In Conversation with Sovann Rochon-Prom Tep

What inspired the concept behind Soft manners? 

Dance has been a part of my life since childhood. It shaped how I navigate through social life, it has given me an ability to understand body language and, to a certain extent, control the image I project. The values, codes and aesthetics shared by the different dance communities that I have been surrounded by also had an impact on the way I chose to present myself at different stages of life. For this creation, I focused on how my identity and my dance have been intertwined through the years as a starting point. I’m hoping for the piece to generate thoughts on the relationship and agency one can have with its own image. 

How does this work reflect your artistic journey or evolution as a choreographer?

In the past years, the stage works that I have created were mostly aimed to shed light on other dancers, who have practices based on improvisation. I’ve been working on bringing attention to their identities by portraying the complexity of the emotions they can experience, through the intensity and ingenuity of their own dance. As I am slowly aging, my body went through serious injuries and I started feeling an urgency to share my dance. After years of exploring my personal dance and parallelly developing a choreographic vision, it made sense for me to bring these two practices together again.  

Describe your creative process in developing this piece. 

When I watch dance, I am mostly captivated by the lived experience of the performer. I naturally put myself in their shoes. I feel like I’m experiencing their emotions, their sensations, their thrills, the joy and the trance they’re going through. Creating this piece, I started off by seeking out what brings me strong, rich, powerful sensations. Afterwards, I observed what these movements meant to me and how I related to them. I then created a structure, an order of things, that can support these ideas for an audience to receive. 

What challenges did you encounter during the creation, and how did you overcome them? 

Working alone is an interesting challenge. I love dancing by myself, but my investment to movement usually reaches new levels when I am sharing my dance with others. As I am creating this solo piece alone in the studio, I can never really know how my movement will come out when in front of an audience. I need to trust myself and know that my intuition and my experience will do its part of the job when performing. 

What emotions or thoughts do you hope to evoke in the audience through your performance? 

I hope the audience can feel the joy, the sensuality, the freedom, the trance and even the awkwardness that I go through in this piece. I wish for them to feel welcome in this intimate universe and to find a meaning they can relate to. 

How do you approach making your work accessible and engaging to diverse audiences? 

I try to infuse my work with drastic dynamic changes. I’m always searching for a balance between what feels true to me, and how I can be efficient at keeping people’s attention. Virtuosity is my love language. I devote a lot of time to offer audiences something that is graceful and visually pleasing.  

How do you envision the evolution of this piece beyond its presentation at The Citadel? 

This solo work started off as a 15 minute piece that evolved out of a week residency with Danse-Cité for a project called Cosmos Électrique in 2024. I decided to present an extended version of this project that is centered around a need to share my present thoughts, ideas and current desires. I am commissioned to make a longer version of this project in 2026-27, in Montreal. I feel very fortunate, through this constantly transforming work, to present a unique version of the piece at Citadel Dance Exchange. 

What are your broader goals as an artist? 

Through my overall dance practice, I want to connect with people, build community, enjoy movement and live meaningful moments with people.