The "SOME PEOPLE" Essays
See The Light and Take Pause by Sadie Wilking | Edited by Kimberly J. Soenen May 13, 2025
(Sadie and Aidan. Photo by Lauren Alex Kim.)
Collaboration is truly a meditation on mindfulness. What is both exhilarating and overwhelming about my field of work—dancing— is that there are no markers that can tell you if you are going in the right direction, or that point to a middle or an end. I am continuously striving for momentary, fleeting highs, breaths of air, success, validation, justification and flight.
This is where crisis has the potential to strike.
In dance, we have a mental health crisis that is not being addressed because of the lack of financial resources within our community. Ironically, dancers frequently appear to defy gravity, but there is a very heavy invisible weight within our field: insecurity and depression plagues our art form. It’s attributable, I think, to a constant questioning of our self-worth by society, a society that often chooses not to understand, validate, or acknowledge the importance of our impact. Our art form elevates the hearts of people. Audiences celebrate and applaud the body in motion.
(Sadie and Aidan. Photo by Lauren Alex Kim.)
I have been personally and indirectly affected by the crisis of substance abuse, depression, suppression, disorders, and other conditions in our field. When one’s emotional state is compromised by chemicals or illness, the body begins to react chemically. Dancers express with the body, and like every body, this biophysiological reaction can lead to deep self-doubt, and sometimes self-destruction.
Dancers become quite sensitive to the energy that surrounds us. This energy can either remove us from this pattern we have cultivated, or, allow us to lean into the process of overcoming and healing, which in turn, can rewire our passion for becoming something we hone and cherish again.
It’s a cycle.
My emotional and physical well-being is dependent on this energy, and the energy that I share in a space. This exchange between me and The Other is dependent on the way in which this other vessel of energy decides to interact with mine, and vice versa. It is essentially up to me to accept and process the information the other dancer(s) is explicitly or implicitly projecting upon me in that moment. This sensitivity can be exhausting at times, so I have to be conscious of disconnecting from constant interactions, collaborations and exchanges.
(Sadie and Aidan.. Photos by Lauren Alex Kim.)
My mental and physical health is also shaped by how I decide to spend my time outside of this ecosystem where I work and play. Health, to me, coincides with how well one knows herself. It’s vital to give myself the opportunity to slip up, see the light and take pause. I often slow down to take inventory. I take responsibility for my own actions and am mindful of avoiding toxic patterns in order to deliberate in a kind and loving manner.
And then, there is that simple mantra, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Especially in this field that I have chosen...we are sometimes selfish with our knowledge and talents, but it is important to remember that our community relies upon one another. Every community needs to rely upon one another to remain healthy.
ABOUT
Sadie Wilking is a dancer and movement designer whose work spans film to live productions. Originally from Los Angeles, Wilking’s education includes a Bachelor of Arts from UCLA, and a Masters degree from the London Contemporary Dance School with emphasis on preventative mental health measures for dancing artists. Her collaborators include artists such as Tyler Childres, Kim Gordon, Donna Missal, Mugsy, Lola Lennox, Adidas x SNS. Wilking is currently based in Los Angeles/London with bloc talent agency/AMCK, and as of August 2021 opened her own production, collaboration and performance space called “Hooverhaus” in Silverlake, Los Angeles. She is also one of the leaders in the Ghostlight Residency.
Lauren Alex Kim is a multidisciplinary artist based out of Los Angeles. She has spent the past ten years honing her personal style within the world of photography and design. She recently stepped into a directorial role, and looks forward to expanding her visual language through this medium and explore what motion can bring to her current practice. Past clients include Moncler, Nike, Adidas, The Elder Statesman, Reebok, Hulu, Character Media, Billionaire Boys Club, and Left on Friday.
Wilking and Kim collaborate frequently.
(Full disclosure: Sadie Wilking is the cousin of The Editor. In these photos, the artist wears a dress handmade in the 1930’s by our late grandmother/great grandmother.)