Mia Moraru: Dancing through life

Brian Sanders and his dance company JUNK has been at the forefront of innovative dance for decades. Back in my mac daddy days, I took many dates to his shows to try to seem hip and sophisticated and to see his artistry and creative genius at work. I sadly missed his latest show in Philadelphia, but am excited to say that weâ€TMll be able to catch it in nearby Hopewell, N.J. through Nov. 23. His current show Urban Scuba is JUNKâ€TMs polite term for dumpster diving. Sanders finds inspiration in unwanted objects-cum-art that bring new perspectives to possibility. One of the people helping to bring his vision to life is this weekâ€TMs Portrait, dancer Mia Moraru. The fascinating Moraru has led a renaissance life, with experiences ranging from travel and child advocacy to working with immigrant communities, teaching French, interning in medical and art settings, and, like any dedicated artist, waitressing. But a poetâ€TMs words brought them to dancing as a full-time profession. Some parts of this conversation have been edited for length or clarity.

Where are you from? I am a dual US/Romanian citizen. My family is from Romania and Iâ€TMm the first person in the family to be born in the US. I grew up splitting my time between the two, Bucharest and Connecticut.

Whatâ€TMs it like in Bucharest? Oh, it's beautiful. Something I find defining is the communal aspect of the city and Romanian people in general. Weâ€TMre huge partiers. Itâ€TMs a country of partiers or simple get-togethers. Everyoneâ€TMs always at each otherâ€TMs houses having dinner or meeting with friends. What, for me, is remarkable is the architecture. Thereâ€TMs a strong mix between brutalist and traditional Eastern European â€" like very gothic, Transylvanian-type architecture. Itâ€TMs a beautiful combination.

When I hear Romania, my first thought is the gymnast Nadia Comăneci. Oh my gosh. Well, thatâ€TMs better than most Americans! When I was growing up in Connecticut, I'd tell people that I was from Romania and they thought I was Roman! But Nadia, yeah, I used to be a gymnast and she was one of my biggest inspirations.

I used to have a crush on her when I was a teen. Sheâ€TMs definitely crushable!

When were you there last? I just booked a trip so I could go after we finish this show. I havenâ€TMt been in two years, which for me is a very long time. I try to go at least once a year. The last time I was there was in the spring of 2022.

Tell me about the family. Were your folks in the arts? Well, my mom is an architect. She does architectural ornament and opened her own firm called, "Atelier Cue." My father was a surgeon. He moved here for his residency but now does cellular and molecular biology research.

[Laughs] So a couple of slackers… Exactly! I was really so lucky to grow up in a very social household. There was a really strong Romanian community in Connecticut and I was surrounded by Romanians. Their best friends were like second parents to me, and there were a lot of kids my age so we had a big, strong, active community. I was lucky and got to travel a lot. Weâ€TMd be going to Romania and think, "We should stop in and visit â€" insert country â€" on the way."

Do you have any siblings? I had a younger brother. He passed away in 2020 in a car accident.

Ugh, thatâ€TMs rough. You donâ€TMt get any warning. So sorry. Whatâ€TMs a good memory or tradition from childhood? Easter and New Yearâ€TMs are probably the biggest holidays in our community. We were always the gathering place and it would feel like all the Romanians on the east coast would come to our house. We would eat and dance and drink coffee at 4 a.m. to keep going and party some more. Weâ€TMd have really interesting conversations about world politics and science as the sun came up. There were mattresses all over the floors for people to crash on and the kids would sacrifice our beds to the guests. Those two times a year are some of my strongest memories. One of the traditions was breaking eggs at Easter. You take your egg and tap it against another personâ€TMs egg. If yours doesn't break, youâ€TMre the winner and you try it with someone else and keep going until thereâ€TMs only one person with an unbroken egg.

Ah, my ex is Greek and they do that with eggs dyed red. So what did you want to be when you grew up? Everything! Literally everything! So much that it was probably problematic. I was sporadic and stimulated and intrigued by everything. Though my first real love was dance. One of my best friends in the U.S. started dancing and I wanted to spend more time with her and wanted to be like her so my mom signed me up for dance class. But after a few years, I got into gymnastics and that took over my life. That continued until the end of high school when I had to quit because of injuries. I then got more into my academic pursuits. I wanted to be a marine biologist. Then I wanted to go to medical school with the goal of working with Doctors Without Borders. I was pre-med in college but my major was History of Art. I was a combination of both my parents! I bounced around a lot of different subjects both in and out of school. I did springboard diving and pole vaulting. Iâ€TMve worked in law firms. Iâ€TMve worked with immigrants and asylum seekers but eventually got back into dance.

Is pole vaulting as terrifying as it looks? [Laughing] Definitely! But I grew up with a father who nurtured my brother and my proclivity for danger and risk and adrenaline. Weâ€TMre all adventure seekers and love doing crazy things. Iâ€TMm always like, "Yes! Put me in the scariest thing possible."

What did you do after college? I went to Vassar College and as I said, majored in History of Art/Pre-Med but they didnâ€TMt have a dance program. I was in a dance company at the time, but it wasnâ€TMt one that prepared you for dance as a career or profession. So when I graduated, I thought that Iâ€TMd have to put dance aside. I also received the Ann Cornelisen fellowship from Vassar to do language study abroad and moved to Cairo, Egypt to study Arabic right after graduation.

I graduated in 2019 and in the spring of 2020, the pandemic hit while I was in Cairo. I tried to persevere for as long as I could but had to cut short my time there and came back in June. I moved back to my parentsâ€TM house and it was at the time that the George Floyd uprising started and the Black Lives Matter movement was kicking into high gear and I ended up spending a lot of my time in New York City doing a lot of organizing on the ground with all types of groups in the city. At the time, I happened to read something from the poet Rainer Maria Rilke and he was the reason I started dancing again.

How so? Basically, he wrote these letters to a young poet who asked, "How do I know that I need to be a writer? What do I write about?" He responded something like, "Thatâ€TMs not the right question. The right question is †̃What is the thing without which I would no longer exist? What is the thing that would fundamentally change you at the core if you didnâ€TMt do it?â€TM" Without thought, I immediately thought, "Dance!" in my head when I read that. [Laughing] And then I thought, "That means I have to pursue dance professionally!" I think it was something Iâ€TMd always dreamed of as a child, but never really allowed myself to believe it was possible, but after that, I decided to do it. And in 2022, I started dancing again.

Ha! I think thatâ€TMs how I felt as a kid. I knew I liked girls, but never allowed myself to believe it was possible to be with one! When I became a teen and learned there was such a thing as a lesbian, I was like, "Woah, you mean I can do this thing Iâ€TMve been dreaming about and actually kiss a girl? Sign me up!" Thatâ€TMs awesome!

When did you first kiss a girl? Gosh! It was in high school. We were at a party with some of our friends â€" all girls â€" and someone was like, "Letâ€TMs see what it feels like to kiss each other!" And it was funny because there was one other girl along with me who had never had a boyfriend and we were both like, "What if weâ€TMre gay? I guess weâ€TMll find out…"

Iâ€TMm sure being at Vassar helped with that. Totally! It was the first time I ever heard of a queger. I was like, "You want to invite me to a what?" Then I learned it was a queer keg party! A queger!

Funny! What else did you discover? Just everyone being so open about not only their sexuality but even their appearance. People werenâ€TMt concerned about being gendered either way. In high school, people would make fun of me for having hairy arms or not shaving my legs; for not appearing "feminine" enough and wearing pants. It was considered weird and unattractive, which made me feel that way. But at Vassar, I could look the way I wanted and didnâ€TMt have to ascribe to forced socialized norms for women in a patriarchal system. It was considered hot just to be yourself. It was also where I learned the concept of being nonbinary, which is how I identify â€" queer and nonbinary. Over the years, Iâ€TMve discovered that Iâ€TMm into everybody. But I remember when I first learned what being nonbinary meant, it was that same, "Oh, thatâ€TMs what Iâ€TMve felt my whole life." Itâ€TMs funny, when I first got to Vassar, at orientation they had people go around and give their name and pronouns. And I was like, "Oh shoot, I donâ€TMt know what that means!" But thankfully, I wasnâ€TMt the first person in line, so I waited to hear what other people said, but that was my first exposure to the language.

Speaking of languages, how many do you speak? I speak four languages fluently â€" English, of course; Romanian, I learned them both at the same time growing up; Spanish; and French. I am currently learning German because I hope to move to Berlin next year. The dance scene there is incredible. When I was in Cairo, I was conversational in Arabic, but I kind of lost that when I got back and got involved in other stuff so quickly. I can still understand a bit, but canâ€TMt speak it as well anymore. But I definitely want to bring it back into my life at some point.

Iâ€TMm jealous, so letâ€TMs talk about your dance practice. Is it mostly contemporary? Yes, and I also do a lot of acrobatics within that, which is a really strong current these days.

Yes, I just saw a show called Flip Fabrique at the Annenberg that had a lot of acrobatics. It was spoofing the WWE wrestling world so there was a lot of flipping in and out of the boxing ring. It was great fun. What a great concept. I imagine it was like watching paintings come to life. I specialize in a lot of partner work, lifting and working with multiple bodies in space. I find myself naturally working with a lot of things that are circus adjacent. But thatâ€TMs not my field. I consider myself a contemporary dancer. Itâ€TMs been a strange experience within the dance world, which is an extremely heteronormative space. Even with a strong queer presence, especially on the male side in dance, itâ€TMs still aesthetically very gendered. Everyone is pretty much separated by gender still but itâ€TMs slowly, very slowly starting to move away from that, at least in the contemporary scene.

Nice! Letâ€TMs hear about this production with Brian Sanders. Urban Scuba! Itâ€TMs a grand spectacle of a show and as immersive as a non-immersive show can be. It really brings you into a world that Brian has created.

I remember being at a show of his where we sat on a pool-style lounge chair that was partially on the stage, so I know what you mean by being part of it without being part of it. Yeah, and I love the fact that the company is named JUNK â€" that "one manâ€TMs trash is anotherâ€TMs treasure" notion. The idea that you can reuse or reimagine and re-fabricate things in so many different and interesting ways. Itâ€TMs cool to be using found objects or things that people think of as junk in the show, and using them in very creative ways.

We take plastic bottles and put them on our toes to use them as tap shoes, which I found fun and funny. Weâ€TMre also learning about trampoline walls, which is a skill Iâ€TMve never had to do before so thatâ€TMs really exciting. He combines so many different elements and apparatuses to create a story about these scavengers in an apocalyptic earth rediscovering and being wowed by things that were discarded. Weâ€TMll take a VHS tape and pull out the film and use the tape to swing around doing acrobatics. In Urban Scuba, we descend through layers of our world and rediscover it through found objects.

My mother is a part of the Dumpster Divers Art Collective. They use found objects and junk in their artwork. So Iâ€TMll be at home. We actually have a dumpster on the stage as one of the set pieces!

Fun! OK, letâ€TMs do some random questions. How many tattoos do you have and tell me about two of them? I have eleven tattoos. The ones that most people notice first are on my fingers, I have my brotherâ€TMs initials V.I.M., one on each finger with a sacred heart on the pinkie. I got it a year after he passed. I created the font with my friend and itâ€TMs always nice to have him with me.

I also have a fun tattoo on my arm that everyone thinks is a dragon, but itâ€TMs just abstract art. The last time I was in Bucharest in 2022, I went to Italy to see this tattoo artist that I really liked. Iâ€TMd been bartending in NY so I had some extra money. I hopped on a flight, got the tattoo, spent the night at the airport and then took a flight to Copenhagen, where I got another tattoo on my other arm and then went back to Romania. It was a fun adventure.

Wow. OK, Iâ€TMd ask what you would do if there was no risk involved, but it sounds like risks donâ€TMt stop you. Ha, true. But Iâ€TMd say jumping off a cliff. Iâ€TMd love to experience a real free fall, just running and jumping off a mountain.

Whatâ€TMs something you are afraid of? Aside from deep existential things? Dark water, where you canâ€TMt see whatâ€TMs in the water with you â€" lakes, oceans, rivers where the water isnâ€TMt clear. Itâ€TMs one of my strongest fears. My imagination goes crazy with what might be in the water.

We share that. I donâ€TMt like things moving around my legs that I canâ€TMt see. What would you eat if you had to gain 15 lbs.? If I could be decadent about it. I would eat a lot of chocolate. I am a sucker for good chocolate. My sweet tooth is off the charts.

Do you have a favorite motto or saying? Thereâ€TMs something that Iâ€TMve been saying a lot this year, whether itâ€TMs about my career or as we face wars and genocide, oppression or this election, or when it seems like everything is hopeless, and itâ€TMs: "If it seems impossible, go for it anyway." Itâ€TMs the only way weâ€TMll change things, by imagining the possibility of things getting better.

Who said it? I think I did!

Urban Scuba plays through Nov. 23 at Hopewell Theater, 5 South Greenwood Ave., Hopewell, N.J. For more information or to reserve tickets, visit briansandersjunk.com/urban-scuba-showcase .