2020

Well, I haven’t actually written here in such a long time… I have so many drafts, but nothing posted. I guess I’m just not that much of a writer. This is more just therapeutic at this point I suppose.

2020 I thought was shaping up to be an amazing year. Business ventures were going forward, personal relationships were falling into place in such a way that I had never experienced before… everything had it’s place, everything was where I thought it should be…and then it all fell apart, all within a few days.

I’m not going to sit here and relate every single thing that happened… I’ve done that already countless times. I’ve cried, I’ve yelled, I’ve been mad, I’ve been sad, but most of all… just confused.

Confused at my situation, thinking that you know people, situations and having what you feel like is an actual direction for the foreseeable future. Then to have things just fall apart…


Trust, honesty, understanding, compassion, empathy. Those are the mantras of this year for me.

I can’t stress how much those things mean to me and I feel like in the end they are simple to follow and simple to implement in your life.

Well...

...This is always whats happens.  I have the greatest intentions to actually keep you up to date as to what is going on in my life and write stuff here.  But then I get super busy... which is what happened.  haha

 

IN a nutshell, I'm running around, teaching at various studios and still hustling everyday.  I will update this after my birthday (Dec 17th!!) and I'll actually take time to write what's going on. :)

Sporatic..

Hi Friends!

I hope this finds you all well and loving your summer... it's been a very on and off summer here in Seattle as far as temp.  It'll be very hot one day and then raining the next... typical weather I suppose.

Anyhow, just a quick update on my always busy life.   I have a performance this Thurs, which should be a lot of fun.  It'll be the dance I did for Seattle International Dance Festival, with a couple changes due to the stage limitations.  But it will still be fun.

The musical I am choreographing, Music Man, debuts this coming Friday, I am excited for the kids to do everything up on the stage and watch it come together with costumes and lighting.

Lets see... I have a few more guest teaching spots I'll be doing, Oregon is coming up very soon... that I am looking forward to, as it'll be a completely new experience with an awesome studio!

... I was going to write more, but I just realized that I have to go be a choreographer now and watch my kids. hahaI'll write more later hopefully :)

Oops.

haha.. yup.  It's been a couple months.  I've been so busy.

Which I know is a good thing, but that means that I leave other things to the way side.

Oh well though, so updates..

Recital season is finally over, which is nice... sadly it means that I am leaving another studio this year, but the silver lining is that I am still hustling and pushing forward into new ventures. 

I just had my performance with Evergreen City Ballet which went splendidly.  Bigger is that I just performed my first solo in years, in such a humbling experience.  I had the chance to work with Constanze Villines, a wonderful choreographer and name in the Seattle dance scene, on an amazing solo called "Divisible by 2" for Seattle International Dance Festival.  This is an amazing festival that has acts, local and international, grace the stages of Seattle for 2 1/2 weeks.  I was lucky enough to be a part of that.  So blessed and humbled and looking forward to seeing where this might take me in the future.

I had someone say that "I was a force in the dance world! I'm excited to see where your career takes you!"... and I forget sometimes that really.. even though I've been dancing for 25 years, teaching for almost 15 and dancing professionally for almost that long, that my career really is still in it's infancy.  Which, I am so thankful for, and again, it's very humbling. 

The last couple weeks have been a lot of realization and introspection. 

One of the exciting, yet, scary things that has come out of this is a new project.  It's only come to fruition in the last couple days, I had a very good friend just mention a new direction I should try and it really got me thinking... I have one friend who I mentioned it to and she is now on board to help me flesh things out.

I've had unique life events that I don't normally speak about.  Some of them I'm open about, others I just don't think to mention because I don't think twice about them.  One being that I'm adopted, you take 30 seconds to see me next to the rest of my family and you'll get it, but it's one of the things I don't think twice about so when someone actually asks me it takes me a second.  

My senior solo when I graduated from my studio was by "When Love Takes You In" by Steven Curtis Chapman, a song about adoption and his experiences with adopting kids into his family.  It is an absolutely gorgeous song and I recommend that you listen to it (https://youtu.be/beZ5hF-qZDY).  So I want to start to tap into that...

The scarier of things that I never really talk about and want to be a part of this autobiographical project is my almost dying twice.  Which is something I don't normally talk about... I was a very sick kid growing up and had some tough times with my health (all better now, usually).  So those experiences, as scary and as personal as those are, I want to tap into also.

It's going to be a hard project and I have no clue where it might take me, but I'm excited.  I'm excited to have something that will be personal and that will hopefully tell my story in a way people can think and relate...

This has turned into an absurdly long post, if you stuck it out this far, good on you. :) 

Hmmm....

... I think it's getting to that time of year where I have to step back and remember that not all people think like me. 

I tend to get into my 'zone' and disregard a lot of things if it doesn't work fluidly in my way of life.  Not to say that that is always a bad thing, sometimes you have to have a tunnel vision and distinct view to get things done.  But sometimes you end up overlooking something that could've been very helpful or hurt people in the process.

I think a lot of what I'm going to have to do is be more selective in the future.  With projects, people, how I run my life personally.  It's not a bad thing, just a realization of mine. 

Things are going super busy and super well for me right now, 2016 has been a great year and we're only a 1/4 of the way through.

I'm being brought into another show that I will perform in June with Evergreen City Ballet, to which I will also be on their summer faculty for their intensives which I'm excited about.  I just secured being an Asst. Choreographer at Bellevue Youth Theater, which I think will be a run and rewarding process.  And I'm finally nailing down summer dates to teach and fall dates to teach also. 

It's all falling into place, slowly but surely.  It does stink that I really am going to have to cut somethings out though... just looking at how certain things have impacted my life.  Not necessarily in a completely annihilating sense, but where I've had to give up on a lot of other things that would've been equally satisfying.  So, it'll be a hard few decisions to make, not everyone will probably be happy with them, but I've got to take care of me, right? Right.

It's been a while...

...sorry friends, I doubt anyone really actually reads this... but oh well.  I'll treat it like people do. haha :D

I've been so busy, it's insane.  Lets see:

This weekend I'm very excited to be debuting a piece with 3rd Shift Dance by Dani Tirrell called "We All Must Come Home".  It's a beautiful piece, contemporary combined with house and vogue.  It'll be killer.

I was named Associate Director of 3rd Shift Dance Youth Ensemble, which is very exciting.  So I'll be helping that program grow and find them performance opportunities. 

I was also named Co-Rehearsal Director of 3rd Shift Dance.  Really I'm not into titles, but it's kinda cool. ;)

I'm almost done putting together my schedule for Summer & Fall, which is turning out to be very exciting.  I'll announce my full schedule soon...

Relay Dance Collective's big end of the year show is coming up in April which I'm excited to show everyone what we've been working on since Aug of last year. :)

I will be dancing with Evergreen City Ballet in a men's trio, debuting in May... I will be dancing in Madaline for Vibe Dance Studio in June... and most exciting, I was just asked to do a solo that will debut at Seattle International Dance Festival in June!

 

I've had a lot going on and I'm still hustling. ;)  There are a couple other things that I'm waiting to hear on and will hopefully be able to add to the list of amazing things that are happening.. :)  Love you all!

Going on vacation!

Weeeee!  So very excited to be getting away for a bit...

I'm off to Salt Lake City to see my wonderful friend Jessie Metcalf and her soon to be hubby!  It's been a while since I've gotten to see her.. so it'll be a nice catch up..

I am also excited to get to teach while I'm there also... so it'll be a nice little excursion.  I hope you all had a nice weekend and you all are surviving the cold. :)

I'm excited...

...for 2016.  It's turning out to be a pretty damn good year thus far and we're only a little over 6 weeks in.

I've managed to make some wonderful networking connections already, new friends.  I'm pushing myself for new opportunities, hopefully some amazing summer guest teaching sessions. 

It's been hard, I'm not going to lie.  I've literally spent hours writing things to people, sending out emails, following up with very little response... but it is working out.  I look towards the summer and then next fall, and the potential for greatness is there.

Greatness... haha, a word I haven't used in a while.  :)

Changes...

...are so hard sometimes.  Especially when it's change you didn't expect to take place.  That's vague, I know. haha

Anyhow, I've got a ton of content coming down the pipeline, it's just been slow with real life. hahaI've put up new pictures... new logo will be put up soon...new videos... new master classes... new new new, more more more.. hopefully stuff you find quality too. :)

Love you all, I'm still here, just trying to keep everything balanced. :)

Happy New Years!

Good morning friends,

Sorry I haven't been around the last few days... I've actually been on a vacation, something I haven't taken in almost a year. haha :/

I'm on the Oregon Coast, which has been beautiful.  Cold, but beautiful.  I'm down here with a couple good friends and their younger kids, I've been getting my fill of playing with babies. 

It was a very quiet NYE, we definitely had some drinks and was kind of feeling it the next morning... watch the fireworks on the television, it was beautiful as usual. 

Been walking along various beaches for hours, just listening to waves lap up against the beach and watching the sun reflect off of the water.  Makes me miss working on a boat sometimes... falling asleep and waking up to that sound, there is nothing like it in the world.

I have high hopes for 2016 being a year of change and growth.  It's been nice to get away and recharge to a degree.  It's also given me a lot of time to rethink where I want to go and what I want to be doing with my life.  I can say that I've already started to put some plans into motion, even though it might take a while to see them come to fruition. 

Here's to a new year and a good year. :) 

 

A little more...

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and that Santa was good to you. ;)

I definitely had a wonderful time with my family and then spent the evening with my dance family and felt it the next morning... haha

Anyhow, I wanted to have a couple more links set up until I figure out how to display them on here in an appropriate way.

http://www.3rdshiftdance.org is the first link I want to sick you upon.  This is the first dance company I started dancing for when I got back from ships... I've been with them for almost 2 years now (I think) and have had a wonderful time with them.  Xaviera Vandermay is the company director/choreographer.  It is a mix of contemporary jazz/hip hop.  Very hard hitting, hit intricate.  It has been a wonderful outlet and challenge for me, knowing I can still hang in there with the youngings.  You'll realize as time goes on that a lot of my performances are with 3rd Shift.  So hopefully at some point you will get a chance to come see me dance with them.

http://www.relaydance.org is the other link I want to put into your sights.  This is the other company, after I started dancing with 3rd Shift that I was exposed to.  It is under the direction of Austin Sexton and is more of a modern contemporary feel.  It has challenged me to really open myself to new choreographic exercises and a lot of improv.  They have a large show that they do in April (once I get dates, I'll post them).

 

I hope that I see some of you this coming year at some of my performances or when I'm guest teaching. :) 

Added a donation page...

So, let me explain.

I'm not looking for handouts, it's not for me to be lazy and for you to help me get through life.  I'd just like to put that out there now.

I teach an obscene amount of hours and am always trying to find gigs that will help pay bills.  I am already planning what my hours need to be next year and blah blah blah.

I make a donation page for those who are wanting to be on a journey with me in a more intimate way.  For someone to willing give a donation to me is one of the highest compliments you can get.  In the future I will projects that I'd like to see happen and potentially travel to certain events to continue to further my education as a dancer.

For this very moment, I just leave it open to whoever.  I might not get a cent, I might get a couple bucks.  Who knows.  For any of those who feel a vibe with my vision and where I'm going, or want to pay for privates or whatever.  There are many different things for this, but least is it for me to EXPECT money from you.

I hope that makes sense. :)

Nothing really exciting yet...

Though I'm hoping that will change here in the near future..

On the docket is to potentially add a donation page to fund future projects/travel to different events. 

I also need to re-record some videos I have up on my YouTube channel to make them look a little nicer and presentable and then connect that here.  I don't know if I want to record myself doing it or find some dancers to do it... that is the question.

I guess that is just the theme of it all right now... I need to create and recreate things and ideas. 

Do you have any ideas for me?  Choreography ideas?  Song Ideas?  Dance ideas?  What you would like to see from me?  Comment below and let me know. :)
 

A new beginning...

Hello all,

Hopefully if you are reading this you know who I am, or at least of me.  This is my next attempt at pushing myself to get my dancing and teaching name out in the world. 

So hopefully as this site evolves and I continue to update my material, you'll go along that journey with me.

I just turned 30 a couple days ago and I am looking forward to all the adventures (and mishaps) that will happen along the way. 

I have good vibes that year 30 will be the year for me to push above and beyond.

Come along the journey with me. :)