Interview with HBC’s 2020 Social Chair: Eliza French
Today we had the opportunity to chat with Eliza French, the amazing 2020 Social Chair of HBC! She shared her ideas for building community and welcoming new members during this online year, recalled favorite HBC memories, and expressed appreciation for the warmth and fun of HBC! We hope you enjoy her responses to these 15 questions as much as we did!
❤️Audrey and Amy
1. What is your name?
Eliza: Eliza Margaret French.
2. What is your class year?
Eliza: Class of 2022.
3. What is your concentration?
Eliza: Computational Neuroscience.
4. What is your role in HBC?
Eliza: I’m the social chair.
5. What is your favorite ballet?
Eliza: Probably Vienna Waltzes or maybe Jewels, but I'm a big Balanchine girl.
6. What is your favorite aspect of or memory from your time with HBC so far?
Eliza: I think this is a weird one because when it was happening I was kind of thinking, do I actually enjoy doing this, but building the ramp was awesome. That was my Freshman spring, and we built this huge ramp set for our show, in search of. It took a lot of shop time, and it was my freshman year, so I didn't know everyone in the company that well. So at first I was thinking, oh, I have to go in and hammer wood together and paint which sounded so awful, so I was kind of dreading it. I was thinking that I’d have to go all the way to the Loeb to do this, but it just turned out to be so fun hanging out with everyone and building the ramp. Mara was being really funny the whole time, and there was just such a cool squad of upperclassmen in HBC who made the whole experience so funny. And then when the show happened, you looked at the ramp and you're thinking, not only is this whole show cool, but we built that! That's so cool. So it was like a labor of love. So that was a good memory! I really liked the ramp!
7. As Social Chair, what ideas do you have to maintain the HBC community from a distance? Can you talk about various social events you are planning, ways to stay connected, and ways to introduce first-years/new members into our community?
Eliza: Yeah, I wish I could take full credit for this one. Olivia Sison brought up this idea of a mail chain that I think I'm trying to set up soon for fun, but also to help out the Postal Service. Right now, we're thinking of sending some letters to a couple different Company members across the U.S. wherever they are. Then once you receive your letter you can sign it, or write a little note or message or something on there, and then you mail somebody else. So it's going to make its way through the whole company. I don’t know if you’ve ever read The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, it’s this book about these girls who all share a pair of jeans. They mail it all across the world, wherever they are, and they doodle on the jeans. Ideally it would be really cute to do something like that to keep in contact with everyone, and the train will just get longer everywhere it goes. So I’m thinking stuff like that.
We’ll also definitely do some Zoom meetings to hang out. I feel like it can be kind of awkward, but then if you associate a game with it, you can just break the ice, and people will think, oh yeah I did need this. I did need to see my HBC girls and guys. So some Zoom meetings, of course. We also did a movie night once at the end of last semester, and it was actually really, really fun because you can use Netflix Party, and people can all join and send funny chats. So movie nights are good to go. We just have to be inventive and keep trying to keep in contact.
We’ll also continue with our demi grande pairings of upperclassmen with new members. I think we should make a bigger emphasis on it this year, more than in the past especially because the incoming freshmen really don't know the company at all. So honestly something that could be cool is if I could get a lot of company members, both grandes, but also others, to make little short video clips to introduce themselves to their demis. Some cute video collections to send to them would be great. Also, we could send some care packages, I think that would be really sweet. I know I also want to do initiation, but I think it’s the hardest thing to replicate because it's just such a fun night and there are so many little traditions. So, I'm trying to think of ways to bring those things in but not just dead replicate them because it just would not be the same. I don't want it to just be a Zoom meeting. I'm kind of still trying to think about what's going to make the most sense, so it’s still in progress. I'm not really sure about initiation yet.
8. What is your favorite piece from your time at HBC (either that you performed or watched)?
Eliza: I was really excited about the piece that David made this past semester that I was supposed to be in. It was so cool, so I'm very sad that we didn't get to perform that. That was one of my favorite things I have danced during my time at HBC just because he was such a fun choreographer. I'd never done a choreography intensive before, and it was actually super fun to just cram it all in. It was so much, but at the same time it was so exciting because the whole thing just hits you really fast. So that was one of my favorite HBC dances that I was in, personally. But I also really liked João’s piece that he was in with Tiffany. It was this duet in the show, in search of, and it was so cool. It was really beautiful. They were just really on the same page emotionally and physically, and the whole thing was just gorgeous. It was modern, and they were sitting for most of the piece, pushing their bodies, using momentum and balance, and they also used the ramp idea quite a bit. It was just so well done. So, that was also one of my favorites.
9. The remote platform definitely presents challenges in terms of fostering social connections. Do you see anything, however, that being online can be positive for in terms of community building?
Eliza: Yeah, I mean, one thing is I think sometimes when you're in person in a room full of people you can end up talking to only one person, and you sometimes don't even hear from everybody, but when you're in the Zoom meeting, you're all together in the meeting and only one person is talking at a time. So I kind of think, honestly, in a way, you might learn more about other people that you're not really familiar with in the company just in the sense that if you go around and ask everyone to check in, you'll hear from everyone, not just the one person you happened to be standing next to. So I guess there's a sense of kind of being forced to interact with the entire group that's assembled in a way that's actually kind of positive Then also, I think there's more gratitude associated with social gathering now, even online, in that you think, oh, I really need this, I really want to stay in contact with these people. I think in person also sometimes things kind of just get swept to the side because maybe it's harder to go physically there, but just getting on your computer, with the sole purpose in mind that you really want to see these people, fosters a sense of gratitude for the people that you're interacting with.
10. What is your favorite HBC tradition or social event?
Eliza: Initiation is a lot of fun. The best part of it, honestly to watch and to do, is that the initiates have to create a dance and choreograph maybe 30 seconds to some song that we find to be semi embarrassing and semi fun. It's actually the type of thing where you think it might be super humiliating to do, but it's kind of super fun! Everyone's just in this room, you don't really know what to expect, you don't know where you're going to go, and they just tell you: choreograph! Go! Then everyone has to work together. You start to see how talented everyone is, and it's this exciting moment where you think, oh my god, this is a community with people who do the same thing that I do. They love to choreograph, they love to dance, and they want to make it fun. When you get there and perform it for the company, it's just this moment of total support. They're so into it, they're clapping. It’s initiating and it's kind of embarrassing, but the whole thing is just this huge community that you're in. We're all in it, and the point is that sometimes dance is embarrassing but it's fine just roll with it, and it's just like such a fun moment. It's so fun on both ends of it.
11. What is your favorite part about being Social Chair and being a part of the HBC board?
Eliza: I was Publicity Chair for the first board position I had, and now I'm Social Chair. It's fun to have done them both because you get to see how important all the board roles are in their own way. Pub Chair, obviously, is really critical for getting news out to everyone that the show is happening, and you work with the whole board when you're Pub Chair. Then, Social Chair is kind of like a sweet little reward after doing Pub. You know, it's like pub was super hard, and now I can just plan our fun events. It's kind of like moving up a little, so it was kind of fun for that reason. Just in general it’s great to be fostering the community. I came after Marisa, the one and only, and I just love her so much and admire her so it's just really fun to follow in her footsteps. That was a huge reason why I wanted to be Social Chair at all. But in general, it's just so awesome to see the community come together and to be a part of that. Like, that's just so cool. It's awesome.
12. What do you most miss about being on Harvard’s campus?
Eliza: One of the big things I miss is just bumping into people around campus. You know, it doesn't really matter who or that you talked to them that much. You might just say hi, but it's the randomness that I miss. I also kind of miss libraries, which sounds so annoying and nerdy but I kind of do. There's something really nice about going to the library and really just doing your work and then thinking, oh, I did it all, so I can go be free. I think something that everyone has found a little hard about quarantine is the erosion of work life balance, to some extent because work, home, and everything is the same place, and sometimes even the same room. I think it can be a little harder to put the work away in a sense. I used to never do work in my dorm room ever, I would always go to the library so my dorm room was just my dorm room. So, I think I kind of miss the separation of spaces. It's a physical thing, but it's also a mental thing. In my mom’s apartment I would work, sleep, and exercise in the same room. My yoga mat was next to my bed and then my bed is where I slept, but then like my desk was right there. It's like, oh my god, the four walls are engulfing me, you know. I never thought I would say it, but I really miss the library and separation of spaces.
13. What is one piece of advice you would like to give to new members of the company?
Eliza: It sounds kind of cheesy, but it's true... get involved. I think now, more than ever, you have to take a lot of ownership over what your college experience is going to be like. I'm also a course assistant for a math class right now, and I've noticed that some people like to lurk a little bit over Zoom. It's easy to let yourself sort of get washed away and not really grab on, but this is the reality and we're in it, so make the most of it and really grab onto it. It's not weird at all in college to reach out to people and say, hey, can we just have a 15 minute Zoom as if you would go get coffee or something. Be actively involved and reach out to people. It's tough, but I think it's easier over Zoom to just say, oh, I'll just sort of sit on my computer and then it's over and I'll just continue to live in my four walls. Instead, make an effort to be as engaged as you can, even though Zoom. It's hard. I think everyone's working on it including myself too, but I think especially for the freshmen that's huge.
14. What is something you are looking forward to when quarantine ends?
Eliza: I mean, of course, I cannot wait to see people and go in and out of random people's rooms. The best part of college is just winding up somewhere so random. You're with some friends, and then maybe they know someone, and then you're in somebody else's common room. You're like, oh, this is such a cool common room, and then you find yourself in a different house on the river. I don't know, it's just that the night is random, and it's safe in its randomness, and I really miss that. I also kind of miss the gym. I don't know if that's also an annoying one, I guess I'm really getting hung up on the separation of space, but I also liked having a space where I would work out, and that part of my day was also kind of closeted. So I guess the gym and then the random places I would just find myself in.
15. If you had to describe HBC in a single word what would it be?
Eliza: I would say flexible. I'm sure a lot of people at least have this conception of dance and experience with dance before they got to HBC which is quite rigid, especially when we're talking about pure ballet. Rigid in every meaning of the word, such as what you can wear to class, how your hair can be in class, what pieces you can perform in, what you're considered good at, what you feel you're good at. It's quite strict and intense and imposing sometimes, but I feel like HBC is the polar opposite of that. I guess flexible is the word I’m using because HBC is not just one style of dance or one style of person or really one style of dancer that can be in it. It also makes it so much more fun because you can wear whatever you want, whenever you want even during our performance. No one's going to make you dress in any sort of way. Your hair can be cut short for the first time in your life if you want because you don't need to fit it into a bun. Those things sound so small and insignificant, but they're not because it gives you control back over your life, but still allows you to dance. Those are things that are often totally opposed and unattainable to have both, but at HBC you can actually have all the things. I tried dancing in a lot more new ways when I first got to HBC. I stepped away from just classical ballet, and I did more modern and contemporary stuff. I think this flexibility also just lends some warmth to the company because if you're not so bent on one way of dancing but if you're being so much more open to a lot of different versions of identity and style and all that, then it's a better community. Everyone's happier for it. Everyone feels like their place is valuable and special. I think the flexibility of HBC is what makes it so unique and important and why everyone sticks in it. When I first joined HBC, I wasn't sure if I was going to go all the way with it because I had spent so much time in high school dancing, and I didn't want to do the same thing in college, and I didn't want to be stressed the same way I was, because there is that really stressful side to it. But when I got here it was totally unexpected. It was just fun. You can take out of it what you put in it. The requirements are completely flexible as well, so it's not like you're trapped in a studio for 20 hours a week. If you want to dance 20 hours a week, they're like, go for it if you want that. But at the same time, there's no pressure on that front. All of that combines to make it whatever you want, and that's all you can ask for out of the company. It should be something that you receive from and give to and feels comfortable, and that's what HBC is.