DECEMBER 2013 | BOROMAG.COM | 33 I just choreographed a duet for Elon University. It’s entitled Tink and it’s 8 minutes long. Eliza Coolidge did the music for me, so it’s all original music. I’m going to start applying to show it in New York and I will probably expand on it. It’s a duet between two women, and it’s aggressive and a little dark. A lot of my work seems to have an aggressive feel to it. I think because I’m such a happy person, that’s where it comes out. This is the first big thing I have done in while, which is good. It’s getting me on the ground. Everything else I have shown was something I have already done; I didn’t make anything new because I wanted to show New York I can do something before I started something new. In terms of the dance world New York is an incredibly inspiring place because you are with your idols. The people that are so amazing and untouchable are the people you are taking class with. I love seeing live performances at BAM. I feel like BAM has a great way of picking out phenomenal shows. I like small shows, in tiny black box theaters. The smaller the space, the better. I think BAM is top notch for me. I find that I’m kinda like a puppy—I need to be walked. I’m sure that anyone who knows me would say the same thing. If I haven’t been to a dance class I’m probably annoying everyone. I didn’t expel any energy today. There’s that in me where I have to do something physical and I just need to connect to the human body. In dancers there are no personal boundaries. You are sweating with people, you are moving with people, and you are touching them. To the average person it may seem inappropriate—with dancers you don’t worry about that for 2 seconds. It’s just nice to go into something and create and be physical. It’s immediate connections that you build. I love living in Astoria. I come from a small town originally, and I think Astoria is my big city / small town. It’s a very small community and it’s very important to me to be a part of a community. The small town feel can be annoying, but at the end of the day I couldn’t live without it. I would tell any dancers moving to NYC to just not be scared. I think you get nervous at first, but there is just so much opportunity—and it’s so easy to take—and you just have to do it. Being the person that you really want to be is not that untouchable. It’s right in front of you. Michelle Amara Micca is a choreographer and dancer living in Astoria who recently sat down with Lizabeth Nieves for the following interview.
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