The tragedy of life is not found in failure, but complacency. Not in doing too much, but doing too little. Not in your living above your means, but below your capacity. It’s not failure but aiming too low, that is life’s greatest tragedy. - Benjamin E Mays

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I am an artist who continues to search for authenticity, who enjoys the rewarding feeling of freedom and bravery when taking risks, finds the beauty in flaws and errors and appreciates the humor in coincidences. Through dance education, I help shape new artists by building confident leaders and critical thinkers who ask questions and are fearless to voice their opinions through their own work. I share everything I know and learn alongside them as well because when an uninspired and repetitive routine enters, deterioration begins. As a choreographer, my goal is to evoke thoughts, emotions and to stimulate conversation. I can’t say I have a solid and sound method of anything, because once I think I know what I’m doing, something new comes up and stirs it all up again. I enjoy spontaneity and throwing away everything that was pre-planned because that preparation invited the confidence to act impulsively. In other words, I believe in doing all the work and then throwing it out if needed. Prepare fully, trust the groundwork, and then let the awareness of it dissolve as it carries you into that liberating place of artistic freedom. That’s where we see the real you. Or where you'll see the real me.

 

I originally trained in many forms of dance: ballet, modern (Horton), jazz, tap and musical theatre dance. After trying mathematics as a major in college (my second love), I decided to head to New York and finish a degree from Hunter College, but in acting. I should have double majored because I was in the dance department as much as the theatre department. In New York at the time, you either were a “downtown” dancer and took classes at Dancespace with the likes of Lynn Simonson, Joy Kelman and David Storey or you were an “uptown” dancer who took classes with Michael Owens, Chet Walker, Phil Black at either Broadway Dance Center or Steps on Broadway. I did both. My love for modern dance and true jazz technique coincided with my desire to be in Broadway musicals and a Rockette for Radio City. But Broadway and Radio City won out. There were more jobs and they actually paid. Teaching became your bread and butter in between tour contracts or while you were auditioning for a new one. This was where I was able to experiment with creativity, ideas, and methods. And it was so much more satisfying than waiting tables. It grew from there and I eventually transferred to teaching and choreographing full time. My goal as an educator is to teach versatility. I find joy in sharing new knowledge, new methods of creating movement, a concert I saw, a book I read that inspired a thought to create a piece and to share in the collaboration with my students. I remember seeing Pilobolus as a young kid. I’ve been inspired by their uniqueness and have been trying to figure out their visual illusions ever since. But I also vividly remember seeing ​A Chorus Line​ on Broadway and having something click inside me. I knew dance would be my life forever.