Cover Letter

I would love to join the MusicDance residency. I recently fell in love with movement and dance and have found a lot of satisfaction in using it to express myself. However, I sometimes struggle to share this with those that are close to me.

I am also in a period of ravenous learning. I aspire to facilitate a space where I can help others find the fulfilment I've found through dance. I want to go deeper and build my connection to dance, and I plan to pass this on to others.

MusicDance is a lovely opportunity to move towards both sharing my artisic expression with others and learning more about dance.

Since I attended my first movement and dance class in May of 2022, I am still laying the foundation of my movement-based art. So far I have danced in three performances: a group choreographed contemporary piece at the Flowcase in October 2022 , a group real-time composition at the Moving Arts Festival in January 2023 , and a contemporary solo at First Thursdays at Ballet on Kloof in July 2023 . Of my three performances, the solo I co-created with Leilah Kirsten best highlights my art's current state.

My solo started as a gift to a friend, morphed into an audition piece for a performing arts school, and settled as an expression of my feelings during the process of immersing into dance. It expressed joy, wonder, fear, panic, lightness, anxiety, freedom, power, and vulnerability. The movement language mainly consisted of slow and hypnotic transitions, giving a feeling of moving through a viscous fluid. We then chose a few key musical moments for suspensions and dynamic bursts that locked in the observers' attention.

Thank you very much for looking at my application. Please contact me at elanvanbiljon@gmail.com if you want to know more.

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About

Who am I?

I'm a curious and silly yet thoughtful person that loves to learn and connect with others. I try to communicate with others, knowing that we perceive the world differently and can still come together because of the discussion instead of pulling apart. I try to imagine the world and people in it complexly, and as a consequence, I try to meet people where they are. I would much rather learn than be perfect. I know the individual things I do to tackle the world's big problems are entirely insufficient. Still, I do them anyway, and I try to find others to do them with because the only way we get anywhere is how we got here: together.

Resume

My movement path

I have moved in many ways and learned many things from this. Here is a timeline to briefly summarise my broad experience:

Experience

Dance

2022 - present

Expression and passion

I fell in love with dance and in a short time have explored so many parts of the dance space. I have learned to express my inner self through movement. While dancing, I feel a deep state of flow and satisfaction.

Rock climbing

2020 - present

Confidence

The most powerful things I have learned from rock climbing is that I can do far more than I realised and that failure is part of the process.

Pilates

2020 - present

Strength

I started doing pilates to recover from a trail running injury and found that it brought strength into all my other movement practises.

Yoga

2016 - present

Mobility

Yoga has helped me extend the range of positions my body is strong in. It also gave me more confidence in my ability to use my hands as a base.

Slacklining

2013 - present

Softness

Slacklining has taught me that we are often best able to move when our body is soft. When we can absorb momentum and redirect it in a benefical way.

Parkour

2009

Using momentum

While I didn't do parkour for very long, I developed some foundational skills. I learned to use my momentum to move me towards my goal and to protect myself from injury (rolling after a vertival drop, for instance).

Tumbling

2004 - 2005

Commitment and propreoception

I learned to commit to doing technically difficult and scary movmenets. I also developed a sense of where my body is in space.

Karate

Brown Belt

2002 - 2007

Shotokan

I learned a lot about controlling my body and mind doing karate as a child. I also developed a good strength and mobility baseline.

Gymnastics

2001 - 2004

Basic movement

The first movement practise I remember doing was some gymnastics as a child. We explored different ways to move: tumbling, cartweels, handstands, balance beams, bars, etc.

Welcome MusicDance,

I am Elan van Biljon.