Cierra Bliss Wachtel, who goes by Cierra Bliss, began dancing at Boulder City studio Dance Etc. before she’d even turned 5. Now 22, she’s a dance major at UNLV, who recently unveiled an original choreographed piece titled “Skin Shed” and is preparing another, “Spineless,” for an April 22 premiere on the UNLV Dance Department YouTube show, Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow.
The Weekly caught up with Bliss to chat about her inspiration, her modeling experience and more.
“Skin Shed,” choreographed by Cierra Bliss
Why did you decide to study dance in college? I thought dance would just be a hobby, [but] I went into college as a business major and hated it. I looked within myself to remind myself what I love, and that was dance. I added dance as a minor, and I fell in love [with it], so I changed my major to dance. I also added a creative writing major, in case things go awry. Performing arts isn’t a very consistent career choice (laughs).
What style of dance is your focus? I train in all styles. When I was dancing at Dance Etc., I thought jazz was my thing, but we started to integrate more contemporary, and I started to fall in love with that, the dramatic emotion of it. But I still felt like I didn’t have something that was my own. When I went to UNLV, I was introduced to modern dance, and I completely fell in love with myself as a dancer.
How has the pandemic affected your experience at UNLV? When we first went into lockdown, no one knew how we were going to perform or what we were going to do for classes, and it was my time to start choreographing. We were all informed we had to do a virtual show, and it was incredibly intimidating. But the piece I choreographed was perfect for a virtual medium, and it reinspired me as a dancer.
It’s a modern piece called “Skin Shed,” and it takes a very raw look at becoming who you were always meant to become. It’s definitely nothing I ever thought I could create, but I had an amazing videographer and the best dancers in the department, and it was well-received.
Where did the idea for “Skin Shed” come from? Funny story … we wear tights and leotards, and sometimes I would hike my tights up and put my hands in my tights, and it would make everybody laugh. My friend Katie said it looked like I’m a snake, and she was like, ‘You should do a piece about a snake coming into its skin.’
It became a way to come to terms with who I was inside. I’m a gay woman who does a million different things, and there’s a lot that I do that I feel like I can’t say I do because I don’t feel professional enough or allowed. Coming to terms [with that] is not an easy process. It’s a beautiful thing to know who you are and become that. It’s not a beautiful process—the process is very raw—but the outcome is very beautiful, and there’s beauty in that struggle. That’s what “Skin Shed” shows.
You’re debuting a new piece, “Spineless,” on April 22. Is it a continuation of “Skin Shed?” I’m creating a literal body of work, where each piece analyzes and abstracts a part of the body, mentally or physically. “Spineless” and “Skin Shed” both live within that.
With “Skin Shed,” I used a literal skin-like costume element, and with “Spineless,” I’m utilizing rope as a costume and prop to symbolize bones. With “Spineless,” I wanted to take the idea of having no backbone, having nothing to stand on or for, and turn it into a romantically dramatic piece that details feelings of yearning, having nothing and wanting to be something. The metaphor of being spineless is what carries the piece.
You’re also a model. What has that process been like? It has done wonders for my self-confidence and the way I view myself. I started teaching myself how to do makeup when I was in middle school, [and] I would do makeup for the people I was connected with through dance. One day, a friend asked me to do a shoot; she needed another model. So after years of watching America’s Next Top Model, I finally had my moment (laughs). I think everybody needs to model.
Modeling speaks to me, because it’s another version of performance art. That first shoot was two and a half years ago, and since then I’ve done so many amazing shoots. I’ve gained a pretty decent organic following on Instagram, and people seem to enjoy the content. I’m definitely no stranger to taking a risqué photo (laughs). People might be nervous to go for it, because of their body, their skin, their height or their weight, but ironically, modeling made me accept what I had and how I look.
That’s very important to me, I don’t look like the average Instagram model that sells fit tea. I would love to work with companies that support the same thing.
