On Tuesday, October 8th, the High School Nation Tour visited ERHS. The tour group consisted of musicians, videographers, dancers, producers, and other such advocates for youth in the arts. The Raider Review conducted a press conference prior to the tour’s performances, and took the time to interview the members of the touring group on various topics. In particular, they had plenty of questions to answer for aspiring young artists and creators.

Choreographer Liz LeGrande – a skilled dancer who’s performed on stages with big names such as Usher, Beyonce, and Katy Perry – said to young, self-taught dancers, “Don’t worry about being trained.” Her advice for aspiring choreographers is to record themselves freestyling. “I find that my most intuitive movement is usually my best,” she noted. “So I usually do freestyling, and from there I’ll go back and watch [the recording] and try to memorize what I did.”

In response to a question about how young artists can build confidence in their craft, LeGrande answers. “Confidence is a muscle. Find what works for you.”

Jessame, a singer-songwriter from LA, advises that the best way to deal with a creative block is “to not force it” and instead, to focus on “rekindling [your] creative hunger.” Sofi K, another singer-songwriter from Detroit, agrees that “you can’t force creativity.” Her favorite method of handling a creative block is to “distract [herself] and then go back [to work].”

To young artists that are dealing with pressure within their environment to pursue other careers, the HSN tour group had plenty of advice for them as well. “I wouldn’t let your environment dictate your passions…If there’s something you’re passionate about and that you’re good at, you know there’s nothing wrong with doing it. I mean, you’re young and you have time, and there’s nothing wrong with kind of juggling things. I wouldn’t let pressure from [outside] people dictate your own life,” says Tony Bongiovi-LaBeet, a self-taught videographer from the Virgin Islands.

The artists covered the topic of college. Sofi K says she applied to about seven different schools for college and planned to major in broadcast journalism. “I love singing and singing is my passion, but I wanted to try this and I wanted to try that. I’m choosing not to go to school right now…What kind of clicked for me, is that at the end of the day, [performing] is the thing that makes me the happiest.”