The Challenges Faced By Emerging Artists: An Interview With Charlotte Telfer-Wan
Charlotte Telfer-Wan is a dancer and choreographer who grew up in Qualicum Beach, BC, and now lives in Vancouver. She is currently in her fourth year of a dance major and kinesiology minor in the School for Contemporary Arts at Simon Fraser University, where much of her study is focused on physical ability and health. I had the opportunity to meet with her and discuss the challenges faced as an emerging artist.
Upon starting university, Charlotte considered herself as more of a practitioner of other artists’ work and less as an artist, but through the course of her degree she has begun to think farther outside the box and is more willing to introduce her own ideas and expertise into her choreographers’ works. A large part of this transformation is attributed to her increased confidence and assertiveness, which has led her to into taking on artistic direction and producer roles within the SCA. Even in those roles though, she does not see herself as a superior. “Everyone I work with is a creative partner,” she tells me. “I have a vision, but you’re all here to create it.”
I asked her if the artistic life ever got lonely. “Ummm, yeah.” She reconsidered, “well, I don’t think its lonely.” Another pause. “Maybe,” she concluded. “Dance is a collaborative process for the most part. You have to collaborate.” But she has also done solo pieces where there was no collaboration; she choreographed her own movements to a piece of found music. She went on to discuss her challenges of communicating ideas with other collaborators: “It would be nice if someone else could share your brain so then they could read your ideas for you, but no one else is in there so it’s really hard.”
Another major challenge Charlotte has faced is the criticisms from people outside the art world. “People don’t see art as a viable career; when I tell them I want to be a dancer, they’re like ‘oh that’s a hard career,’ but if you don’t see it as a hard career, then maybe it won’t be. Everyone has to work hard in different ways.”
Charlotte bases much of her work off of her current circumstances and uses her craft to communicate ideas that can’t (or shouldn’t) be put into words or writing. She often draws inspiration through listening to the conversations of strangers, picking up on how they deal with situations in their lives. “My most inspirational setting is anywhere I can drink coffee and listen to other people’s conversations.” Often her works start with a simple idea or motif that is then expanded into a greater piece. Currently she is exploring the idea of dancing in very small architectural spaces, such as windows and doorways.
