Today we’d like to introduce you to Haley Morgan Miller.
Hi Haley, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today.
Like many little kids, I was put in ballet at 3 years old. I used to take it so seriously – no smiles and no pink outfits. As I got older (and grew out of that phase) I studied at Marin Ballet, training with Artistic Director, Cynthia Lucas, and outstanding faculty and choreographers such as Sandra Jennings, Amy London, Robert Dekkers, and Casey Lee Thorne. I supplemented this with my education at Marin School of the Arts at Novato High School, where I began learning all styles of dance and its academics. This program, MSA for short, has 14 different arts programs and was a wonderful environment for interdisciplinary collaborations. As I discovered a passion for creativity through choreography, I worked with musicians, technologists, and visual artists. It was here that I created my first dance and technology piece, which was presented at the Marinnovators Science and Technology Festival.
I went on to achieve a BFA in Contemporary Dance from the Boston Conservatory at Berklee. During my time there I studied a variety of academic arts and got to practice with incredible faculty and choreographers that left me full of inspiration and curiosity. I dove into node-based programming my senior year for my final project and that momentum propelled my career as a media and interactive technology artist.
Now based in Brooklyn, NY, I am a freelance dancer, choreographer, and interdisciplinary artist. It has been everything and also nothing like I expected this NY artist career to be like. I’ve had amazing opportunities such as dancing with Jacobly Satterwhite for his new project on display at the Lincoln Center, presenting my interactive media art at galleries like Art She Says and performing all over the city. I co-founded a multidisciplinary art show, Fabled Narcissism, alongside Ragin Smith, my fellow creative director, and producer. I even made it beyond New York to travel to Scotland to perform this past summer at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. I also create AR filters, designing for fashion brands, musicians, dance companies, tattoo artists, and events. As glorious as these achievements are, the starving artist stereotype is no joke. It’s so comforting to be a part of a large community here though, who all feel these special things and struggles, and come together to make further change and simply support one another.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
The most difficult part of being in the arts is launching your career and learning the business side of the industry. All arts industries are extremely underfunded and that makes producing work complicated. It takes a lot of patience to figure out how and when it’s best to execute your idea in order to honor both what the art asks and what you need as the artist. This issue is common, for better or worse, so that at least the further you go down your path the more you connect with other artists and producers with sage advice.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
As a choreographer, I really enjoy incorporating movement that comes from all things from nature to technology, based on what the work calls for. Sometimes this may be by using interactive live projections or a pressure plate that controls a wall of lights. I’m very intrigued by humanity’s simultaneous disgust and lust for emergent technology and how it dictates our lives. I use these dueling emotions to challenge the audience’s perceptions. With node-based programming, I’m able to build those digital worlds in video art, projected work, and AR filters. The filters go beyond its role as a marketing tool, and question how we choose to engage with the digital world. Conflicts of the heart are always present to me with this, as systemic faults collide with entertainment, inspiration, idolization, and humor. And sometimes I strip all of that away and simply move my body to perform onstage, because the kinesthetic value of energy transference from one shape to the next, from one body to the next, will always be my first love in the arts.
Before we let you go, we’ve got to ask if you have any advice for those who are just starting out.
Divide your time based on your needs. Stand up for what you believe in. Prioritize rest so you can maintain creative energy. Advocate for yourself.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.haleymorganmiller.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/haleymorganmiller/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWevn3jekwgVt1znLTs1yZg
Image Credits
Alba Garcia
Haley Morgan Miller
