I Am YEG Arts: Erin Newman

Slowly is the fastest way to get where you’re going. For Erin Newman, that’s meant learning dance through sensing and embodiment of movement — finding connection through the relationship between choreography and meaningful movement. It’s a lifelong exploration that’s led her far beyond the dance studio. As a registered psychologist — and doctoral student — Newman brings movement and art into her therapeutic practices, approaching wellness and healing as both spiritual and somatic.

Dancer, forever student, and Artistic Associate at CRIPSiE — This week’s ​“I Am YEG Arts” story belongs to Erin Newman.

Tell us about your connection to Edmonton and why you’ve made it your home.

I was born on Treaty 6 territory Edmonton and have been living here all of my life. My roots in Alberta run deep. As a Métis person, I have ancestral connections to the St. Albert and Lac Ste. Anne areas. Edmonton is home.

What is it about dance that resonates with you as a form of storytelling?

To me, dance not only tells stories of people, culture, and land, it also tells the most intimate stories of all — that of the dancer and of the choreographer. Specifically for dancers, it allows a person to connect deeply into their own bodies, to resonate with their internal world of thought, emotion, and unconsciousness, and allows that to spill out in embodied dance form.

Tell us a little about your role with CRIPSiE and what makes it special to you and the city.

CRIPSiE (the Collaborative Radically Integrated Performers Society in Edmonton) is a unique group that I am privileged to be a part of. We are a collective of diverse individuals that create and perform integrated, inclusive, and anti-oppressive dance and art. Some of us experience disability, oppression, learning differences, mental struggles, or emotional issues. And some of us are allies committed to anti-oppressive art practices. We also are committed to performance, advocacy, teaching, and outreach for the Edmonton community.

I have been a dancer with CRIPSiE for quite a few years now. More recently, I’ve become an Artistic Associate, which is a team of CRIPSiE performers who make artistic decisions based on the needs and wishes of our CRIPSiE community.

As a dancer and a registered psychologist, what similarities do you see in the power of healing and the power of dance?

To me, dance and healing are interwoven, synergetic, and sometimes synonymous. In my own experience, as I found emotional and mental healing and wellness, I was better able to step into the art of dance, and, at the same time, when I stepped back into dance, I healed. There was a time in my life where I stepped away from dance. It took some time to come back to the art, but I am so glad I did.

I see dance as healing on a few different levels. It allows us to deepen into our own intimate relationship with ourselves through the process of embodiment, creative expression, and deepening our own knowledge and trust of ourselves. In the performance of dance, we can creatively move and express our inner world, and we are witnessed in doing so. This is a powerful experience of being seen, heard, and understood — which is an important human need. I think CRIPSiE is a fantastic group because we genuinely see, hear, and understand one another.

Dance can also be healing within the relationships it cultivates. There are beautiful bonds formed between dancer and choreographer, between individuals within dance groups, and in partnerships in social dance. In the case of the latter, healing can occur in the intimate connection that arises between follows and leads in couple dancing. A new dance form I am learning, Bachata, has taught me how to read signs of safety in my body, to lower my physical boundaries, and put trust into the closeness of another individual, while being present and mindful in my body in order to pick up cues of movement within the lead’s body. It has been an incredible experience of growth and healing in partnership with other humans.

Dance also creates healing through cultural connection and in groups of individuals. I am also a Ukrainian dancer with a group called Veselka, and when the war in Ukraine started, we spent the beginning of rehearsals circling together in unity and connection, bringing a sense of solidarity during a terrible time.

What’s one piece of advice you wish you’d had when starting out? And what’s something you knew instinctively that’s still serving you?

As a young person, I struggled to focus and concentrate in dance. I would watch choreography be demonstrated, and the expectation was to integrate what I was seeing into my memory and then be able to perform the movements in my body. I couldn’t easily learn dance in this way. I needed the choreography to sink deep into my body, and I needed to feel the sensations of the movement within my body before my brain structures could form the memory of the sensations and then form memories of the choreography itself. This ​“bottom up” processing wasn’t recognized or acknowledged by others in my world, and I knew that this way of learning dance wasn’t unique to just me and didn’t fit in with traditional forms of dance instruction. Thinking back, it may have been helpful to have had an adult validate and facilitate this kind of learning for those of us who learn dance through sensing and embodiment of movement, rather than rote and visual memory.

As frustrating as learning dance was for me at times, I knew that it felt better to be dancing than to not be dancing. And I think I instinctively knew that the dance community is big and beautiful and that I was fortunate to be part of it.

Tell us about someone who’s mentored you or helped set you on your path.

There have been so many people in my life who have touched my heart in so many ways, and that makes this question exceptionally hard to answer. My daughter, however, is the one I have to thank for my rediscovery of dance. As a new and single mom nine years ago, I started to lose myself in that role. Watching my daughter’s love for dance reminded me of my neglected dancer within. And so I began to learn how to create space for all parts of me — mom, dancer, therapist, and more — so that I could integrate all of these parts into my sense of self. To be honest, without my mom part I might not have learned how to nurture and care for my other parts. So without my daughter, I may have never reawakened my inner dancer.

What can people look forward to from CRIPSiE in 2023?

I’m excited to say that CRIPSiE has quite a few things in the works for 2023. We are currently in a project called ​“From the Inside,” where a number of our dancers are paired with choreographers to create solos based on the personal experiences of COVID-19. Also in the works is our regular fall performance — slated for October, 2023. We will be offering various workshops and classes as well.

What excites you most about the YEG arts scene right now?

I think the Edmonton arts community is big and vibrant, and within it, the dance community is absolutely thriving. I am excited for all the opportunities to be witness to others’ art and performances. I’m hoping to take in all the workshops, performances, and opportunities to join in dance wherever I can in the new year as a way to support, to connect, and to continue to find wellness within the arts.

Describe your perfect day in Edmonton. How do you spend it?

I love this question. A perfect day for me would involve picking up a chai or coffee at Remedy or Caffiend and then enjoying a nice walk in the river valley or Whitemud Creek. Or, if it’s cold, I would head to the Muttart Conservatory to breathe in plants. That smell is magical, especially in the middle of winter. This would be followed by an opportunity to dance in some shape or form, perhaps social dancing at a local Edmonton spot.

How do you hope to help shape Edmonton’s arts community?

I have a dream to one day open an arts centre that integrates dance, expressive art, and therapy. It would offer opportunities for neurodiverse and differently abled humans to create dance and movement within their own bodies, to co-create choreography in connection with others, and to have an opportunity to be seen, heard, and understood through performance. In the meantime, I will continue to explore sensation and movement in my body, learn new ways of being and moving, and connect where I can in the dance community.

Want more YEG Arts Stories? We’ll be sharing them here all year and on social media using the hashtag #IamYegArts. Follow along! Click here to learn more about Erin Newman, CRIPSiE, workshops, classes, and more.

About Erin Newman

Erin Newman (she/​her) is a dance artist based in amaskwaciy-wâskahikan and has lived in Edmonton for all of her life. She has deep roots and connection to Treaty 6 territory, as well as Métis and Cree ancestral ties to the land. She has been involved in Edmonton’s Ukrainian dance community since a young age. As an adult, she has branched out into other dance forms, including integrated dance, contemporary styles, and is part of the Bachata dance team at ETOWN SALSA.

Erin has been moving creatively with CRIPSiE since 2013 and is forever connected through powerful relationships that are represented by meaningful movement and choreography. She has danced in New Constellations (choreographed by Lindsay Eales), Some of Our Parts (choreographed by Lindsay Eales), Succumb (choreographed by Alice Sheppard), On Being and Doing (choreographed by Peggy Baker), and has upcoming performance roles in CRIPSiE’s From The Inside project (choreographed by Krista Lin) and Alison Neuman’s piece, Crave.

Erin practices as an embodied psychologist at Honour Health and the Grief and Trauma Healing Centre, bringing body, movement, and art into therapeutic practices. She is currently a doctoral student at the University of Alberta, researching the impact of embodied practices, such as dance, on one’s individual healing and wellness. Her other pursuits and interests include Indigenous art, eco art, and being a mom.