Life as a Modern Dancer

Category: Dance and Parenthood

  • My Dance Week: Elizebeth Randall Rains (SF Bay Area)

    My life has changed profoundly since 2014, when I last contributed to this series. I got married, went from part-time to full-time teaching at Saint Mary’s College (SMC), gave birth to an amazing little being, and moved several times. Recently, my family decided to rent an apartment just over a mile from the SMC campus…

  • Catching Up with Graham Brown (Artist Profile #54)

    Artist Graham Brown (now based in Provo, UT) wrote for Life as a Modern Dancer three years ago. This week, we reconnect with Graham, and he shares an update on his current dance path. —–  The past 3 years/ the most major change in my dance career: By far the biggest shift has been to dive…

  • My Dance Week: Alexandra Beller

    From Alexandra: This is a fairly typical week — not too crazy, not too light. I am working at Princeton (teaching two courses: Intro to Contemporary Dance and Performance and Repertory), Alvin Ailey (mentoring in the New Directions Lab), La MaMa (teaching the Trinity/La MaMa students Laban and Bartenieff), choreographing for Peter Pan for Bedlam…

  • Catching up with Nadia Oka (Artist Profile #3)

    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.…

  • Catching Up with Melecio Estrella (Artist Profile #2)

    Melecio Estrella (right) and family   Artist Melecio Estrella (Oakland, CA) was one of the first people to write for Life as a Modern Dancer. Five years later, we reconnect with Melecio, and he shares an update on his current dance path.   How would you describe the past 5 years? I would describe the last…

  • Dance and Parenthood: Three Perspectives (Tami Stronach, Amy Foley, and Pamela Geber Handman)

    Tami Stronach - Paper Canoe Theater Company   From Tami Stronach (Brooklyn, NY)   It is hard enough to eek out a living as an artist without a child. With kids you are definitely rolling a ball uphill. For me, creating family programming in addition to my previous work with my dance company was a creative…

  • Artist Profile #136: Tami Stronach (Brooklyn, NY)

      Hometown: Berkeley, CA Current city: Brooklyn, NY Age: 44   College and degree: BFA in Dance, SUNY Purchase    Graduate school and degree: MFA from Hollins/ADF at age 37   Websites: tamistronach.com and papercanoecompany.com   How you pay the bills: Teaching…I am now transitioning to adding performing for family audiences as a source of revenue,…

  • Artist Profile #135: Amy Foley (San Francisco, CA)

    Hometown: Anchorage, Alaska Current city: San Francisco, California Age: 41 College and degree: Colorado College — BA in English with a Women's Studies minor How you pay the bills: I work as a teaching artist, performer, choreographer, and Pilates instructor. But my husband largely supports our family financially, allowing me to continue to do these…

  • Artist Profile #102: Ashley Anderson (Salt Lake City, UT)

    Photo: Kelly Badger Hometown: Sandy, UT Current city: Salt Lake City, UT Age: 31 Websites: ashleyandersondances.com, lovedancemore.org College and degree: Hollins University, B.A.’s in Dance & English Graduate school and degree: Hollins University/the American Dance Festival, MFA under the direction of Donna Faye Burchfield (age 22-23) How you pay the bills: A combination of teaching…

  • Multiple Perspectives: Dancing and Parenting (Colleen Thomas, Rachael McClellan Leonard, and Jill Patterson)

    Colleen Thomas How has being a dancer shifted/changed since becoming a parent as well? Colleen Thomas Being a parent is everything. Or rather, my children are everything. I’ve spent most of my life as a self-absorbed artist. How can I look at my children’s sweet faces and care whether I got that gig or not?…