Meet Lily Chumas | Dancer & Creator

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

Hi Lily, what role has risk played in your life or career?
Taking risks throughout my life has continuously led me to important experiences; whether the outcome of that experience was immediately good, or I failed in the moment and learned a positive lesson from it later on, I feel taking risks are the first steps into becoming a more elevated, tuned-in version of myself. Past risks I’ve taken have ‘ripple-effected’ into some of my most cherished memories, relationships, and current passions that I can’t imagine living without now. I believe that the absence of risk will cause your life to stop evolving, or become dull and stagnant. If my mind and surroundings become too routine, my creativity consequently suffers. If I sit a little too comfortably in my daily rituals, no matter how much I adore the security they give me, my mind starts to feel blocked. Risk has a lot to do with trusting myself, and growing up dancing really helped develop this confidence in my choices. I’m definitely more prone to take risks in the setting of dance class or while I’m editing a video, than during my day-to-day social life. In the arts, I feel taking risks are more encouraged in order to stand out. Especially in a dance class, the environment is curated to make room for that, whereas in real life, it feels so much scarier and unfamiliar. I’m working on being okay with the unknown. I also feel that the more life I go out and live, the more “emotional material” I can embody in my work. I can draw inspiration and personify it inside my performances, movement explorations, and other creative projects. This is even more prominent when it comes to film-making; storyline, context, symbols, imagery, intention, colors, textures, configurations, sounds – are all elements that become richer and vaster inside my mind with the more risks I take. I think about risks as the building blocks and spiritual playground for expanding myself. Taking risks ignite a strength and resiliency that sticks with me during times I want to stay inside my comfort zone. I always walk away feeling so capable, more than I even give myself credit for.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
My art is a combination of dancing, choreographing, and free-styling, as well as conceptualizing, editing, and occasionally shooting my own films, painting, drawing, writing, and cooking (my food can be pretty artistic sometimes). The two forms I choose to share with the world are my dancing and filmmaking; the other forms are reserved for my own personal time and viewing. I think it’s great that we have the ability to pick and choose what we share and don’t, as art can be so personal and healing. Being creative has fulfilled me ever since I was little. I started dancing extremely young – specifically as a baby, where I would hold onto the railing of my crib and stand over my toes, which progressed into 3 year old me performing and dancing in little costumes all over my house. I started with recreational dance, which progressed into competitive dancing until I graduated high school. Finally, I moved to Los Angeles, California in fall 2019 to pursue my BFA in Dance Theatre at AMDA College of the Performing Arts – and I graduated this spring with honors! Starting school was also the start of my journey to finding my own artistic voice without the limitations the competitive dance world imposes. Long, intense, 9:00am classes that went into the evening, equally scary and kindhearted instructors, singing and acting classes which I had zero experience in, long weekend rehearsals and grueling audition spaces were my new normal. Once COVID hit in 2020, everything I expected out of my experience got flipped on its head and I spent a year and half training at home remotely. During one of my zoom classes is when I first heard the phrase, “constraint yields possibility;” I had no choice but to view my new reality with this thought in mind if I wanted to remain positive, which I did for the most part as I went straight through school – no semesters off – and I’m honestly so glad I did. Dancing on carpet, losing stamina, learning choreography from a small laptop screen, the instructor glitching and lagging while teaching, eye fatigue from looking at a screen all day, and most of all, social isolation, were some strong challenges. In saying that, I also got gifted time with my family and pets, more vulnerable and connected relationships with some of my instructors and friends who were undergoing the same experiences as me, time to hone in on my own artistic values and expression, and above all – I was introduced to filming and editing! I had a YouTube Channel with my best friend growing up that I enjoyed editing and adding over the top transitions and effects to, which I believe was truly the origin story for my passion for film, but in remote school I really began to learn the ropes, even from the limited resources I had available to me. I also got the opportunity to explore my choreography in a new and intimate way, in my basement, which led to my first self-choreographed, conceptualized, and edited dance film. At this point I was in a number of virtual dance productions, and in the habit of learning someone else’s choreography, making their vision come to life through their desired location, costuming, concept, etc, so creating and posting my own dance film was rewarding to say the least. I finally moved back to LA as we transferred from remote to in-person classes. Upon coming back to campus during my last four semesters, I kept creating in classes. I finally began putting descriptives to the kind of work I enjoyed creating, from observing my videos and from what others saw inside my work. I strive to explore the most vulnerable layers of humanity. My genuine storytelling promotes self-reflection and emotional discovery. I express themes ranging from playful, spirited, and surprising to abstract, dramatic, and detailed. An important aspect of my creation is generating a safe environment that values the rich process of developing the work, just as much as the final product itself. I encourage viewers to relate their own experiences and inner feelings to the stimulus presented through my art. I love both making and consuming art. Art is so special to me because every piece can act as a mirror that serves to reflect and expose to you more of who you are. Relating to it, hating it, feeling extremely uncomfortable from it, laughing at it, sharing it with my loved ones – all of these reactions and actions have revealed to me a little more about who I am. A question that also helped bring my favorite project to date into fruition, “The Critic”, is “if you had unlimited resources, what project would you be working on right now?” This question continues to propel my ideas, especially when I get stuck in a creative rut. I can always find inspiration inside this perspective. After being freshly graduated and free to live and design the life I desire, I feel most excited about the fact that anything is possible.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
As far as food goes, I’m vegan, so I would take them out to all of the best plant based hotspots around Hollywood. For breakfast, we would either start out with a dragon fruit bowl from Pressed Juicery, or we would walk to Solar de Cahuenga and get their vegan breakfast burrito, or the vegan nutella crepes, or their peanut butter smoothie… Then, for either lunch or dinner, we would find a Plant Power food truck, AKA vegan copycat fast food, and take it to Vista Hermosa Park to enjoy downtown LA’s skyline. A few more honorable restaurants to mention are Gracias Madre, Sage Plant Based Bistro, Doomie’s NextMex, and Crossroads Kitchen. For dessert, we would go to Frog and get frozen yogurt. After that, we could go thrifting in Thai Town and on Melrose Avenue, at Vintage Vortex, Crossroads Trading Post, and American Rebel. Cool places I would recommend checking out to hang out would be Griffith Park, Venice or Laguna Beach, the Van Gogh Exhibit which now includes the Frida Kahlo exhibit, The Last Bookstore, Grand Central Market, and Amoeba. If my best friend was up for some dance classes, I would take them any day of the week, as they’re offered practically anytime all around the area. At some point on the trip, I would also show them around Hollywood and where I went to school and where I used to live.

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?
There are so many people I’m grateful for in my ongoing journey, but I wouldn’t be half the person and artist I am today without the overflowing support I receive from my parents, Amy and Holly, daily. Both of my moms have never voiced the concern that I should think of a ‘backup plan’ for my career. They’ve always instilled in me to trust my intuition, therefore they’ve had confidence in me when it comes to my passions and interests. Their most important, strict phrase of encouragement, that is spoken to me before any big event, like going onstage or to an audition, or even when we’re saying goodbye on the phone and I’m about to go out with my friends, is “HAVE FUN!” Whenever I’m doubting myself or my choices, I ask myself if I’m truly having fun, then that answer informs my choices moving forward – because what’s the point in anything if I’m not enjoying myself? I picked such a fun and vast career that I owe at least that to myself. Someone else I have to shoutout, and it would be a crime not to, is my grandma, Amy’s mom, who we all refer to as “My #1 Fan.” She is the ultimate hoarder of my dance pictures and videos and watches them probably everyday. The minute I show her something new of mine, she asks, “Can you send that to me?” She’s another main source of where my motivation comes from, because whatever I do or create, as long as I’m doing it with love and joy, she will be so incredibly proud of me.

Website: lilychumas.com

Instagram: @lilychumas

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCr17OxTe-_vi7cRUA5VzhfQ

Image Credits
Wes Klain and Josh Rose.