INTERVIEW WITH CHOREOGRAPHER NIKKI JOHNSTON

 

Nikki Johnston registered for the ACC Choreography/Composition class because of her passion for creating choreography and collaborating with others. She has a strong love for dance improvisation which clears the mind, strengthens communication skills, boosts self-expression and so much more.  She is from the Chicago area and has been living in Texas throughout her adult life. She is a massage therapist, obsessed with her cats, and her newest passion besides dance is roller skating!

While taking the Choreo/Comp class she has thoroughly enjoyed the group collaboration aspect that has been different from past semesters. She feels like she was able to connect more with the other dancers and performers and be more involved with their individual stories. “We really are a community!”. She feels like she has built sincere relationships with the other performers and creators.  As much as she loves the performance aspect, she feels that the process of getting to the performance has been equally fulfilling. Her challenge was to be able to reign in all of her ideas and once she did she felt able to fully express herself.  Nikki says, “We are all uniquely individual and this process of combining our pieces together was a really fun way to explore our commonalities while still being true to our own unique qualities.”

Her section of the piece titled, Why We Still Believe in Magic, was inspired by her own personal growth journey.  Nikki expresses how anxiety can come along with healing and how sometimes we get trapped by our own insecurities. She has been exploring the feelings that come along with loss and finding support through those difficult times.