A Month in the Midwest

This past September, I had the unique opportunity of joining Carnival De Resistance as a Crew Member during its 2016 Minneapolis residency. Professional artists, activists, and community organizers from North and Central America gathered for a month to perform, learn, and live together with the community of Harrison in North Minneapolis. The project, bridging worlds of art, activism, and faith, manifests in three parts: carnival performances, the ecovillage demonstration, and curated community engagement.

A regular day for me involved any combination of rehearsal, teaching classes at an after school center, setting up tents, helping cook in the fossil fuel free kitchen and sharing nourishing meals, discussing cultural appropriation, singing, and soaking in the wisdom of seasoned activists and artists local to the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. Here's a quote from Restoration Village Arts to get a better idea of the Carnival context:

Often, art is treated as incidental to gatherings, conferences, institutions, movements. Artists are invited to participate for their additions of texture and creative flair-but what happens when art is centered in the struggle for collective liberation?

I'm rewinding in my mind's eye all that was the Carnival De Resistance in Minneapolis and I smell firewood, taste local squash, kale, and oatmeal, feel grass and mud on my feet, the heat of lit poi, sooth on my hands, I hear drums and movement to and from tents, and I see 30+ people and the light they carry, a lively yard colored with flags, curtains, silly but profound games and sideshows, tents, painted faces of all ages, and I feel the adrenaline in the choreography and music where the clown oppressors are overthrown in Stay On the Battlefield.

The Carnival De Resistance is an embodiment of what is sacred in ceremony, storytelling, advocacy rooted in faith, and a physicalized experiment in living in a new way that heals our relationship to the Earth and each other. It inspired wonder in me to be in an immersive project where performance and community building all happened under the umbrella of a creative space where healing permeated the hearts of many.

Check out more reviews from RadicalDiscipleship.net, Southside Pride, my friend Jenna's blog, and my friend Joshua's blog. Stay tuned for the 2018 iteration of Carnival in Philadelphia!

Photo: Tim Nafziger

When You Don't Get That Contract

Have you ever been in a dance class or simulated audition situation where your teacher told you that your level of performance mattered because whether or not you landed the job depended on how crisp your technique is and how bold your performance was?

Well, that's an incomplete part of the story. The audition-to-contract tradition and world in which that is the norm is a narrow part of the dance industry that (I'm pretty sure) is phasing out. Will auditions still happen? Certainly! They're just not the only things that really matter.

It is always good to strive for a high standard. Sometimes your own excellence won't fit a cookie cutter type of excellence someone else is looking for, and that's okay. Securing work with a full time company from an audition isn't the only way to confirm whether or not you are a Professional Dancer.

The dream of becoming a Professional Dancer still comes true outside of what a company contract has to offer.

The independent dance artist is equally qualified as the contracted company dancer. The experience of performing as different projects come and go along with self producing in your region and local artistic community is just as valid. If you are finished with your training, don't beat yourself up if you haven't been offered a company contract. Organizations aren't the only ones with vision and artistry that you can grow from. Your brilliant and like minded peers are within your grasp.

"Professional Dancer" doesn't mean you work full time for a ballet, modern, or contemporary company. Professional Dancer means that art is your life and that you maintain your craft across a spectrum of ongoing and seasonal assignments, projects, and causes; and that you are true to your artistic vision. Does your what you are working towards reflect the kind of art you believe in?

My peers and I are living proof that new initiatives and projects spring up right and left. We are putting our skills to work. We're developing quality performance and honing our administrative skills. We self produce. We perform for each other. We actually gain a more diverse skill set than someone who dances full time for a ballet company.

Most of us aren't contracted full time, but we have degrees, conservatory training, and the capacity to create programs and move our artistry forward. What constitutes our professionalism is our commitment to innovation backed by our entrepreneurial skills.

Introduction: The Artist's Grind

Thanks for visiting my website!

My name is Belle and I'm a Dancer, Choreographer, and Teaching Artist based in Philadelphia. 

Photo: Brian Mengini

Anyone who has trained professionally knows that once you’re done with your degree or conservatory it’s up to you to decide where your art takes you. One you hone your skills and earn your credentials, you stumble into becoming your own small business, steering your own schedule, and in a lot of cases, self producing. Yikes!

We dedicate ourselves to years of practice and then we have to rediscover routine and habit in our managerial capacity. Dancers, actors, musicians, and visual artists know exactly the sort of existential crisis I’m talking about.

This blog is dedicated to my own journey in learning as I go and the questions (and feels) that come up when you’re putting your artistic mission into practice. My goal is to encourage best practices for other emerging artists. I’m sharing my story in the hope that it inspires others to thrive, practice, and create in a sustainable way-I’m looking for longevity out of my artistic pursuits and I know a lot of you are, too.

I graduated with BFA in Dance almost two years ago and one of the best things I’ve been able to do for myself is commit to ongoing professional development.

This takes shape in many different forms:

1. Free workshops and master classes in your community

   •  Sign up for mailing lists and subscribe to listservs to stay in the loop! Connect with local artists on social media and look for event invitations and auditions.

2. Paid workshops offered by local companies

   • Not only do they maintain and improve your craft, they also provide networking opportunities.
   • Where is your local metropolis? I’m fortunate to be a short bus ride away from NYC and Washington, DC where some of the country’s top companies and arts venues are based. Make sure to write off your travel receipts on your taxes (the tax post is coming later).

3. Candid conversations with peers

   • Keep creating. Keep creating with your friends. The questions you have on your mind are likely on theirs as well! Support each other. Show up for their projects and involve them in yours (the competition mentality is a little old skool and at times unrealistic for me).

4. Candid conversations with mentors/older artists

   • Find someone you admire who’s work and experiences align with your values. Email them, let them know what you have questions/thoughts/ideas about, take them out for coffee, connect, learn, respond, repeat. The perspective of someone 5-10+ years ahead of you can be so refreshing!

As I said, I’m learning as I go and we’re in this creative pursuit together. For youth artists, I hope this offers insight in your pre-professional careers.

Where are you based and what is a current project that you’re excited about? Do you have 2-5 jobs, 5-10, or 11+?

dancing joyfully,

Belle