We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Nicolette Emanuelle. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Nicolette below.
Hi Nicolette, really happy you were able to join us today and we’re looking forward to sharing your story and insights with our readers. Let’s start with the heart of it all – purpose. How did you find your purpose?
Finding my purpose was one of those journeys I didn’t realize I was on until I arrived at my destination. As a child I wanted to be an astronaut or a marine biologist, something science based. But also I was the kid who would gather my friends together to put on shows. Once we made cardboard instruments and put on a Jem and the Holograms show, another time we wrote a play about saving the environment. My love for science caused me to focus on math and sciences in school, but I was also doing orchestra and symphony. In 7th and 8th grade, to escape bullying, I would lock myself in the orchestra room and practice my cello during lunch. But then I also started an animal club where we adopted a whale, toured the different power plants in the area and would get water samples from local lakes to check the PH levels.
During this time in North Carolina, is also where I would start to get singled out for not being black or white, constantly asked where I was from and the question “what are you?” This caused me to have to build an identity before I understood what a racial identity was. My answer of “Lumbee Indian” was usually enough to stop the questions, but that label didn’t hold the complexity and nuance of someone who is multiracial (Lumbee only being part of it), who was in a military family until 9 and whose family was mixed. Labeling myself also didn’t keep people from ostracizing me. It got even more confusing when (in middle school) everyone was fawning over The Backstreet Boys and I found myself having a major crush on a girl in my class. I eventually liked boys too, and at least that was something I could hide.
After high school I faced new trials and tribulations and it would take more time that we have now to get through them all but in a nutshell: being multiracial, pansexual, nonbinary and presenting as a woman (during my 20s and 30s) unfortunately means I have experiences that range from sexual assault to rape to having the police follow me because I didn’t look like I belonged in that neighborhood to a woman with seething hatred in her voice asking if I belong in the women’s restroom to being threatened for moving a table because it threatened some old guys masculinity to being told ‘don’t worry, I’m okay with you people.’ All of these experiences made me into an activist and that activism would eventually start to show up in my art.
The symphony scene wasn’t really my thing so I started playing cello with rock musicians in the Charlotte, NC area, I also wrote and performed my own songs on piano while singing. People often compared my music to Tori Amos and Nick Cave. Meanwhile I was still chasing the dream of being some sort of scientist. I went from day job to day job, took classes at the community college. Life kept happening. Life took me to Portland, OR, Seattle, WA, Bloomington, IN and then to Atlanta, GA. I also started adding new skills: burlesque, stilts, aerial arts, accordion, uke, and recording my own music. For a while my life was circus, then I started to merge into the theater scene where I would produce, perform, and write music for dancers and shows. It was until I was 34 that I gave into just doing my art for a living. But my love for science would show up again with collaborations with GA Tech folk for The Atlanta Science Festival.
After all of this life happened, while we were writing “What are You?” (A movement based theatrical piece that explores what it means to be multiracial in American today), it was then I realized that everything in my life had converged in that moment to form a sense of purpose. This show had all of my art forms in it: production, aerial, musical composition and performance, theatrical story telling, burlesque and education. And it was an expression of my life experiences in artistic form.
I didn’t know I was on a journey of finding purpose until I got to the destination. And I was surprised to find out I am an activist and an artist.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
I’m a performing artist. In my artistic arsenal I have circus arts (stilts, clowning, and aerial arts), musical performance (cello and piano), musical composition and acting. I have some very base skills in prop fabrication, costuming, and puppetry. I also produce shows, one of my favorite reoccurring events I do is called “Dead Artists Lounge”, an evening of performance art inspired by the works of dead artists. Artists are paired up and asked to pick a piece from a deceased artist to inspire their work, the paired artists have to be from different artistic disciplines and/or have never worked together. This is a variety show with never before seen works inspired by some of the favorites! Edgar Allan Poe, James Baldwin, Prince….
My most recent works revolve around activism, my on going piece “What are You?” explores what it’s like to be multiracial in America today through interviews and theatrical movement driven story telling. “What are You?” started as an installation piece, then evolved into a short film, a live performance for Art on the Atlanta Beltline and is currently gearing up for a full theatrical run. With every iteration it changes and grows as I learn more about the why of the question “What are You?”
I also sit on the design team for Equitable Dinners Atlanta. They put on events where people are invited to watch a short one person play about race and then have a meal together while having a facilitated discussion on race.
For myself I still write songs and occasionally post them on my website. It helps me continue learning recording skills and gives me a play space for musical exploration. You can check them out too if you’re interested: nicoletteemanuelle.com
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
Being open to different ways of doing things but also not being afraid of my own voice. What I see happened a lot with new artists is imitation, and that is definitely part of the learning process. We often learn by playing songs from our favorite artists, and in movement arts we often learn by observation. To build something that is truly your own you have to be open to trying new ways of doings things, experimentation and using your voice, your experiences, the things that make you…you. That’s when we really start to see amazing works of art that speak to people and their humanity.
Skill versatility is also important, I personally found a lot of success in learning a lot of different skills and found that everything I learn helps with everything else I do! For example, being a movement artist makes me a better composer for movement artists. Are there better dancers out there? Absolutely, no one is going to be calling me to headline any dance performance, but they do call me to write and perform music. And as a producer learning a lot of different skills has helped me be able to recognize talent and build a brand.
One of the most important traits I feel is important to have as an artist is not seeing failure as a bad thing, but rather a part of the process. There have been many times I’ve tried things in front of audiences and did not get the expected response. This should be viewed as a learning experience, input to adjust your craft and not as an excuse to give up. You will make something no one likes but you, and you will also make things that resonate with many people. It’s through putting things out there, failing and doing it again that you will find your voice.
As we end our chat, is there a book you can leave people with that’s been meaningful to you and your development?
“Silence: Lectures and Writings” by John Cage. I love the way this book is written, if you’re into soundscaping or musical scoring at all this should be on your bookshelf. He spends a lot of time talking about silence, or rather the lack of it. One passage about being in a sound proof room blew my mind. In that space he heard two sounds, the low sound of his blood and a high pitched sound of electricity pumping through his body. Meaning if you are someone who has the gift of being able to hear, you are never in silence as long as you’re alive. His point was that sound can be and is found everywhere. The sounds you hear walking down the street can be music.
One of my favorite qualities about a drummer I had in Charlotte, NC was she knew when not to play. She was a very gifted, skilled musician, but that trait also made her a very tasteful musician.
I try to remember to let my pieces breath and have space, the space is a part of the music too.
Contact Info:
- Website:nicoletteemanuelle.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nicoletteemanuelle/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NicoletteEmanuelle
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicolette-emanuelle/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfJIA0NfyyIMHU5GRVPQyIg
Image Credits
Chris Burk JC Barger
