Lib Briscoe
Lib was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. She started playing the piano at the age of 5 and was accepted into the music magnet program in high school, where she learned theory, studied composition and sang with the choir. Her emphasis on music continued on to the Philadelphia Musical Academy, a music conservatory, as a piano student, until the curriculum expanded to include a dance program and she transferred her emphasis to dance training. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Mercer University in Journalism with emphasis on Performing Arts, and a Masters of Education from Temple University in Dance Pedagogy. From that point on she worked mainly as a modern dance instructor, dancer and choreographer. In 1986, Lib moved to Germany and worked as a dancer and dance teacher, in modern, jazz, and improvisational techniques, for several years in such places as Tübingen, Berlin, Cologne, and Stuttgart. She began to move more and more back to music, as it better accommodated her family situation. Lib’s biggest joy is to be able to work creatively, arranging the music herself for choirs, writing the texts, dialogue and/or stories that accompany musical pieces to be performed, and choreographing the dances for theatre productions. Over the years she has invented a number of original solo performances for herself as a singer/actress/dancer. In Leonberg, in the Stuttgart area, she was the director of Tammkat, a theatre group for young people which she founded, and performed such works as West Side Story and The Crucible as well as created original works for the group, and choir director of “Lib’S LadyS”, a women’s choir of eclectic character, embracing many styles of music and developing concerts dealing with social and societal issues. After moving to Ravensburg, she was the choir director of Voice Affair, a jazz/pop choir for ten years. Today, she is the director of the “Ökumenischer Chor” in Grünkraut, and teaches voice (pop, musical, jazz) in the Musikschule Tettnang, as well as directing and choreographing musicals. Lennora about her mom There are so many things to be said about the woman I am blessed to call my mother. I believe my good friend Andi put it best when he said „She's one of those people you just notice when she walks through the door. She fills the room with her presence!“ For her 60th birthday our family threw her a (for our standards) big celebration for which we had put together a biography presentation. My brother and I sang songs and our Dad created a slide show depicting all the great things she had done and achieved thus far. I remember sitting at that party, completely blown away by all this new information I was gathering about the woman I had known my whole life. I'd always known she was a wonderful Mom and aware that she was a fantastic artist who had a long list of experiences to look back on but daaayyuuum! ... I had no idea just WHAT and HOW MUCH she had accomplished. Then again, it made perfect sense. She has never been one to brag. She was – in her own words – painfully shy when she was younger and I do believe her modesty derives from that. Not as an echo that lingers on from a time where she was afraid to speak up for herself, but rather as a lesson learned from internal and external struggles. She has inspired and touched many people. Whether it be as a performer, journalist, teacher, choir director, theater director, friend, sister, aunt, daughter-in-law, wife, mother or mother-in-law. She is open, kind and loving but also honest, passionate and realistic. Invested in peoples personal and professional growth. She never ceases to amaze me with her knowledge, empathy and humor. She truly has some amazing stories to share and I for one cannot wait to read and learn more about her. |
Lennora Esi
Lennora Esi is a performing artist, writer and activist from Germany and the US. Born into a family of artists, she starred in her first musical at the age of 11 and continued to advance her skills in acting, vocals and writing throughout her teens. She enrolled in Acting School in Berlin in 2011 and graduated with honors in Munich in 2014. During her acting studies she invested a lot of time into taking various dance classes – her focus being on Afro and Hip Hop. After graduating, she worked mainly on creating original artistic content in collaboration with other freelance artists in dance, theater and music. In 2017 she starred as the Lead in the world premiere of „The Girl Who Saved The King of Sweden“ and wrote, directed, starred and produced her own original production “Schokokinder”, a socio-critical play and short film about racism, homophobia and fat shaming in Germany. Lennora moved to Vancouver, CA with her husband that same year where she carried on as a dance instructor at DanZa Productions and expanded her acting to on screen in numerous short films, commercials and TV. Besides art, family and traveling, Lennora is passionate about Human Rights. Whether through the arts or volunteer work Lennora believes that contributing to a better and juster society for all is a core mission in her life. Lib about her daughter My daughter was born my muse and my mentor. I have learned so much more about the world around me and the world inside myself just by perceiving what captivates her internal gaze. She is sometimes my mirror, sometimes my counterpart, but always her own being. I have grown as an artist because of her, seeing her naturalness, asking for her scrutinizing eyes and ears and working with her. Early on, I observed her creative spirit blossom as she danced and sang, as she gestured theatrically, even before she could explain what she was doing, losing herself in other universes of fantasy. Spending hours in her room, I could hear her through the door as she was making up spontaneous audio plays on tape. She invented performances of dance and music with her friend, and parents and grandparents were invited to living room shows with all the trimmings and trappings of theater – costumes, music, staging, moderation and prepared snacks for intermission. Watching Beauty and the Beast, she was entranced, playing Belle, acting out her emotional ordeal in 4-year-old pantomime. And I was entranced with her. When she dances, the space becomes electric. When she sings, the room listens in silent fervour. When she acts, one comprehends the complexity of the character and the human being behind it. And when she writes, she writes what she sees and hears, recording life’s circumstances, never straying from truth. One senses the heart that loves humanity, hates what humanity does to itself and believes down deep that it can do better. That heart is always present - in the work she chooses and the works she chooses to create, and those creations possess a clarity of form, an unapologetic honesty, content full of passion, and deep compassion. She approaches the world with daring and brio, but with a lack of pretension that astounds me more every year. And I revel in what is still to come. I am honored and joyous to connect with my daughter in this venture, taking on the empty page waiting to be filled, unveiling the moments of revelation that led us to being the artists we are today. And I am proud. The world is renewed in my eyes every day by looking through hers, and I rediscover myself. She is the poetry of my life. |