About Myself and Cardell Dance Theater

Hello! My name is Hayley Stricker and I am currently a dance major at the University of the Arts.  My two passions are art and healing. I consider myself to be a performer at this stage in my life however I have a history of teaching dance to students with a wide range of ages and abilities. I’ve had the opportunity to work with many different types of students and to help them improve not only physically but also mentally and emotionally. Through my experience I have noticed a very strong connection between dance and the mind. I’ve seen dance classes transform many student’s attitudes and mindsets along with my own. This realization has guided me to becoming extremely interested in studying somatic therapy. I also oil paint, draw, and read and write poetry. Even in my own relationship to my personal art I have noticed a very strong connection between dance, art, the body, and the mind. I also enjoy volunteering and offering therapeutic art classes to people in crisis. This  gives me the opportunity to heal and inspire others while offering new perspectives for a happier and healthier way of life. Overall I think it’s important to remember that people do have resilience in their lives. When it comes to my personal artistry as a dancer or choreographer, I am inspired by the connection between the body and the mind or the dancer’s body to the viewer’s mind.  For me, dance is about sharing love, ideas, controversies, legacies, and the freedom of expression. This is important because I’m a heavy believer in the theory that all art that we witness becomes a part of us. I dance because I’m mostly a thinker, but when I move I become a powerful speaker. I believe that these theories are true to other art forms as well.  Alongside healing individuals, I also believe that art and specifically dance has the power to heal our society. Often, dance has the ability to succeed when words fail us. Silvana Cardell of Cardell Dance Theater is working on a project called Supper, People on the Move. This performance is about immigration and the intentions and decisions of people moving from place to place. I am working as Silvana Cardell’s assistant on this project along with set and costume designers, a guest artist, and 6 dancers. The performance involves stories from people who have left their original countries and have migrated. I am extremely excited to be a part of a project that offers compassion and brings light to a topic that needs to be shared and is desperate to be understood in today's society. I hope to learn about the many choreographic techniques and process that go into developing a piece that exposes such a heavy and important topic. 

I invite you all to the show!

Click here for tickets: http://supperdance.com