danceypants
Brooklyn, NY
Female, 25
I am a professional NYC contemporary/modern dancer. I work freelance, dancing in various projects around NYC. It ranges from performance art, flash mobs, and various styles of modern/contemporary dance. It's tough, I hustle everyday. I also bartend to pay the bills and work at a dance studio for discounted classes. It's a struggle, between auditions, classes, and maintaining artistic integrity. But I love my life.
I have never fallen, tripped, or face planted. THANK GOODNESS. But, one time I had to make a cross over. (I exited stage right and had to re-enter stage left) So I had to run down this narrow hallway between the scrim (back drop) and the wall. Apparently, a stage hand had left a metal chair or something sharp back there because as I was running down the little hallway, I ran into it and cut my shin. First off, it hurt....really badly (shins don't provide much meaty cushion) secondly I was wearing pink tights and blood was running down my shin. I didn't have time to do anything so I kept dancing, grit my teeth and finished the piece. Unfortunately I didn't have any more exits. Another time, I was in this piece that had us spinning onto the stage from the wings. The music was complicated, and I always screwed up my entrance. Lo and behold, I entered on the wrong count. Thankfully I didn't crash into anyone. I just realized pretty quickly and kept spinning in the opposite direction and made an exit. My parents said they didn't notice. haha
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The cops usually don't break them up. The people putting kn the flash mobs usually have to get a special permit from the city, I'm sure they also have permission from the nypd.
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It depends. The dance community is very large. But very small. When I go to auditions sometimes I run into the same girls time and time again. I think that the younger the dancer, the more immature they are. Generally the catty ones are younger dancers who just graduated college, were the star of their department and moved to NYC thinking they could keep their diva status. Nothing knocks you harder off your pedestal than auditioning in NYC. There's always someone better than you. I don't notice the cattiness, I also avoid those kind of situations. Most dancers look out for each other I think. We kind of band together and create a unit. I used to be a camp counselor at a performing arts camp for teens, the dancers stuck together and didn't really get involved in the drama like the acting kids or the musical theater kids.
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I have a few. Kendra Portier, Kate Weare, Monica Bill Barnes, Korhan Basaran, Shannon Gillen, Andrea MIller, Sidra Bell.
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Pharmaceutical Researcher
Will we see a cure for cancer in this lifetime?
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What kind of mark-ups can you fetch on the clothing you resell from thrift stores?
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I don't really understand this question, but I will do my best. I'm assuming you are having trouble moving your hips because they are tight? Stretch. Stretch. Stretch! Since it would be difficult for me to explain stretches in detail here. Go online and search for stretches for your Iliopsoas (front of the hip crease) and your Iliotibial bands.
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Um...no...I don't look for auditions on craigslist.
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Hi Jennifer, First let me start by saying I love that you are dancing! And also, I have a question for you. Are you training right now? By 17 and expressing the desire to be a professional back up dancer, you should be taking not only a lot of hip hop, jazz, and broadway style dance (for back up dancing) but also ballet, modern, and tap. You never know when you may need to pull some tricks out of that magical dancing bag. If you are not taking any dance class as of now, you should get in gear girl! Make sure your teachers have worked as professional dancers....Dance team in college doesn't count. Cheerleading does not count. A good teacher has a proper dance education from a college that provides a BA, BFA, or masters in dance performance or dance education. Also, does your teacher have professional performance experience? The reason I ask is, many 'dance teachers' open up studios in towns because they like dancing, they danced at some dolly dinkle (crappy) studio in high school and did some sort of kick line dance team in college. THIS DOES NOT EQUAL A COLLEGE DANCE DEGREE! I beg you..parents, kids, DO NOT go to these studios, these people claiming to be dance educators are destroying girls and boys bodies, training them incorrectly and setting them up for future disappointment and possible recurring injuries. Jennifer, if you are in fact, taking dance classes multiple times a week and getting good, strong, professional training...then you're on the right track. Go to a summer intensive that will refine your technique and will also let you get into some hip hop classes. I don't know about about hip hop, because I am a modern dancer, but I know that's what you need to master to get into back up dancing. Honestly I don't know about back up dancing auditions, that you will need to research. Not to be all tough love on you, but you may work really hard, and not get anywhere..that's the nature of the dance world. I have worked really hard multiple times...to not get that job, or not even get a second call back in an audition. It's the way of the world. But keep trying, you never know what the future holds. I have a friend who only did break dancing with his friends in high school. then when he turned 18 he decided he wanted to become a modern dancer and he busted his ass to get trained and eventually got into a college dance program. and Now he is a dancer here in NYC.
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