The Official Student News Media of Southeastern Louisiana University

The Lion's Roar

The Official Student News Media of Southeastern Louisiana University

The Lion's Roar

The Official Student News Media of Southeastern Louisiana University

The Lion's Roar

    Dance students selected for traveling company

    Courtney Self, front, performs in a senior show for a fellow classmate. Self has been selected to perform with the Lightwire Theater of New Orleans.

    Courtney Self, front, performs in a senior show for a fellow classmate. Self has been selected to perform with the Lightwire Theater of New Orleans.
    The Lion's Roar/Larshell Green

    Securing employment after graduation is a goal for most, but student Courtney Self landed a job before finishing her courses. Self was accepted into Lightwire Theater in New Orleans for their upcoming performance season.

    Self has felt many emotions since finding out she was accepted.

    “I’m excited,” said senior Self, a general studies major with a concentration in dance. “I can barely wrap my head around the fact that I am going to be travelling the world soon. It really hasn’t fully hit me yet, but I’m sure it will be slightly overwhelming, but manageable, when rehearsals begin.”

    Deciding to audition was easy for Self because of what she has seen the company perform before.

    “These people know how to put on a fantastic show,” said Self. “Just watching them perform makes me want to jump into one of those costumes and climb onstage along with them. The performances are high-energy and fun, with a touch of cheeky humor for all ages.”

    When Self and Joseph Matherne were going through the audition, they had to learn something they had never done before along with more choreography. 

    “Joe and I were anxious to get through the audition, but we knew we had the choreography down,” said Self. “They actually taught us another piece of choreography that included a barrel jump, and having never done one of those before, I had to learn on the spot.”

    Even though rehearsals have not yet begun, Self has been putting in the work to be prepared for what is to come.

    “Since I haven’t started rehearsals for the tour yet, I don’t have much to practice,” said Self. “However, I have been hitting the gym pretty hard because I’m afraid I’m not going to be able to keep up. It’s not a rational fear at all. I know I have great stamina and core strength. I just want to make sure I’m in good shape before I start travelling.”

    Self is a part of Cast A and perform her first show on Nov. 4. She and her fellow cast members will tour the East Coast until the end of December. 

    “I am a ‘cast member,’ meaning I’m not only a dancer, but an actor and crew member as well,” said Self. “Whatever needs to be done, we all pitch in and do it.”

    Before attending Southeastern, Self was working on her dance degree at University of Arkansas at Little Rock. 

    “I was a little fish in a big pond and I learned just about everything there is to know about audition etiquette,” said Self. “I was confident that I would at least come off as very polite and professional. I also learn quickly and I’m able to pick things up without asking tons of questions.”

    Starting when she was just 14, Self began when she tried out for her junior high dance team.

    “I took a week-long intensive to help prepare for try outs and fell absolutely in love, which is surprising coming from someone who played softball for 9 years prior,” said Self. “I was able to pick things up easily and ended up making dance team for the rest of my high school years. Little did I know I would become a professional at 26.”

    Self pulls her dancing from a lot of places and two people have helped shape her style of dance.

    “My personal dance style tends to be on the contemporary side, with elements from Martha Graham and Jose Limon techniques,” said Self. “I also focus on emotion; I don’t just move. Dancing, to me, is more than just movement. It involves your whole body and your brain, where your emotions live, is the most important part. Without the chemical reactions going on up there, we’re all just big, dumb chunks of meat.” 

    While attending Southeastern, Self has had so much support and not only from family. 

    “Skip Costa and Martie Fellom also have a hand in my preparations,” said Self. “I thought, ‘If I called them right now and told them what I was about to do, what would they say?’ I knew they would have nothing but encouraging words and a ‘Get in there and blow those people away.’ They are both so supportive and wonderful. All in all, I have a great support system. Joe has supported my dreams and aspirations from day one, and so have my parents and friends. I’m truly blessed to have such wonderful people in my life.”

    Self is not the only person over the moon. Dance Instructor Skip Costa, has shared how he feels about two of his students getting accepted into this group.

    “Awesome, Incredible,” said Costa. “I know that what we do here at Southeastern is prepare everybody for a professional environment for dance, choreography and movement theatre. And I think since I, as an instructor here, I try to fuse movement and dance in so many different directions with a perspective of ‘intra-arts performance,’ which I am in the process of getting copyrighted. It’s a form of taking dance as a base and combining that with all other different elements such as theatre, visual arts and live music or recorded music and how does that integrate affectively to convey your message to the audience.”  

    Self and Matherne contacted Costa to get some advice on how they could begin to prepare for their audition.

    “I haven’t spoken to them directly since they were accepted into the company, but I know that they were training very hard this summer because they had asked me some questions about it and they were telling me how heavy this equipment was and they had to start doing conditioning work, going to the gym as well as still doing their own movement classes for themselves,” said Costa. “So, it was a strenuous process for them.” 

    Self has only been dancing for 12 years, but is ready to take on this next adventure.

    “I have no idea what it’s like yet, but I’m about to dive in head-first,” said Self. “I can’t wait to walk through the airports with my luggage full of lightwires and battery packs, see the world and inspire the younger generation to do what makes them happy. That’s what I’m doing. I’m doing what makes me happy and it literally pays. I’m one of those people that will never ‘work’ a day in their whole life.”

    Self and Company A will be performing four shows in Baton Rouge at Manship Theatre at Shaw Center for the Arts on Dec. 4-5. For a full list of shows, visit lightwiretheatre.com.

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