BalletX’s Andrea Yorita on giving back with The Sonder Space, CREATIVITY at Home, and Being Herself On Stage
Photo by Gabriel Bienczycki. Courtesy BalletX.
Andrea Yorita has been dancing with BalletX, Philadelphia’s premier contemporary ballet, since 2012. This year she launched The Sonder Space: a charitable evening of dance, alongside fellow BalletX dancers Blake Krapels and Zachary Kapeluck. They worked with ten choreographers on group pieces, solos, and duets. The inaugural performance will benefit Women Against Abuse, a domestic violence advocate and service provider in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
The concept came from a desire to give back. “It’d been in my mind for a really long time, but it had been daunting to do alone.” When Blake joined the company and expressed a similar idea, they decided to go for it. They were inspired by companies with similar programs. With the aim of a multi-beneficial evening, they plan to fundraise while showcasing dancers and choreographers both in an outside of the company. “A lot of people in the company are choreographers and it’s really cool to see the interworking of their brains. Choreographers put themselves in such a vulnerable place by creating something that was never there before and I love collaborating and the whole creative process.”
Sonder is “the realization that each passerby has a life as complex and vivid as one’s own”. After reading the many client stories on the Women Against Abuse website they knew it was the right choice. The organization offers a number of services including a legal center and a transitional housing program. During COVID-19, they continue to provide life saving services as many victims are isolated with an abuser.
Daniel Mayo, Blake Krapels, Andrea Yorita, and Zachary Kapeluck at BalletX after a rehearsal for The Sonder Space.
This also presents an opportunity to showcase choreographers and dancers in and outside of BalletX. “I know with some up and coming choreographers they may feel pressured to create something they think a ballet company would like instead of just creating what’s in your heart, whether it be good or bad. So we wanted to give them the platform for them to do and say whatever they want, or to not say anything, just to give them that moment in time”.
They were busy with BalletX work and in between rehearsals or at night they would dedicate their time to The Sonder Space. Saturday May 16th was the original show date, which they commemorated with snippets of work by the choreographers and dancers involved with the project. You can find the videos on instagram, where there is a collection of rehearsal videos, and works in progress.
Although it’s difficult to pick a fixed date for the performance, it will happen once it’s possible. They are still engaged with Women Against Abuse, and plan on holding a performance to properly share their platform with others. In the meantime, you may donate directly to Women Against Abuse.
While at home, Andrea and Zachary Kapeluck filmed “Quarantine 2020”, a fun and uplifting video to Mr Blue Sky by Electric Light Orchestra.
“It was the first time putting on makeup in forever because we were going to film something for Caili for BalletX, so Zach started playing music while I was getting ready to film and that song came on. We were feeling a little blue that day and it instantly sparked my emotions to be a little more happy for a moment so I was like, we should do a silly video to this for fun after we film for BalletX. We started working on it and six hours later we did the whole song! I’m glad that it made people feel good, we enjoyed it.”
What’s your schedule been like?
Obviously it’s not as rigorous as our normal schedule but we still take class every morning together through zoom, and then it changes day to day depending. We’re working with three choreographers right now on new creations. It must be super stressful for the choreographers but they’re all handling it beautifully so it’s really nice just to move. Your dancer brain turns off if you don’t use it so with choreography you realize you forget that this is a part of my brain that I used to access a lot.
I like to think that our group is really closely knit, and doing this through zoom, we all do feel close but then also- I don’t remember what it feels like to dance with you! It feels so distant. so it’s pretty crazy to experience being with the group but not with the group.
Still from Better Days by The Sonder Space
What else are you doing to keep busy at home?
After we realized we weren’t going to be able to dance ,you kind of felt this sadness that you couldn’t dance, and you almost didn’t want to dance. At least that’s how I felt. On instagram everyone was dancing and immediately jumped into that creative part of themselves through dance and for some reason it took me a while to come back around to dancing. So we started exploring other ways of our creativity and we’ve been drawing and painting a lot. I think when you sit with yourself enough you just find a different way to be creative, so that’s been a cool and interesting aspect of this. Dance is such a short career so it’s always kind of that looming thing that comes over you where you’re like - this is going to end soon, whats going to happen after? I honestly still don’t now whats going to happen after I dance yet, but it’s been nice to see that my life can continue a little bit. It’s not the same feeling I have when I dance but it’s nice to see that there’s another avenue I can take to let out some creativity.
You said you were shy, and I relate to that, so does that affect you in your dancing or performing or learning new things? BalletX performances can be so different, which is amazing to watch, but for the dancers, you’re constantly doing something new. Sometimes you even have to speak!
My relationship with that part of me is so complex because everyone has their insecurities but you have to have a certain part of you that’s just like “Screw it - I’m going to do it”. I feel like it’s encouraged in the studio to have a strong and outgoing personality, which is a good thing and it should be encouraged, but for someone who isn’t naturally that it’s a complicated thing for me. I love to dance, I love performing, but it’s hard for me when a new choreographer comes in to be like, I’m going to stand in front, and I’m going to make sure they see me today. I’m more the type that’s like you know what, I think I’m going to learn it back here, I feel more comfortable back here, I can focus on me. But I try, and Christine (Cox, Artistic and Executive director of BalletX) has been really great with working with me on this. It’s something I’ve been working on even before BalletX, it’s something i’m still navigating through, but it could come off to the person at the front of the room like you don’t care, but really truly I care a lot and I just don’t want to mess it up. I love being on stage and performing, which is weird, because at the same time I don’t like being the center of attention. Especially in social settings. I just like to believe that I’ll find my own way. I might not be the most vocal but I know that my heart is still the same as the very vocal person next to me.
The Moon choreographed by Jø Stromgren. Left: Photo by Chris Kendig. Courtesy BalletX. Right: Photo by Bill Hebert Courtesy BalletX.
Every experience has been great, I feel like I grow because of that and I haven’t found like I’ve hit a wall because I always feel uncomfortable and pushed. We did a piece in the fall where I had to basically be an actor. (The Moon, choreographed by Jo Strømgren, Music by Mette Henriette). I had lines and we were on the moon and when they told me that was what I was going to do I was like “did you pick the right person, are you sure?!” For some reason I went into full panic mode. I went into Christine’s office one morning freaking out thinking I just can’t do it. She was great and supportive and that’s the atmosphere she’s made at BalletX. Caili, who was dancing in the piece, every time I was off stage she was like “you can do it!” So I had that support which was really special. Zach was the other actor in it and he had done some acting before. He was like you know what, it’s not a big deal if you forget a line, if something happens, I’ll just jump in. I had all of my bases covered there which was really great, but it was really hard for me . Even in the studio the first time we did it, I would just forget lines or I would switch words around so the sentence wouldn’t make sense at all.
Andrea Yorita in Increasing by Matthew Neenan. Photo by Alexander Iziliaev. Courtesy BalletX
Do you feel more comfortable in the performance than rehearsals?
Oh yes. There’s something about the stage. I can technically do whatever I want and all of these people are watching and I can’t go back and change it. I can get corrections and improve upon it for the next show but it’s there, it’s seen, and there’s something comforting in that for me, it feels more safe. It feels like I can in my own way without being vocal about it , speak my inner thoughts and inner workings or tell them a story or show them. It feels like I’m exposing myself completely without anyone really knowing truly where it’s coming from. It’s a cool outlet in that sense for me. and also something about the studio, there’s people that are sitting really close to you and they’re there to correct you obviously you need that, but knowing that they’re there to find the things you can improve on . As opposed to an audience that’s there to enjoy - or maybe they’re there to critique too, but also not having the mirror there. I don’t really look at myself a lot in the mirror so sometimes when we’re rehearsing and I catch a moment I’m like oh, that’s super weird. It’s nice to not have that mirror, I can fully be myself without any sort of criticism on my own self .
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National Domestic Violence Hotline: 1-800-799-7233 (SAFE)