Where Dreams Begin by Tatyana Ali
“Well, you’ll have school to fall back on.” I heard those words again and again as a young person after explaining to others my desire to attend college after spending most of my childhood acting and singing. Yet why did everyone see my favorite pursuits—the performing arts and my education—as opposed, rather than complementary? Since then, experience has taught me that the arts enhance experimentation, and
that research deepens creative expression. In my career, I’ve sought to harmonize the creative and the intellectual, feelings and ideas—and to show our Black and Brown children that this path exists for them, too. As an actor, I rely on external and internal observation. I observe and try to understand other people’s behavior, and I also pay attention to my own. My body and my feelings are the canvas that I work with; the way I feel, what makes me happy, what makes me angry, what makes me sad or scared, what makes me laugh, what makes me bounce around, and what keeps me still. I have to notice the way I walk, como una “negra tiene tumbao,” how it sounds when I talk, rapidamente para no olvidarme de mis pensamientos, y entonces, I have to take all of those parts of me and adjust them to the character I have imagined. No less than my individual creative process, collaboration is essential for an actor. Collaborating with other artists—the writer, director, actors, lighting technicians, costume designers, and set designers—I experiment with the way my character moves, sounds, thinks, and feels. Together, we practice and play daily until we find just the right formula to make the characters and the imaginary world we’re creating feel real. To me, this interdependence shows how the discovery of knowledge is always a communal process, not simply the product of an individual.
28 • Rising Voices Library
14 Rising Voices | Books Empowering Girls in STEAM
Made with FlippingBook - Online catalogs