By Morgan Allen
When the most recent war broke out in Armenia last September, Sera Shahgholian felt a call to action within every fiber of her being.
UCSB dance student Sera Shahgholian in her piece The Armenian Flag posted on Instagram. Photo by David Gharibian.
A fourth-year dance major at UC Santa Barbara, Shahgholian fell in love with dance at the age of three when she began Armenian Folk Dance in Iran. When her family immigrated to America, she was exposed to more styles of dance and the world of choreography.
Shahgholian began posting her own choreography on Instagram while in quarantine, intending to raise awareness of the war unfolding in Armenia. Her work reached nearly 23,000 views on social media and helped her raise $1,000 for Armenia in donations from her viewers. This work uncovered a new side of Shahgholian, and within her creative process she found her purpose and identity.
In a recent interview, Shahgholian discussed the inspiration behind her choreography, and her creative process, as well as social media, and her future aspirations.
Q: What drew you to take on such a politically and socially important subject, and what was your main goal in creating your choreography?
A: Obviously the pandemic happened, and I was in this place of researching how I could put modern and Armenian dance together, and trying to find what my purpose was in life. Then in September, a war broke out in Armenia. There was something just telling me to do these videos, either the passion as an artist, or something else. It's just like I had to make this choreography.
Sera Shahgholian of UCSB Dance (center) and two of the dancers from her piece Pomegranate on Instagram. Photo by David Gharibian.
It was to bring awareness, and meanwhile I was able to find this single identity that I was looking for. I was able to put these two dance forms, basic Armenian moves with basic modern moves, together to make it entertaining enough for people to click on the videos and be able to look through the history as well. I was able to not only push these ideas out there, push my artistry out there, but also give information to people.
Q: When choreographing a piece, how do you approach the creation process?
A: So, the way that I choreograph, it’s either I hear the music and I see the scenery, or I see the scenery and then I try to incorporate music with it. I use the passion and the culture within me, and it’s not like I am doing the movement and thinking about the movement, it's just naturally coming out of me.
Q: What has the response been on social media?
A: I wanted to reach a lot of people and bring awareness, but it wasn’t necessarily like ‘ok I’m going to be so known on social media now,’ it was more a question of how can I work with the passion that I have inside me and put it through dance to reach more people since we’re in quarantine. Without people sharing your content, there is no way you can get your word out there, so I’m really thankful for the people that shared my videos.
That was super helpful for reaching a lot of people, and then through that, I was also able to collect donations from people and send it to Armenia Fund.
Q: Do you see these ideas growing into a bigger project in the future?
Sera Shahgholian of UCSB Dance and fellow dancers in her piece Unite, posted to her Instagram account. Photo by David Gharibian.
A: If I were to develop my ideas, I would really love to make this maybe a five-minute dance of the whole journey of what is going on in Armenia, while in turn somehow including my American culture and my American background as well.
I am looking forward to putting literal Armenian movement into modern dance and then seeing how that would evolve from there into this bigger idea.
Watch Sera Shahgholian’s videos here.
Morgan Allen is a third-year student at UC Santa Barbara who is double majoring in sociology and dance, and pursuing a minor in professional writing. She wrote this for her Writing Program course Journalism for Web and Social Media.