Laura E A Powers
Multi Arts; Performing Arts: Dance; Teaching Artist/Instructor; Visual Arts: Mixed Media, Painting, Performance Art
I have passion for creativity, language, learning, and health. I hope to find the intersection of these values within the field of social and adaptive circus.
I am an interdisciplinary artist, with specialization in aerial circus arts and representational oil painting. Using dream imagery, attention to process, and personal narrative, I explore the relationships between fear and wonder, body and soul, and multiple disciplinary spheres. Operating from the assumption that beauty, truth, and meaning exist, I create from a posture of awe. My greatest influences have been Salvador Dalí, Julie Heffernan, JMW Turner, Ryan Heffington, Marina Abramovic, Trisha Brown, and Yoann Bourgeois. My work draws heavily from contemporary dance, literature, and poetic language.
In addition to my personal work, I perform with the FSU Flying High Circus, and I coach with Gym Force Aerial.
I completed my Bachelor of Arts degree in Studio Art (minor in Anthropology) this past spring, Cum Laude. I am certified by the American Council on Exercise as a personal trainer, pursuing specialization in fitness nutrition. I am now studying Special Education (MS), with a focus on severe disabilities.
I am interested in education of the whole person, which includes traditional academics, inquiry and creativity, physical health, life skills, and social development. I am interested in how the arts, particularly circus, can provide an environment conducive to human growth in all facets. As more research emerges on this topic, circus arts appear more clearly to have substantial value for persons with disabilities. Circus arts can provide beneficial sensory input and function as a communicative outlet, similarly to visual art therapy. I intend to work with individuals with ASD, SPD, and other disabilities, utilizing this unique artform to promote their cognitive, emotional, and physical development, in conjunction with their traditional education and therapies.