Meet Aurelia Anne Cohen | Performance artist, musician, entrepreneur & revolutionary

We had the good fortune of connecting with Aurelia Anne Cohen and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Aurelia Anne, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
Starting my own business was more of a response to society and my position in it as a Revolutionarily minded empath artist and performer. Very early in my career I had the great privilege of working with artists and mentors who had paved the way for creatives in my position to expand and benefit from their hard work as business owners themselves. So naturally it followed that when I had a new creative venture, I followed in their footsteps, arranging and organizing myself such that I would be self-sufficient.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I consider living with a positive outlook and a clear intention personally and internally to be the primary ingredients for my art. I have been extremely fortunate to develop a multifaceted practice that is my life.

My practice includes physical theater, dance, aerial acrobatics, pyrotechnic, theater, composition, and songwriting, design and fabrication, primarily in costuming and clothing, but also with the occasional apparatus, I love working with animals and have had the pleasure on a handful of occasions to do it professionally. The opportunity for cultural exchange and skill exchange internationally, and nationally in the US has always deeply enriched my experience, and contributed greatly to my outlook.

I have been teaching for 18 years on the side. I am extremely grateful that I am able to prioritize my life as a performer and creator over my career as a teacher, but finding the balance between the two is essential to my practice, and to my feeling of equilibrium in society.

The feedback and support I have received from countless students over the years I consider one of the greatest gifts of this profession, and I directly attribute this skill and my enjoyment of it to my grandmother who was a professional, ballerina as well as an author and deigned to teach me from an early age.

It is in the responses from my collaborators, students and audiences that I find pride in the meeting of the ways, which I have found in myself and in my practice.

My methods can be somewhat chaotic, but are consistent, staying true to my vision of the larger picture on this planet has been a guiding force in my mind and heart always. Playing at being a business person must be just that for me as the business that I am in is linked to a spiritual responsibility, and is as far from a “business“ in essence as possible while also maintaining a realistic approach in modern society in the world.

One of the biggest recurring lessons in my life has been to tune in to the heart and mind simultaneously and listen to the intuitive feeling about any given subject. In survival, business, expression and goal achieving, this plays an intrinsic role, and ultimately tells you whether what you’re doing is the right thing or whether perhaps your energy should be focused elsewhere.

Supporting other artists, companies and brands who are standing up for values that you share, strengthen your intentions and the execution of your vision and ultimately make it possible to sleep well at night. Remembering to remain optimistic in action, even if you’re feeling down, allowing yourself not to be satisfied while simultaneously being proud of the work you are achieving and knowing that doing your best is enough in any given moment is a necessary balance in my opinion.

Everything is connected, this is an age, old truth, one which has been pushed aside in many ways. Being wholeheartedly, selfish while concerned with the well-being of everyone, down to the last insect, will be our fastest way to whole and complete success. Our return to the knowing and sensitivity of this truth is absolutely necessary as the human caretakers on this planet.

To truly help ourselves, we must be present, sensitive, and willing to grow in the fun ways, and the difficult ones alike. I am open to every possible collaboration, one could think of that helps unite people with a whole intention into an active force for thriving evolution and mindfulness, art, expression, well-being and sustainability.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My grandmother, Stephanie Stigers Varon My parents
Flam Chem Pyrotechnic Theater Troop
The Carpetbag Brigade
Nonprofit MMOS ( see the All Souls Procession)
Jason Dea West
So manny supportive entrepreneurs and artists out there doing The work of standing up for vision and intention within the world of capitalism and survival, community minded people all around from every walk of life.

Website: Www.AureliaCohen.com

Instagram: @aureliaannecohen

Linkedin: Aurelia Anne Cohen

Facebook: Aurelia Anne Cohen

Other: Www.thebarnswallows.com (music) Www. Flamchen.com (pyrotechnic theater) Www.theCarpetbagbrigade.com (Physical theater/acrobatic stilt theater) Www.intuitivedashcompass.com (More music)

Image Credits
Thaddeious Hink (think studios) Carl Moonen Danny Nicoletta @nownoweveryone