Tamar Reisner-Stehman is one of three 2017 Holt Adoptee Scholarship winners! Watch below as Tamar performs the dance she choreographed about her adoption and the unanswered questions she has about her birth mother.
This choreographic solo was created while I was abroad in Italy this past semester, spring 2017. At first this solo was not about my adoption and I struggled with its creation. I felt directionless until I sat down and wrote the words you hear in the voice over. After writing this original poem about my adoption, and my birth mother, the dance came together quickly. In the dance, I grapple with what it is like to have so many unanswered questions about my birth mother. It resolves when I accept that I may never know the answers to my questions, but ultimately, I am who I am because of this missing information. My adoption is something that has inspired me to create art, and the fact that I am adopted is an inherent part of my identity. Dance is my passion and I am able to use this outlet as a way to explore and express many of the challenging feelings that often come up about my adoption. I believe that self-identity is dynamic. I am not defined by one experience or one part of my story, but instead I am shaped by all of the experiences I have had.
