We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Lili Tewes. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Lili below.
Lili, so good to have you with us today. We’ve always been impressed with folks who have a very clear sense of purpose and so maybe we can jump right in and talk about how you found your purpose?
I saw Pina Bausch’s “Café Müller” when I was three. I was the shyest girl you can imagine, but from that moment, I knew I wanted to be a dancer. That’s how I ended up moving from Germany to New York as a teenager.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
I am a dancer based in New York and work as a performer, model, teacher, choreographer, and rehearsal director nationally and internationally. I am originally from Hamburg, Germany, and graduated from the Martha Graham School under the artistic direction of Janet Eilber, where I danced principal roles in several of Graham’s ballets, including “Woman in White” in Diversion of Angels and “Pioneer Woman” in Appalachian Spring. I danced for RIOULT Dance NY, Sensedance, CES Danceworks, CRDance Company, have performed works by Martha Graham, Merce Cunningham, Pascal Rioult, Jacqulyn Buglisi, Virginie Mécène, Henning Rübsam, Caterina Rago, and collaborated on projects with Alastair Macaulay, New York Theatre Ballet, and the Buglisi Dance Theatre. My work as a choreographer was featured at Tanztheater Wuppertal create, presented at the Martha Graham Studio Theater, and I was awarded a residency at K3 Center for Choreography at Kampnagel. In the USA, I taught at Peridance, 92Y Harkness Dance Center, New York Theatre Ballet School, Western Connecticut State University, etc., and many workshops and masterclasses across the globe. But I also love to work with private clients either at a studio or in the privacy of their own homes, where I focus on finding joy and empowerment through movement (dance workouts, barre, pilates) and its transformational benefits for both body and mind. And I have a secret life as a professional Hula dancer. From the age of ten, I studied Hula under Kumu Hula Kalei’ulaokala Makekau to later join her company in Hawai’i and toured Europe and the USA. And as a soloist, I have done everything from big galas, after parties, concerts, TV, pop-up shows, and corporate events to weddings, birthday parties, anniversaries, bachelorette or bachelor parties, and baby showers. Some clients gift a loved one a moment they will never forget. A Hula just for them. Instead of flowers on Mother’s or Valentine’s Day, as a birthday gift for a best friend, or when proposing to the one. You can say it with Hula.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
I had a rehearsal director who once told me: “Use your sensitivity to navigate your fear. What touches an audience is a performer who understands and knows herself.” I had to learn to reach deeper into myself and to bring my totality to any given moment with greater vulnerability.
Something I had to internalize early on is, do not try to create and analyze at the same time. They are two different processes. It takes discipline to separate the two when self-doubt and self-criticism take over.
This quote by Martha Graham helped me at the beginning of my career and still does to this day:” There is a vitality, a life force, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and there is only one of you in all time, this expression is unique, and if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium; and be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is, not how it compares with other expression. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open. You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work. You have to keep open and aware directly to the urges that motivate you. Keep the channel open. No artist is pleased. There is no satisfaction whatever at any time. There is only a queer, divine dissatisfaction, a blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us more alive than the others.”
One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?
For the past two seasons, I’ve mostly worked as a freelancer, and lately, I feel like I am looking for an artistic home again with one company where I can grow as an artist, dancer, and human. You can find me at www.instagram.com/lilitewes or www.lilitewes.com.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.lilitewes.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/lilitewes
Image Credits
Stephanie Diani
