Photo: Bennett Kosma

Can you talk about your role as Company Manager? How many hours a week do you work, and what are your main tasks?

As Company Manager for Abraham.In.Motion, I serve as the administrative point-person for all company matters. AIM has a pretty hefty domestic/international tour schedule, for which I communicate with each presenting venue regarding hospitality and marketing, arrange travel and inner-city accommodations, keep an itinerary of activities and performances, and travel to each city with the company whenever possible. Here in New York, I maintain all company calendars and schedules, oversee our internship program, and work with our education team to schedule NYC classes/teaching intensives and restaging residencies. In addition to my more Company Manager-related roles, I work with our development team on individual and institutional fundraising efforts. I like to dig my hands into as many different areas as I can, and here at AIM, everyone wears a lot of hats. I work full-time with the company, so I'm busy with AIM work at least 40 hours per week.

Are you performing, choreographing, and teaching as well in 2016?

While performing/making work is not my current primary focus, I continue to seek ways to exercise my creative habits in my day-to-day life. I do a bunch of photo projects — quick shoots on weekends or weekday mornings that allow me to explore shapes and environments, conduct creative research about a site or topic, and engage in dialogue with other artists; this is far more flexible and far less of a time commitment than full-time dance projects. I am still teaching, mostly because I love working with kids! I'm with a great dance teacher agency that connects me with studios in need of substitutes, so again, I don't have to fully commit to any one class, and can craft a teaching schedule around my work/tour schedule.

As I focus on my role as a Company Manager, I find that my relationship to taking class, though still strong and dynamic, has completely shifted. Since my days are spent primarily in the office, in rehearsal, or on tour, taking class has become a special treat instead of a mundane necessity. For example, I take ballet class because I want to, not because I haven't taken enough technique that week. I particularly enjoy taking classes that AIM dancers teach (shameless plug for our monthly classes at Gibney Dance), because I find that I learn so much about them by experiencing the way they structure and approach class, and by moving in the room with them. As any dancer will tell you, the language we speak with our bodies is all-telling and fluid, and this window of movement allows me to understand each individual I work with just a little bit better. Plus, when I cannot walk from soreness the next day, I'm reminded of how their bodies must feel after each performance, and try to take this into consideration when looking at particularly difficult travel days!

What do you love and enjoy about arts administration?

I love arts administration because of the unique day-to-day lifestyle it demands; no two jobs, or even days within one job, are ever the same. The opportunities for growth are very special and unique to our field, and the arts administration world is small enough that you find these opportunities right there at your fingertips. Over my past six months working with AIM, I have been able to stick my hands in a little bit of everything: development, education, marketing…and of course, general admin. I know I would not have the set of skills or experiences I do now if I had chosen another track. It's no secret that performing arts is an underrepresented and underfunded field, so you know that anyone working to make the magic happen, either on or offstage, is doing so because he or she truly believes in the artistic work. It makes a difference to know that I'm working with passionate and supportive people, who want to be wearing all these different hats and who come to work each day for reasons other than the paycheck (though the next goal is to continue advocating for the arts until everyone feels supported to continue to do their fantastic work, but not diminish the spirit we have already established as a field)!

Can you share about the innovative program that AIM is exploring now, with each performer also doing arts administration for the company? What tasks do dancers do, and how many hours a week is the work on average?

AIM’s Dancer Development Program (DDP for short) allows our dancers to take on administrative roles, in addition to their artistic obligations to rehearsals and performances. The benefits of this program are two-fold: the dancers gain valuable skills that will last for them well beyond their performance careers, and the company receives in-house administrative support from trusted employees. Most importantly to us at AIM, the additional hours the dancers work allows them to qualify for full-time salaries and healthcare benefits.

Most dancers work for AIM about 30 hours per week, with their DDP duties taking up anywhere from 3-10 hours of that time (depending on the amount we're in rehearsal or on tour). We currently have dancers working in development, education, marketing, and rehearsal direction. Their jobs include helping to plan fundraising events, scheduling teaching residencies and intensives, running our social media pages, and assisting Kyle in the studio with artistic decisions.

Advice to dancers who are interested in arts administration, but have little experience in it….where and how to begin….

Making connections in the administrative world isn't too different from the way you might try and pave opportunities for yourself as a performer. If you're interested in a particular company or artist's work, see if they have internships or work study programs. Or send them an email directly; you never know what opportunities are just waiting to surface. Many companies are thrilled to hear from young artists interested in helping out behind the scenes.

Be open to anything that comes your way, even if you have no prior experience in arts administration. I think a lot of us underestimate how much our artistic training alone prepares us for tasks and challenges that arise outside of the studio. But if you wish to pursue such opportunities, trust that your unique perspective and incredible work ethic will ultimately serve the company you join. (What other prospective employees spent their childhoods doing homework in the car on the way to dance class or can demonstrate an entire Graham sequence at the drop of the hat?) Play up those strengths, and you will most definitely learn the rest of the tools needed to sustain a successful administrative career in record time.

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Related posts:

Becoming an Arts Administrator: 5 Questions for Caroline Yost of Elisa Monte Dance

My Dance Week: Sarah Lass (Company Administrator of Tiffany Mills Company)

MA in Arts Administration through Goucher College

Becoming an Arts Administrator: Where to Find Job Postings

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