be to process it all, come to terms with it, then have full acceptance. After watching, Libre, she hopes the audience can get a peek of what it is like to be in a position of realization. That every story is not the same and that she is very grateful for hers. This piece is just a glimpse of her world and the audience will have a chance to witness it. She would like the audience to be moved, inspired, relieved, and question their own truths.

When asked what was the most challenging aspect of creating a solo for a dance on film, Alexis answered with, “How do I effectively portray my message” and “Where am I going with this?”.  Alexis went in with the main idea, but filming it and actually dancing it was a different story. Thankfully she had her friend to help her work out the kinks.  She says, “Creating a piece solely off of your own experience can still create some bumps”. Although there were some stressful days, she honestly enjoyed the process! She and her friend were both fully vaccinated, so the process of filming was not nerve-wracking at all.