Photo: Liz Payne
Hometown: Lancaster, PA
Current city: Berkeley, CA
Age: 36
College and degree: BFA Modern Dance, University of Utah
Website: www.servicelearningindance.org
Blogs: www.dancingwords.typepad.com (children’s books on dance)
www.dancingwords.typepad.com/life_as_a_modern_dancer (Life as a Modern Dancer)
How you pay the bills : Teaching and performing
All of the dance hats you wear: teaching artist, performer, blogger, writer, mentor, networker (also have been an arts administrator, festival co-director, grantwriter, board member)
Non-dance work you do: mother of 2
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On performing: I have lived in the SF Bay Area for 14 years now. I have actively danced all of those years, as active as most modern dancers can be in the Bay Area (ie holding full-time jobs and rehearsing 1-3 nights a week). Some years I performed in 10 projects, others less. I performed while pregnant with my first son until 6 months and with my second until 8 months. I have worked with a variety of choreographers, but mainly artists Dana Lawton, Nina Haft, and Randee Paufve. I have learned so much by working with these three women – about making art, about integrity, about pushing myself. I have believed in these artists and wholeheartedly committed to projects and taken risks along with them, as we make new pieces and put the work out there in the community. I am grateful for all of them for believing in me, and eternally grateful for Dana for being the first person to give me a chance here in the area at age 22. (Fyi – all of my “gigs” have been gained through being seen in class, not auditions.)
Surprisingly, the solo work is some of the work I am most proud of. Solo work is super scary, and vulnerable. But, I have grown to really love it and am honored to have been given multiple solo projects over the years. I’ve tried to “own” each opportunity. As Randee frequently challenged me – “See and be seen.”
Photo courtesy of Paufve Dance; photo by Gabe Maxson
On being a “teaching artist”: I love the phrase teaching artist, because I strongly identify as both. Over the past 14 years I have been an active artist and teacher. Both feed each other. I love wearing both hats.
On not moving to NYC: NYC was never in the cards, though over the years I did wish I had the opportunity to live there for a little. My husband is not a fan of NYC, so it was never in our family plans. But I would advise young dancers, that if you are curious about New York, to go for it before you are too tied down to a community, a job, or raising a family.
On mentors: I didn’t even know what a “mentor” was until my mid 20s. I am so lucky to have people like Ruth Bossieux, Sabrina Klein, and Wayne Hazzard in my life. Ruth founded the San Francisco Ballet’s outreach program, and really mentored me as I became a public school dance specialist. She watched me teach, assisted me in classes, and gave great feedback. Sabrina Klein is an amazing arts administrator and pure inspiration. Through her leadership when I was at the Julia Morgan Center for the Arts in Berkeley for 6 years, I learned so much about arts administration, supervising employees, leading workshops, organizing communities, and more. I also take great inspiration and guidance from Wayne Hazzard, the amazing director of Dancers’ Group in SF.
Mentors help you as you head into new territory, especially as a teacher and arts administrator. Mentors are guides, resources, question askers, and inspiration.
Now at age 36, I mentor and support two dancers here in the area.
Current job position: I currently hold a full-time dance position at a private all girls K-8 school in San Francisco. Every middle school girl dances each year as a part of the physical education program. The head of the school ran a capital campaign to build a 1000 square foot dance space. The community “gets” who I am and why dance is important to middle school girls.
The students are incredible – open minded, risk takers, creative, graceful, funny, and curious.
With this full-time job, I get vacation and sick days, health benefits, retirement, a stipend to take classes and workshops each year, and lunch every day on campus. I am so lucky.
Stigma around being a “dance teacher”: It’s 2012, and I venture to say that the vast majority of modern dancers are teaching in some way, many as full-time work. Yet, as a dance community and in many college programs, the weight and value on dance education is still little. This is one of my life missions – to bring this to light and get real about “being a modern dancer.” Teaching is an integral part of being a modern dancer in 2012, and it has many wonderful benefits for dancers who are also actively performing and choreographing. Besides the brass tacks of teaching being many people’s bread and butter, it is one of the main ways to share dance in our community with many people. It is about access and opportunity.
To me, I have always felt that all of my work is “dance work” – rehearsing, performing, teaching, arts administration, mentoring, etc.
The accidental arts administrator: After being a teaching artist in public schools for about 5 years, I did get “selected” to take over an arts education program. I had no formal training in arts administration or business. I guess I had the traits that made me right for the job. Between two different jobs, I ran two different arts programs for 7 years.
How did I learn the ropes? I had inspiring role models. I had the luck of being asked to sit on the Dancers’ Group board, where I learned a lot. I did basic reading such as the book Non-Profit Kit for Dummies and resources on www.boardsource.org. My husband taught me the ins and outs of Excel. I worked my way through budgets, profit and loss statements, and gross and net income.
If you too are interested in arts administration:
- Read up! (books, websites, articles)
- Become a member of Dance/USA
- Make an internship for yourself somewhere in the community
Regularly being in class: For the past 14 years, I have regularly attended classes. Some years I took 3 times a week. Right now it is 1-2 times a week. Some teachers I have loyally followed for years, and still learn so much every class from them. Here in the Bay Area, there are some top notch teachers. They are “teacher teachers.” Teaching artists. These amazing, thoughtful artists include Randee Paufve, Nina Haft, Sandra Chinn, Mo Miner, Marlena Oden, Dana Lawton, and Tammy Cheney.
I have developed a way of being in class and wearing multiple hats – as a teacher and an artist. What can I work on? What can I glean from their class and transfer it to my middle school dance classes (whether it’s a warm up idea, theme, vocabulary word, music choice, etc.)? This is my ongoing professional development. (Important note - I always credit these teachers if I use material from their classes. I believe strongly in this.)
When I was in my twenties, regularly being in class (especially at Shawl-Anderson Dance Center in Berkeley and ODC in San Francisco) was the way I got noticed, and invited to perform with people. You get to know people; you talk in the dressing rooms. I found out about jobs in the Berkeley public schools, and then things snowballed from there.
One of my other mentors and inspirations, Frank Shawl, has taught me by example about a life in class – always being a learner. He is in his 80s now and still takes a ballet barre each week. Frank is incredible.
Class to me is about technique, inspiration for teaching, collegiality, seeing dance friends, training for performances, and connecting with the artists I dance for (who teach).
Career dreams: I hope that I will still be performing in my 40s. (I am 36 right now.) I feel like I am still growing as a performer in my mid-thirties. I hope that some day I will get to teach at the college level. I also dream of publishing a few books on dance education and a few children’s books on dance.
Photo courtesy of Paufve Dance; photo by Pak Han
Some book and reading suggestions:
Body, Mind, and Spirit in Action: A Teacher's Guide to Creative Dance by Patricia Reedy
Creative Dance for All Ages by Anne Green Gilbert
Framing Education as Art: The Octopus Has a Good Day by Jessica Hoffmann Davis
Creating Innovators by Tony Wagner
Step by Step by Sheila Kogan
Nonprofit Kit for Dummies by Stan Hutton and Frances Phillips
For people reading this blog post over the age of 30, I recommend Gretchen Rubin’s The Happiness Project. I read this book over the summer, and it really helped me reflect on all that’s on my plate – family, dance, friends, etc.
I also read on a regular basis emails from:
- Dance/USA
- Dancers’ Group (SF Bay Area)
- Teaching Artists Organized (SF Bay Area)
- National Dance Education Organization (NDEO)
- California Arts Council
- Arts Education Partnership (AEP)
By reading these emails I keep a pulse on the field.
Advice for young dancers: As a person in college, explore the many aspects of modern dance – training, performing, choreographing, teaching, arts administration, costume design, website design, and more. Think deeply about how you want to contribute in the world. Be okay with wearing multiple dance hats. Early on, figure out the positives of wearing multiple hats. Think deeply about teaching and if you see a life for yourself in teaching.
Live a life outside of the studio too – read books, garden, having a real “hobby,” have nondance friends. Life is not all about dance. Get outside of the studio more.
Find your passion within dance. Live your passion. Work hard to find the balance in life so you can pay your bills and dance. Surround yourself with amazing dance colleagues, examples, and mentors. Be bold and ask someone out for coffee to talk about how he or she created a life in dance. Take time at the end of each week to ask yourself reflection questions – When did I dance this week? How am I a part of the community? What am I proud of? How am I still learning and growing? What did I share? At the end of the week, am I feeling good about my choices about how I am spending my days?
Lovely, Jill. You are so wonderfully courageous and creative in carving out a life in dance.
Posted by: Phyllis Haskell Tims | 04/06/2015 at 07:56 PM