Step One: Liz Faraglia

Hi, Hola, Bonjour, and Good Morning!

I am Liz, and welcome to my blog about the incredible Sasha Waltz!

But first, a bit about who I am...

To start, I am a senior at UW-Milwaukee double majoring in Dance and Theatre and getting ready to graduate and join the world as a dancer and an actress in May! I am a 5'2" hopeless Romantic (much like that of Isadora Duncan), and thus enjoy cooking, knitting whilst watching the snow fall, photography, singing in the rain, the shower, and the car, spontaneous road trips, trying new restaurants and spending ample amount of time with my family and friends.

I was born and raised in Wisconsin.  Through my years in the adorable cities of Port Washington and Cedarburg I found entertainment and joy in taking dance lessons starting at the age of 4.  I was instantly hooked, and thus the birth of my dreams of being a performer.  My training has consisted of Ballet (8 with the Milwaukee Ballet School in addition to the other schools I attended), Modern, Jazz, Tap, and African.  I was enamored with the beauty and grace of Ballet and wanted to be an etherial goddess on pointe shoes the second I saw my first performance of Swan Lake. Thus, my dream and pursuit of being a professional ballerina was born at the age of 8.  I spent 2 summers at the Joffrey Ballet and the Rock Ballet and after assessing my experiences of both I felt constricted with ballet and shifted my focus to Musical Theatre, which I had fallen in love with during high school. The combination of all of my favorite things: dancing, acting, and singing made my gears turn.

A turn of events my Senior year temporarily put my performance dreams to a halt via an extremely serious car accident.  After being T-Boned going 50 mph, both of my humeri were shattered, my left femur was napped in half, my left knee broken, as well as a skull fracture, brain bleed, and radial nerve palsy.  Needless to say, dancing was replaced with PT and OT and a lot of work with a granny-walker.    5 months after my accident, and 2 months back to walking I auditioned and got into UWM's dance department with 2 broken arms and got in!  And here I am today--fully mobile, part metal, but dancing, acting, and pursuing my dreams! 

As a romantic I find that was inspires me and influences me the most are the things that I find beautiful and what makes me feel like I am in infinite bliss.  This would include nature, music, and physical comfort.  I move to reflect how I would assume I would feel like if I were to be dancing in the sun in the middle of a field amongst the mountains, for example.  I also like to dance what I feel emotionally.  I am influenced with my theatre work by using my relationship with my emotions to express myself through my movement.  I really value and appreciate that I am able to showcase all of my passions and quirks through movement and dance...that's why I find it so beautiful.  I hope to be able to continue integrate this beauty that I feel in more as I venture into the world as a hopeful and inspired dancer and actress.

So this is me--I am your petite dancer/actor romantic blogger friend! I hope you enjoy waltzing your way through my blog about the incredible Sasha Waltz.