Moxie People | Meet Dancer Adrienne Lipson
In our FW20 edit 'Patterns of Motion' we brought the designers' items together with another form of creation- dance. Dancers, in their movement and essence, make the items shine in a new light. The flow of the fabrics and cuts to us means creativity in motion.
Fashion has a major part in a dancer’s day to day- from the costumes at shows that complete and complement the dancers’ movement to the everyday outfits that must allow the dancers’ comfort and facilitate their freedom of movement.
To us, collaborating with dancers, allowing them to move freely in front of the camera and take their creation to wherever the items may lead them, means discovering new aspects of each item. A meeting point of different forms of creation – local design and local dance.
Each outfit mixes creations from different designers and styles, in total 20 hand-picked designers from our team. Shop the Patterns of Motion looks.
Meet Adrienne Lipson, a dancer in the renowned Batsheva dance company.
Me
Long story short! My name is Adrienne Lipson, I’m 29 years old, and I am a Canadian dancer currently living and working in Tel Aviv.
I started dancing when I was six but it was always just for fun - until my last few years of high-school when I realized how deep and far I could actually take it. I completed a full four-year University dance training program in Canada, and got my first full-time dance job at the age of 21 at Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, a contemporary dance company in the US. I danced for Hubbard Street for seven years before getting a job with Batsheva. I moved to Tel Aviv in July 2020, smack dab in the middle of the pandemic.
Dancing
I love being a dancer because it allows me to continuously redefine myself while getting closer and closer to understanding the core of who I am deep inside.
When I’m not dancing, sometimes I forget I’m a dancer - being really physical actually isn’t an innate quality of mine. I can be really lethargic and I am always seeking to be as comfortable as possible - but dance is often the exact opposite of this. Every day I must push myself to extend and exert my energy, often past the point of what is comfortable. And strangely, when I am dancing, I feel that it is my entire essence and exactly what I should be doing. I feel that I am good at dancing because I love to dance, and I love to dance because I am good at it. It’s like a cycle that keeps feeding itself. It’s addictive and it’s wonderful! I guess what I’m saying is that being a dancer is being human - there are a multitude of different ways to experience it and I’m really grateful for all of them.
These days
Currently I am focused on living my best life - a huge cliche, but it essentially encapsulates everything that I am going through. I feel that I am in a phase of introspection where I am continuously questioning my choices and my actions, even my ideas and beliefs - sorting out which I want to keep, which I want to give up, and which things I haven’t considered yet. Along with that I am continuously diving deeper into Gaga, the movement language created by Ohad Naharin, and the core of our work at Batsheva.
My entire dance career prior to moving to Israel was based in different ideologies and practices around dance, so it’s been a process to being able to make room for all the new ideas that I am encountering here.
My Style
I think I would describe my style as eclectic, timeless, clean, and ambiguous! In general I really like to dress simply and understated, and then add on something personal that creates individuality. I think as a person I never like to feel too nailed down, so my clothing usually reflects that. Some of my favourite items are a big pair of basic denim shorts, a thrifted shirt that I hand embroidered koi fish onto, and my perfect red dress from Moxie (which I wore when I got married this past summer).
Outfit Ground Rules
When I pick out an outfit, it’s important for me to feel at peace with my surroundings. The clothes should be appropriate for the weather, occasion, activity, and my mood! Obviously I aim to feel comfortable and confident in what I’m wearing, but sometimes the point of an outfit for me isn’t always to be comfortable or safe. There are times when I want to push myself to be more daring, or to try looks that I might have never imagined myself to wear.
I think the act of picking an outfit itself can be so empowering and is just another way that I can connect to my own creativity.
Adrienne's perfect wedding wearing our dress <3