I started to make dance videos in 2009 on my iPod mini. As someone who was dabbling with the idea of getting back into dance, the video platform was a fun outlet to play with.  

To make dance videos alone in my room, it gave me the creative freedom I never had in my past traditional dance environments. Since I wasn’t up for the mental anguish that a dance classroom setting might cause (i.e. the risk of putting myself in a competitive environment where all the “real dancers” would judge me and I wouldn’t be able to keep up), I liked the idea of dancing on my own, but also having the option of an audience through whoever might see the dance video.

do I know if there can be a ballet world that doesn’t hurt women?

I consider the question as someone who spent her adolescence in the trenches of classical ballet training at the Joffrey in New York City, who quit at 19 years old before having direct professional experience, and who now teaches a bunch of adult beginner ballet classes in Brooklyn, while also being a coach and working on my own dance expression through videos and live performances…

last week:

poolside dance-video-making with a 10-year-old, lots of gluten filled foods, a few pina coladas, Jersey accents galore, pushing a wheelchair up and down the boardwalk, writing an instagram post influenced by my PMS, lots of sleep. 

this week:

in-office dance facilitation for a group of women business owners, lots of flax seeds, a few matcha lattes, 3 networking events, many hours of focused work time, writing out new program content and this blog post, could use more sleep. 

“there’s nothing to lose but the things we need to lose in order to get what we really want.”

This text message was sent by me to my friend in reference to a particular relationship situation, but I feel like it can apply to our creativity, too…