Meet Camden Retzlaff | Dancer and Choreographer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Camden Retzlaff and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Camden, what role has risk played in your life or career?
If you had asked me this just a few months ago I would have said I don’t take enough risks, that I’m not a risk-taker. This is true to a point, I have never been a “live life on the edge” personality. But I will say that I evaluate every situation, opportunity, or challenge that presents itself to me and take it on full force, which comes with quite a bit of risk-taking. I went from a homeschooled high schooler living in Texas who only went to dance and work, to an openly queer, professional dancer, graduating college and living in California within 2.5 years. If that’s not a risk I’m not sure what is. Fear of rejection, disappointment, and failure lives within all of us, and sometimes the risks you’re willing to take don’t feel like risks at all, they feel like necessities.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
Its ever changing, as i grow and learn it looks different every day.But the core focus of my art will always stay consistent, as a dancer, choreographer, and filmmaker I choose to embrace the notion of creation out of destruction. Using the trauma humanity endures to create the provocative, analytical, hypersensitive, and subversive art we cherish. Utilizing contemporary modernism while adding humanity into technical movement, this creates works for all eyes to enjoy. Whether it be beautiful, disturbing, or sorrowful my work is created to nourish the human spirit. While art is meant to show individuality. This becomes exhausting in the dance industry, at the end of the day you are never going to look, dance, or create exactly like anyone else so as long as you’re being you, you have nothing to worry about. My dance journey defiantly wasn’t easy but I am grateful for every moment of it, most of my challenges were internal battles and still are. You are your own worst critic, and I am and always was my own worst enemy. I can’t say I’ve gotten past that but I have learned to utilize it. Rather than doubting myself, I try to actively challenge myself, turning my negative self-talk into a critiquing tool. If anyone is going to be honest with me about my work, it’s me. My art is and always will be a depiction of me and my stories, battles humanity fights internally and externally, and giving a voice to the words unspoken by all.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Living now in Oceanside but still having a part of me still in LA makes this question even more fun. If there is anything LA has its surprising little spots that you want to go to over and over again. We would first thing in the morning have to go to either The Waffle or The Breakfast Club for some breakfast food and mimosas. Next would have to be Griffith park for some hammocking and sunshine, when I was a student I feel like I never got out enough so this would defiantly be needed. Ive always been a food gal so probably every other LA restaurant you can think out. My favorite night spots were Cabo Cantina on Wednesdays for Kareoke or a couple of different speakeasies with fun secret entrances. There are also so many viewpoints and hikes you can take either late at night or early in the morning but it will always be worth the walk!

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Id like to dedicate my shoutout to my youth and the people who guided me through it. This obviously involves my family, my mom who somehow balanced being a dance mom without being a “dance mom” (forever thankful for that), my friends who always supported me even though my life circled around dance and only dance. But also the people who took a chance on me. For example, The Institute of Contemporary Dance in Houston, accepted me into their Pre Professional program when I had just a few years of experience. Or the small local dance studio that gave me my first teaching job at just 15 years old. Or even the parents that allowed me to do solo privates with their children over zoom during the pandemic whilst I was in college. These are the people who I have to thank the most, the ones that took a chance on me, even if they didn’t know they were.

Website: camdenretzlaff.com

Instagram: @camden_lee_retzlaff

Image Credits
Josh Rose