Heather Despres-Burack is a choreographer and filmmaker who attended The New School For Social Research. Her modern dances, Adjust, Four Degrees Kelvin, and Better Half, and dance film, Stillwell, explore the possibilities and limitations of communication, memory, and movement. Heather recently talked to Girl Zone about her passion for dance.

GZ: How does dance strengthen your mind and body?
HDB: Dance connects you from the deepest spot inside yourself and reaches out to the farthest point in the universe. It connects the world around you to your soul.

GZ: What does a choreographer do?
HDB: A choreographer makes dances; she mixes movement vocabulary and life experiences with self-expression.

GZ: What inspires the dances you create?
HDB: It goes back to when I was a little girl. The thing that made me feel most alive was dancing. Dancing was the purist expression of my essence--of who I am.

GZ: Describe the relationship between choreographer and dancer.
HDB: The choreographer designs the movement and the dancer makes the movement come alive.

GZ: How do you choose music for your dances?
HDB: Sometimes I improvise with musicians. Sometimes the dance comes first. Sometimes the music inspires the dance. In "Better Half" I used recorded sounds like keys in a lock, water dripping, and footsteps.

GZ: Who are your favorite choreographers?
HDB: Here are some off the top of my head. Of course there are others. Isadora Duncan, Martha Graham, Mark Morris, Bill T. Jones, The Everett Dance Theater, Min Tanaka, and Elizabeth Streb.

GZ: What interests you about using dance as a subject for film?
HDB: My original inspiration comes from the movie "Singing In The Rain," and I loved movie musicals like "West Side Story." On film you can move dance anywhere: to the desert, to the Alps, to a swimming pool. The camera can also create a very intimate space, and dance looks beautiful on film! Not enough people are exposed to modern dance. Modern dance expresses something unique about the human spirit. Film can capture that and bring it to a wider audience. And you can play with time on film--slow things down, move things backwards.

GZ: Why do you choreograph?
HDB: To watch a dance come alive is like watching a flower grow. A seed is nurtured and it becomes alive with beauty that seems independent, but I've created it.

GZ: Would you share some wise words with girls?
HDB: If you want to dance, then dance. Don't let anything stop you. Not what you look like, not that you think you aren't good enough--if you feel it, you need to be doing it! And stay inside your own body. Don't focus on the mirror. Focus on dance in terms of what your body can do and how it feels inside.

Dance is just one way to express yourself. Words are another. Share YOUR poetry with other girls in Expresso.