I’ve struggled with confidence throughout my dancing career. And the thing is, when you don’t have confidence, people will easily tear you down. When you’re unsure of yourself, it’s hard to convince others to put faith in you, which can [...]
For those of us who don’t want to jump on the online train… As studios and dancers immediately adjusted to our world shifting online, I took a step back. I am teaching my college courses online, but instead of keeping [...]
Had you told me 15 years ago the dancer who is now Sugar Plum would have that role someday, I would not have believed you. As I have done most years since age ten, while home for the holidays, I [...]
No to compartmentalization. No to unsustainability. No to quick, meaningless ways of working. No to compartmentalization: In the past semester—as I planned a symposium, worked on a performance piece, started plans for a performance series in Cleveland, taught and [...]
Ten years ago, I was working through a relatively serious injury as a dancer—a stress fracture in L4 on the left side (my fourth lumbar vertebrae, lower back). I think it’s pretty common for dancers to encounter a serious injury [...]
Here are some basic leadership lessons I am slowly but surely learning the hard way, and go figure, they are all connected. I am not exactly a natural leader. I step in to leadership roles if need be, but it's [...]
No one person is the be-all end-all. Well, maybe your kids, or grandkids, or significant other are your world. But that's not what I'm talking about. In the dance world, I've seen dancers flock to a single person and talk about [...]
What do I want for Christmas? More than anything, I want dancers. I've been trying to choreograph on just myself pieces that I really envision for multiple dancers. And guess what? It just does not work. It's like a painter [...]
I remember hearing one of my mentors once say to someone else, she's been extremely lucky in her career. At the time, I thought to myself, luck has nothing to do with it. She has worked her butt off, she [...]
I self produced the recent performances of (Des)Encaracolarse at the National Hispanic Cultural Center. What exactly does that mean? I initiated the project, I took full financial responsibility for the project, I gathered the team, found the venue, did the publicity, [...]
