Hometown: San Jose, California

Current City: Oakland, California

Age: 36

College and degree: University of California Berkeley, major in English and double minors in Dance and Education

Graduate school and degree: San Jose State University, Masters in Education – The Academy of Critical Research; Culture, Language and Society (age 22-24)  

How I pay the bills: I am a school teacher and professional dancer. Currently, I teach at an independent elementary school in Berkeley as the math teacher in the Kindergarten classroom and the Dance Specialist for grades K-3. As a dancer, I am a member of the Joe Goode Performance Group in San Francisco. We perform throughout the year nationally. I've built my schedule at school so that I can both mother my son and have time for rehearsals and performances.  I work at a school where many teachers wear various hats, both full and part time. Over the last six years, I've been able to juggle both careers. My husband's career also allows me the flexibility to have such a schedule.

Dance hats that I wear: I am a professional dancer and teacher.

Non-dance work I do: I am an elementary school teacher.

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While in college, 1996-2001, I was in the college company, BARD – Bay Area Repertory Dance.  While in this company, we had the opportunity to go to various colleges in California to tour. This experience provided the opportunity to see what a dancer's life could be like. In my last year of college, I was asked to join a new company that was based in Oakland, called Capacitor. This was the first time I had ever danced out of a school setting. We performed all over the Bay Area in various venues and settings. I loved my years with Capacitor. They were new and exciting. The years that followed were ones of exploration. I danced with several companies that shaped me as a dancer. One of which was The Alayo Dance Company. This company is an Afro-Cuban Modern Dance company based in San Francisco. I started dancing with Alayo in 2002, and it was always exhilarating. I have Cuban ancestry, so in many ways I felt that I was connecting with my family. We learned and studied the history of a people and their culture while integrating ideas and expressions of the present. We performed locally and took one tour to Cuba. I was in this company for eight years, until 2011. In 2006, I also became a member of Joe Goode Performance Group.  

How did I begin working with Joe…:

In 2006, I went to a Joe Goode Performance Group audition. I had been to several other dance auditions in the previous two years, and I just decided that this would be good practice to continue to put myself out there. I was there for the experience and not at all expecting to get in. In fact, I didn't tell my dance friends I was going because I thought it was going to be a small, unimportant, run of the mill audition. To my surprise, the turnout was huge; I saw many people that I knew and little did I know that Joe Goode rarely had auditions. Years later, through conversations with Joe, I come to find out that he had seen me perform a little over a year previous to me walking into his audition and had casually inquired about me to a mutual friend, but I had never heard of it. 

What I love most about Joe's work is that the layers of yourself become revealed through the process of creating material. There is a vulnerability that is both terrifying and transformative. We are constantly doing things that are not our “strengths” per se. We make up songs and sing them. We write in our journals, only to one day be voicing aloud our entries to a theater full of people. In addition to dancing, we act in character and sing. It's not unusual if these things all happen at the same time. One reason why all of this feels so safe and organic is due to my fellow members. There are seven of us. The company is small and intimate. I can actually say that I love to be with each member of the company – they are my good friends, on and off stage.

What's on your plate for 2014?

This year, 2014, is a different sort of dance year for me.  I had a baby in 2012 and have just started to take on projects that will require rehearsals and performing. My son will be 2 in October. It was my preference to take his first year to not make any commitments dancewise. I wanted to just be with him and see what that was like before adding more to my plate. I feel lucky that Joe Goode was understanding of that. This year I have been taking dance classes weekly and look forward to rehearsing and performing with Joe Goode Performance Group in shows locally this summer.  

What are your strengths as a performer?

As a performer, one of my strengths is the ability to be in the moment and completely present – I've been told that I'm able to capture the audience's attention and have my face and every muscle, move, and sound be completely transformative and purely encapsulated by a certain feeling and character.  In addition to my stage presence, I am physically strong and able to lift men and women (as most men do) with an effect of effortlessness.   

What do you love about performing?  

I love  performing because it's all in a moment. It's a special moment in time where you are where you are, doing what you do. Although all of life has this sense of temporality, it is in performance where I feel the present very strongly. I make decisions definitively and move on from there, unable to linger on the moment that just passed. Performance forces us to keep going, forgive ourselves and make the best of what is happening right now. 

Taking class, training, and care for your body:

I love taking class regularly. I feel that it nourishes my mind, spirit and body to be challenged. I also value the idea of being a lifelong student. In addition to taking class, I like to run and eat well. While running,  I'm able to be outside and connect with nature while being alone with my thoughts. It's important for me to get my nutrients through whole foods. Due to allergies, I try not to eat gluten and dairy.  

On teaching:

I began dancing at the age of four. It was modern dance. My teacher was trained in Laban. I now realize how much of this has shaped me as a dancer and performer. Attention was put on how to carry yourself on stage, letting energy flow throughout every limb and cell of your body and creative movement. I now, as a teacher,  emphasize these same points, and this first teacher of mine is still an incredible resource to me. My mother, once a dancer and still a musician and teacher, has also shaped me as a teacher. To this day, we share ideas, inspire each other  and enjoy the natural unfolding of possibilities that our teaching encourages. 

The best way to learn how to teach is to do it. We all teach how we best learn, but the more we do it, the more we realize what others may need.  We begin to broaden our scope and our lens. It's also important to know that the teacher doesn't have something that the students are without. As teachers, it is our job to help unveil what is already present. We create and facilitate situations that reveal the students in their best light — showing forth their skills or selves that may have been hidden before but always there.  

Teaching can be crucial in a dance career. As I toured from place to place, we not only performed but taught. People wanted to not only be an audience member but wanted to experience a class or workshop taught by us, the company members. It was a wonderful way to get to know a community and fully delve into a place and meet individuals who value the arts and want to help spread the language of dance and creative expression. 

Current passions and curiosities:

My passion is my son. I've fully enjoyed every moment with him. I've learned so much about how to live life through his eyes and I've re-experienced life's joys through the mundane. Recently, I am curious about how to continue supporting and teaching the arts through the public school system in elementary education. I currently teach K-3 dance in a private school setting. I want to broaden my realm and teach in the public sector too, but I know that because of the lack of financial support in the public sector, this won't be easy. I also am curious about how to support the teachers in integrating dance elements and exercises into their already packed academic curriculum. I want every child to be able to get the same opportunities and benefits of dance, regardless of where they are enrolled.

Last performance you saw that really inspired you:

Nederlands Dans Theater always inspires me. When partnered, the dancers move fluidly with such intricacy and ease.  All of the dancers also have this incredible sense of athleticism and vigor but seem to spring and float, dancing effortlessly. I look forward to seeing them again…

Photo: Joe Goode Performance Group

Identity as a dancer post-baby:

As a mother, I am now very particular about how I spend my time. There's my time with my family, there's time for my creative side to flourish, and then there's work. I always try to make my work fit into fulfilling my creative self. I choose the time to dance wisely. If I'm not with my family I need to be doing something that I feel 100% about emotionally, spiritually, physically, and mentally. I believe that we'll always be trying to find a balance. Immediately after I had my son, I didn't feel like a dancer at all — I wasn't dancing in the least — although I had performed all the way into my seventh month of pregnancy. But I had reminded myself that my focus just shifted. That was my time with my baby, and that time in itself was temporary so I had to savor it for what it was. Now – I have more time to take dance classes and have committed to a couple of performances here and there. The main difference? Although I will always be a dancer, my priorities have shifted to family first. 

Final advice to young dancers:

Dance for yourself, don't do it for anyone else but you. If you are true to yourself, the love you have for dancing will shine through and be seen and deeply felt by all who witness it. 

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