Delfina Chirigliano
Delfina Chirigliano was about 4 years old when she began dancing and realized it was her passion at about 5 or 6 years old when she started to develop my skill. Dance has brought light into Delfina's life. It has made her more creative and has enhanced her ability to learn things in a quick way. Picking up choreography is not that easy so it forced Delfina to find ways to learn fast and increase her ability to retain information. This has helped Delfina outside of dance in school and in playing instruments because it has made memorizing basically anything easier for her.
Delfina always gets inspired by different choreographers like JoJo Gomez, Brian Freidman, Alexander Chung, Parris Goebel, Keone & Mari, etc. They are so creative in their pieces and have a certain energy to them that is so magnetic and makes you want to move. And that’s what Delfina tries to recreate when she makes her own choreography. Not the moves but recreate the experience for her audience, that energy projected will make them want to get up and dance.
To teach and share a passion of Delfina's, seeing the smiles on everyone's faces when they finally get the step is one of a kind for her. Delfina's favorite performance has to be the Egyptian glow in the dark dance she did at her high school senior showcase. Delfina put so much thought and energy into the choreography and it paid off at the end. Delfina won the dance scholarship for the best senior choreography so it will always hold a special place in her heart.
COVID-19 has reminded Delfina how much she loves to dance and needs it in her daily life. It has also inspired Delfina to get even more creative because she can’t go anywhere. Fortunately, it has allowed Delfina to take classes with choreographers she thought she would never be able to learn from. A lot of them stream their classes online or on Instagram Live which has been great for Delfina. Dance is keeping her fit and her mind free during the quarantine.
Delfina uses this time to keep her creative juices flowing and keep her ability to retain choreography up to where it was before the quarantine. Dance is like any workout, if you don’t put that time in those muscles, flexibility will begin to slowly fade.
Teaching has made Delfina further appreciate the art of dance. It’s a whole different experience than just being a dancer because you have to get creative in the way you express and explain the choreography to other dancers. Whether you want to or not you take something away from every choreographer you encounter with. Teaching has pushed Delfina to get creative in replacing words with movement and has definitely taught her patience.
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Delfina's dance mentors are currently the choreographers of the company she is in. They are such amazing people and inspire her every time she shares a room with them. They are so creative in their choreography give so much texture to their moves. Delfina is so grateful to be learning from them and being able to be guided through what the professional dance world is like.
Delfina is always trying to teach in ways that will grasp people's attention and make them want to dance. She uses examples when she teaches to help explain what the movement should represent, what it would look like as an object, or what it would feel like as a texture. Delfina likes to teach like this when she choreographs because it makes her dancers use their imaginations and connect to the movement in a deeper way.
Dance in 3 worlds to Delfina are: Freedom, Love, and Special
Teaching dance in 3 words to Delfina are: Dynamic, Daring, and Impactful
The dance community is hard to explain as a whole. It is an amazing community filled with so many ridiculously talented and underrated artists. But sometimes it makes Delfina mad because dancers are not valued as they should be. Dancers have a huge impact on society, especially in the music and entertainment business. Dancers are in music videos, festivals, concerts, etc and sometimes are not paid or taken care of correctly. Dancers are athletes and what they do is not just learned from one day to another. Dance is an investment. Training is expensive and dancers push their bodies to the limit and its upsetting to Delfina to know that in the industry these things are sometimes forgotten.
Delfina plans to continue to dance and eventually make it part of my career. The project Delfina was working on with the dance company was creating pieces for a show but unfortunately, everything has been paused due to COVID-19.
Delfina's goal is always to learn something new whether its a movie, a style, or to go to the city to take a class. She is always trying to reach that next level. Comfortable is boring for her and she's never going to get any better by just doing the moves that she's good at. Delfina has to step out of the box to feel uncomfortable and challenged. There’s always a new step to learn.
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