We were lucky to catch up with Natalia Sanchez recently and have shared our conversation below.
Natalia , thank you so much for taking the time to share your lessons learned with us and we’re sure your wisdom will help many. So, one question that comes up often and that we’re hoping you can shed some light on is keeping creativity alive over long stretches – how do you keep your creativity alive?
I try to make the most out of the creative outlets that surround me. Living in NY makes it easy to people-watch so I do that and observe their way of talking, walking, moving, I watch movies with nice visuals, listen to my ‘Discover weekly’ playlist on Spotify, read fiction books, go through editorial magazines, I journal about anything that comes to my mind; from tweets I would post if I had twitter, to dreams I had, to quotes, to random words. I always dig deeper into the things that really interest me and I never plan an hour of the day to do so, it always comes organically and in waves.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
My name is Natalia Sanchez, I am a Dancer, Choreographer, Photographer and Graphic Designer now residing in NYC. I was born and raised in Monterrey Mexico and ever since I can remember I always had a deep passion for the arts, I took my first dance class at 13 and I haven’t stopped since. I formalized my training in Prepa UDEM Dance Group and as I started to train in other studios of my city I met cool people and worked as a dancer, dance teacher, and choreographer. In the journey of my dancing career I allowed other artistic disciplines to mix into my craft like photography, music, and design. Later on I continued to get my education in Graphic Design at University of Monterrey, a semester later I enrolled into a Photography Certificate in LCI University as well. When the pandemic hit and I thought the world was literally going to end I came to the realization that I would die at 21 without having moved to New York City to study my main and biggest passion, dance. After some years of endless conversations with my parents, in August 2020 I made a PowerPoint Presentation, sat them down in our kitchen, and tried to convince them of why dropping out of college and pursuing a dance career in another country was a good idea. I’m so stubborn they had no option but to agree with me and by October 2020 I already had an apartment in the city.
As of today, I graduated from Peridance Center’s Certificate Program with a concentration in Contemporary and Ballet and I have my own dance company named “Unnamed Dance”. As a dancer I have worked both on stage and film with artists like Yara Travieso, Catherine Correa, Socha, Cesar Brodermann, Raul Contreras, Fatima Logan, among others. My choreographic works have been shown in spaces like Triskelion Arts, KNJ Theater, Emelin Theater, and Teatro UDEM and I recently worked on Movement Direction for Za111’s music video “Sagitario”. As a freelance Photographer and Graphic Designer I have collaborated in works with Preston Mui, Quinn Wharton, Moving Forward Dance Collective by Madi Hicks to name a few. Currently there are a couple of upcoming performances in the city with Unnamed Dance and I am in the process of applying for an O1 Artist Visa so I can continue to tell and share stories with the people in New York City.
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?
My number one advice is LIVE! Let yourself be moved by life and by its surroundings! It is so important for an artist to live outside of their craft, go on trips, meet new people of all ages and places, read a book, cook with your mom, expose yourself to really uncomfortable situations and make art about it!
Another thing that has helped me before creating is setting a genuine intention. Everything I do is a love letter; to my dancers, to the person I’m photographing, to the audience that is seeing a choreography of mine, to the public perceiving my art. Creations seem more genuine when thinking about who is going to receive it rather than what I want to receive from it. Separate the ego from the result, your art isn’t for you it is for the people.
Lastly, in the process, take your art seriously but not yourself seriously. Everyone messes up, messing up is crucial to know yourself as an artist and your style! In a world where we only show our success, there have been an enormous amount of trials before getting to the final result. Learn to laugh at yourself and your mistakes and then learn from them. Every failure you experience is getting you a step closer to where you should be.
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?
I am looking to collaborate with genuine and honest artists who believe in what they do. Bonus points if they have good music taste. I believe I’m pretty approachable so just message me on IG and let’s go for coffee.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://nataliasanchez.me/
- Instagram:@uataliasauchez @natshootsu @_unnamed_dance_
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@nataliasancheez?si=SQ5EYp0DYlYora2h
Image Credits
Daniela De La Garza, Daniela Flores, Elyse Mertz, Dash Kolos
