Photo: Michael Topolovac

Artist Nadia Oka (San Francisco, CA) was one of the first people to write for Life as a Modern Dancer. Five years later, we reconnect with Nadia, and she shares an update on her current dance path.

How would you describe the past 5 years?

In the past five years, everything has changed. I mustered up the courage to leave the restaurant world completely and focus on teaching yoga full-time at various gyms and studios. Gradually, I built a private practice and now solely work for myself, teaching one-on-ones as well as groups in the workplace, allowing me even more independence and flexibility to focus on dance. Other titanic changes: I started a new relationship, we moved in together (left my beloved Oakland for SF), got married in the Anderson Valley, fell in love with the place and bought 50 acres of land, put an Airstream on it, and the biggest seismic shift of all is that we now have an 8-month-old baby. Still catching my breath…

Nadia dancing with paufve dance. Photo: Tony Nguyen

What would you say is the most major change in your dance career, or the role of dance in your life, since you wrote the profile?

After an incredibly rewarding experience performing in an evening length work with paufve dance last year, I felt simultaneously hungry for more while grappling with the intense desire to start a family. As a female dancer on the cusp of 40, I was facing the dual pressure of the aging dancing body and the proverbial ticking of the biological clock. When we decided to have a kid I was unsure of what role dance would have in my life post-baby. How would I heal? What will this new body feel like? What will caring for this new human be like, and how much energy will I have for anything else? I am grateful that I recovered well, and although it is not my former body, it is fortunately one that is ready for dancing. I am getting to know this new body and enjoy exploring how it moves. Rather than be frustrated by what I can’t do as easily anymore, I’m treating this as an opportunity to learn something new about myself.

Our baby also provides an endless amount of movement inspiration. Through him, I get an intimate view of the developmental stages I studied in abstraction for so many years in my Laban/Bartenieff/BMC studies. He’s my improvisation partner—we mirror, use our voices, roll around, and surprise each other. We’re in a constant state of dance.

What is on your calendar for the fall?

I am finally able to go out in the evenings! So I will go and see some dance and reacquaint myself with the community and the work that is being made. I will continue to take class, and I would love to start performing again.

Photo: Michael Topolovac

To read Nadia's full artist profile from August 2012, please click here.

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Related posts:

Blog Series: Dance and Parenthood

A Modern Dancer's Guide to….the San Francisco Bay Area

Artist Profile: Randee Paufve

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