Interview with HBC’s 2020 Secretary/Historian: Sara Komatsu
Today we had the opportunity to chat with Sara Komatsu, the wonderfully insightful Secretary/Historian of HBC! She shared her thoughts on what makes HBC a special community, reflected on how the arts community has adapted to the online experience, and expressed thoughts about racial inequality in the ballet world. We really appreciated Sara’s insights and wisdom and hope you enjoy her responses to these 15 questions as much as we did!
❤️Audrey and Amy
1. What's your name?
Sara: Sara Komatsu.
2. What's your class year?
Sara: Class of 2023.
3. What are you planning to concentrate in?
Sara: English with a secondary in Art, Film, and Visual Studies.
4. What is your role in HBC?
Sara: I’m the Secretary/Historian.
5. What is your favorite ballet?
Sara: Currently, it's probably Concerto by Kenneth MacMillan because I did a mini project on it in music class. But I also love Sleeping Beauty for something that is classical.
6. What is your favorite piece from your time so far with HBC, either that you performed or that you watched?
Sara: My roommates who came to she is (HBC’s 2019 fall show) last year really liked Marisa’s piece, and I would agree. I really like that one. And I was super excited to be in her piece in the spring too. But I also really like any of Sarah Chou’s choreography, and I was also excited to be in her choreography for the spring.
7. Can you also describe your role as a FAP leader this past year, including how well it translated to the online environment? What was it like working with incoming first years? (Blogger’s note: FAP (First-Year Arts Program) is an orientation program designed to introduce first-years to the arts community at Harvard).
Sara: I got involved with FAP almost on a whim. I got an email to apply for a proctor position, and I just did it. And then I realized afterwards that Mags (the former HBC co-director) had been a FAP proctor too so that was kind of a fun HBC connection moment. But yeah I ended up being a FAP Film proctor mostly because I've had a lot of film experience in high school.
On transferability, I think FAP translated quite well to an online experience. It may have been the easiest to move online among all the first year programs. And it was a great experience! I didn't get to do FAP as a first year, but participating as a proctor, I felt, was almost even better. And doing it virtually, we actually got to do some really cool things that we wouldn't have been able to do in person. We got a bunch of keynote speakers, some really great Harvard alum and people who had arts connections. I think my favorite was Randi Zuckerberg, who just was really inspirational and amazing...she just blew me out of the water.
And yeah, while it is harder to connect with people over Zoom, I thought that the first-years came into the program with really great energy; the chat was always booming during any of the functions. They're just like constantly hyping each other up and having little mini side conversations in the chat. And they were really excited to connect with us and with each other. So, I think it's really due to their energy and excitement that FAP was so successful. It’s because of them that we, as proctors, were able to connect with them and help them connect with each other. Overall, it was such a good experience -- a 10 out of 10 -- I would do it again for sure. It was awesome!
8. From your vantage point as a FAP member, how have you seen Harvard artists responding to the online nature of this year. What are some things that have worked well and what are some things that are more challenging?
Sara: I think this was interesting because we had such a diverse range of artists and disciplines. I feel like what was most visible was theater because there were a couple virtual theater productions that went on over the summer that were really successful and turned out really well. Like, the First-Year Musical was great! So I thought that theater made a really good transition to online. I think for us dancers, it was a little bit harder. Dance is so physical, and it requires us to be in person or at least in a real space for bigger movement. And it's not like studio art where you can ask for the same materials like paint or canvases or whatnot. We can’t just ask for a studio to be shipped to us, so I think dance has been a little bit harder. Although I've seen outside of Harvard lots of companies and choreographers doing cool virtual things.
9. This past spring you wrote a very powerful Crimson article about racial inequality in ballet, and we were wondering if you could share some of the highlights from that piece and what inspired you to write it? (Blogger’s note: The Crimson is Harvard’s official school newspaper. Sara’s powerful piece can be found here).
Sara: I'll start with what inspired me. I would say that this article is about issues and inequalities in the dance world I have thought about and interacted with for a long time. I think growing up in the dance world and being in various dance settings, you see racism and you are forced to confront it. And then when all of the protests and events were happening in early June, I just felt sick to my stomach and really felt the injustice the way I think many people did. And I saw a lot of dancers, especially dancers of color, on social media speaking out and using the momentum of this larger change to push the same change in the dance industry. Dancers like Misty Copeland, Nicholas Rose, and a lot of other artists were speaking out. I felt like I had to do something. Otherwise, I knew I would feel so helpless just watching the news and social media. I realized one thing I knew how to do was to write; and I was lucky enough to be an active member of the Crimson Arts Board and had this respected, established platform for speaking up...knowing that people might actually read what I wrote, maybe. I wrote the piece, and it got published. The response was overwhelming for me. I wrote based on some personal experiences that I had had and things that I've seen from being plugged into the dance world for so long. And as it turns out, my article resonated.
I think the main thing that I wanted people to take away from it was how even as we think things are getting better (which they are for sure -- we see more diversity and more people of color in principal roles in lead choreography roles) and obviously progress is being made, there's still so much work to be done, particularly in classical ballet. I think I also wanted to highlight a student perspective -- that I, as a student, have seen these things happening at small studios, which I feel like is the most important place where change needs to happen. Because that's where everyone comes from even if you end up at a big ballet school -- you probably came from a tiny studio in your hometown. And those tiny studios are the origin point for all of us dancers; that's where dancers decide that they love ballet and they continue or not. So change has to occur at these origin points.
10. What is your favorite aspect or memory from your time with HBC so far?
Sara: There's so many...I think my favorite moments are the ones at the end of a show. Or just like at the end of a performance weekend. When the curtain goes down on the final show and everyone starts laughing and crying and screaming because like, “we did it!” We put on this beautiful piece of art. I think it's just those moments of community that make me really happy and make me thankful to be able to do this art with all of you wonderful people. More specifically, I love it when we do that little pulse thing when we’re sitting in a circle. That's always fun!
11. What's something that you miss most about being on Harvard's campus?
Sara: Again so many things! I think what I miss most is just those chance encounters that you have. I feel like right now (well, during quarantine of course it was worse) but even now, my social circles are restricted -- I see students at the ballet school, my roommates, which I'm very lucky to be able to interact with in person. But there's nothing like the serendipitous encounters of just walking across the Yard saying hi to people, like running into random friends, or even just acquaintances you say hi to in the dining hall. Like that's still fun. Yeah, I think I just miss the casual social aspect of being on campus. I miss lots of things, everything.
12. What is your favorite part about being Secretary/Historian and being a part of the HBC board?
Sara: Hmmm, I think my favorite part -- I don't know if I have anything that's like specific to beings Secretary/Historian -- but I think being on board has been really fun, not just to connect more deeply with the ballet company, but to see how a student organization is run in college. I think that was a really special thing to be able to do as a first year specifically. It was really great to have that opportunity to see what the inner workings of how a show is put on. So that's really, really cool. And I feel like being on board also helped deepen my relationships with upperclassmen more than just going to company class and rehearsals would have, even though those have been really good experiences too.
13. What is one piece of advice that you'd like to give to new members of the company?
Sara: I would say try to get to know everyone and make those connections. Okay, I don't even want to phrase it as making connections, because that sounds too much like networking which is not what I'm trying to say. I feel like being in a collegiate ballet company is such a unique experience. And it's such a lovely family -- I feel like we put on really great high level art, but at the same time, it's lower pressure than say a professional company or even a pre-professional ballet school where there's always politics and stress and trying to get the part or whatever. And I feel like being in HBC is so much more welcoming and more relaxed, even as we work hard and put on great work. And I think that gives you the opportunity to get to know these really cool people. We all have the same passion and love for ballet, but everyone has different backgrounds. And I think that's super interesting. And it's really cool getting all of these different people in the same place.
14. What is something you are looking forward to when quarantine ends?
Sara: Wow, so many things -- being able to hug my friends. That's like a huge thing. Feeling like life is moving forward and not on pause. Sometimes, I really feel like the last seven months just didn't happen. We are already like towards the end of 2020 which is crazy! Also being able to see everyone in person without a mask on.
15. If you had to describe HBC in one word, what would it be?
Sara: How do I choose one word? I would say...HBC is warm and welcoming. It's just such a family, and it's so nice to be able to dance in this comfortable environment with a bunch of peers. It's like learning for the sake of learning -- like if you're learning outside of school without tests and whatever. That's how it feels to be in HBC where it's like, yeah, you're just dancing to dance, and it's wonderful. And you get to do it with friends, make fun memories, and make cool art and experiment. So I say warm and welcoming are my two words.