Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
88. Autumn Eckman on Equally Loving Performance, Choreography, and Education
109 Plays2 days ago
In this episode of The Brainy Ballerina Podcast, I’m joined by choreographer, educator, and former professional dancer Autumn Eckman for a thoughtful conversation about building a long, sustainable career in dance.
From leaving home at a young age to embracing leadership, choreography, and academia, Autumn shares how curiosity and collaboration have shaped her path, and why a dance career doesn’t have to follow just one track to be successful.
Key Points in this Episode:
- Why Autumn shifted from Houston Ballet Academy toward contemporary and jazz-focused work
- How Autumn transitioned into choreography, teaching, and artistic leadership while still performing
- The impact collaborating with composers has had on her choreographic career
- How preparation and openness coexist in the studio
- What led Autumn to pursue her MFA later in her career, and how academia offers a new lens on dance, research, and creativity
- Listening to inner cues and values when deciding to change direction
Connect with Autumn:
WEBSITE: https://www.autumneckman.com/
INSTAGRAM: instagram.com/autumn__eckman
Links and Resources:
1-1 Career Mentoring: book your complimentary career call
Let’s connect!
My WEBSITE: thebrainyballerina.com
INSTAGRAM: instagram.com/thebrainyballerina
Questions/comments? Email me at caitlin@thebrainyballerina.com
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to Brand New Ballerina
00:00:00
Speaker
What's so beautiful about it is that you can still exercise those muscles in the professional world. I can still go and teach and they support that. They want that. It brings me back to that full circle of loving teaching, performing and choreographing. Working in academia holds space for all of those things.
00:00:18
Speaker
I'm Caitlin, a former professional ballerina turned dance educator and career mentor, and this is the Brand New Ballerina podcast. I am here for the aspiring professional ballerina who wants to learn what it really takes to build a smart and sustainable career in the dance industry.
00:00:34
Speaker
I'm peeling back the curtain of professional dance world with open and honest conversations about the realities of becoming a professional dancer. Come along to gain the knowledge and inspiration you need to succeed in a dance career on your terms.
Autumn Ekman's Dance Journey
00:00:52
Speaker
Hello and welcome to Brainy Ballerina Podcast. I'm your host, Caitlin Sloan, and I am joined today by Autumn Ekman. Autumn has had an incredible career spanning for performance, choreography, and education. She danced professionally with Giordano Dance Chicago,
00:01:08
Speaker
where she also served as assistant artistic director, resident choreographer, and director of Giordano II. She has also danced professionally with Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Luna Negra Dance Theater, and State Street Ballet, among other companies. She earned her MFA from the University of Iowa and has had her work commissions at companies all over the US. and she is currently an assistant professor Kennesaw State University. To start our conversation today, I would love to hear, why did you take your very first dance class?
00:01:39
Speaker
Okay, well, first of all, thank you for having me, Caitlin. It's so nice to see you. This sounds so ridiculous, but since I have memory, I knew I wanted to dance. I do have a very specific image that I remember. i don't know where my parents took me, but I remember sitting on a gym floor. i must have been at like a summer camp and there was a dancer, a ballerina doing the sugar plant variation, like on a basketball gym floor.
00:02:07
Speaker
was like, that's what I want to do. I mean, that was it. They enrolled me in my local dance studios, literally down the street in Georgia. think I took a combo ballet tap and tumbling class. That was it. Yeah.
00:02:19
Speaker
And then what was your training like growing up from there? Yes, from there, there was really wonderful training in the area I grew up in. And I grew up in some wonderful studios. It was primarily focused in, well, it was ballet, modern, and jazz in those early years until about age 10 or 11, I did competitions and I actually really, really enjoyed it. Growing up in the region that I grew up in, I was also a clogger. Oh. Yeah. so I had this really big love for tap and percussion and I loved it. And I was on a clogging team and the whole nine yards.
00:02:52
Speaker
And you kind of come to like an impasse where you have to not choose a direction, but really concentrate. And I was encouraged to go the ballet route. I was encouraged to. And that just snowballed from there. I left Atlanta at a really early age. I left home at 15 and I studied at Houston Ballet Academy.
00:03:10
Speaker
And then when I graduated high school, i came back to Atlanta and dove further into modern and jazz forms. That led me to Chicago. And that's where I met Nan and Gus. think I was around 18 at that time. would say this is still part of my training because there was a lot of training that happened at Giordano. I was still training as a young dancer, young performer and young company member, training in the Giordano technique and all the things that the school was offering.
00:03:37
Speaker
I think that's the gist of my training. And when I got to Chicago, i was introduced to a whole lot of other dance forms too. I was taking classes all over the city. i would go take classes with Muntu dance and take African class. was taking hip hop and I was taking contemporary and Graham. And I mean, just everything that Chicago had to offer when I wasn't in rehearsal, I was probably downtown.
Transition to Jazz and Leadership in Dance
00:03:59
Speaker
taking somebody's class.
00:04:01
Speaker
What made you go from Houston Ballet Academy to a more jazz focused career? Did you think you were going to go into a ballet company or why did you make that shift?
00:04:11
Speaker
Yeah, I knew I wanted to and it came back around later. Houston Ballet I was exposed to. Well, Hubbard Street came and performed at Miller Outdoor Theater and I was probably what, 13, 14 years old and They had this contemporary program, Twyla Thar. I can't remember what all they were doing, but I just was i was just mesmerized, enamored.
00:04:31
Speaker
I liked the way the company looked. I saw how they were all individuals. They were all superstars to me. And I really wanted to figure out how to get to Chicago. I think there's something about Chicago. It was something I couldn't explain, but I was so drawn to.
00:04:43
Speaker
But the ballet was always there. My love for Houston, the training I received in the company, that company itself, when I was there, they were doing works that were not just classical.
00:04:53
Speaker
And I just was so enamored and so in love with the dancer's in the company and when I wanted to be like them too. I wanted that training. So it's a mini tiered decision and pathway.
00:05:04
Speaker
I moved back home for a few years. I had not seen my family in like three years, really. i was just now turning 18. And so I trained and I spent a few years at home and strengthened that muscle and then moved to Chicago. What were those first few years like for you in a professional company? Well, there were a lot of fun, fun time, fun group,
00:05:25
Speaker
fun repertoire, being in a fun city. It wasn't all about having fun. It was the right fit that enabled me to really enjoy that space and time being a young professional dancer. It was a time of, oh gosh, just a lot of learning, having to learn. you You're in every piece every night. You know being in a repertoire company was such a cool experience and going right into that and being able to be all of these different things on stage in one evening and experiencing that and also just that time with my peers and my company that I was in and the relationships that I've built and still have to this day. It's really nice. What was your progression through the company like starting out as a new professional in Giordano and then ending up in a lot of different leadership roles? How did that happen for you? Nan was very supportive of me and I was always interested in choreography.
00:06:18
Speaker
I was working in studios every night of the week, competition studios, non-competitional studios, and really learning how to cut my teeth as a choreographer and a teacher. And I think it was trifold. I equally love performing, teaching, and choreographing. And I was demonstrating that I was developing these things all simultaneously. i had moved away to California. I danced with State Street Ballet. I came back, I reached my goals of working with a ballet company that I really loved. And then I came back and I took a more contemporary route. I was hoping that I was demonstrating that I had this well-rounded experience that i had something to offer and bring back on the artistic side of the company. And Nan gave me that opportunity. What were some of the learning curves you experienced when you first started stepping into leadership roles?
00:07:06
Speaker
I'm still learning. It's always a learning experience every day. It's reevaluating how the day went and learning from it because it's about everybody around you.
00:07:17
Speaker
It's about the thing you're doing and the alignment of the organization and the goals and how you fit into that and how you're going to support and strengthen it. So those were the big things I had to learn. I was still young.
00:07:31
Speaker
And you're still like close to the peers in age. And so it's learning how to be in front of the room and learning from your failures, learning from your mistakes, and just constantly reinventing the wheel and reevaluating how you can improve within that role.
00:07:47
Speaker
Can you share some of the standout moments from your performing career?
Memorable Performances and Choreography
00:07:51
Speaker
What were some things that were really special to you or really important to you? This is very generalized. I loved performing. Being on tour and being in certain countries and certain places were really standout moments.
00:08:03
Speaker
Being in Dance for Life, which was an annual performance in Chicago where it was a fundraiser at the beginning of the season or could say at the end of the summer. and being with the community and doing pieces and dancing for a cause that always has been really important to me since an early age. Being a young dancer who lost their mentor at a young age to HIV and AIDS. For 15 years, I got to do this every year was really important to me. Those are probably the highlights. Getting to dance certain works, working with certain choreographers, and not just certain ones, but all of them. They were all equally important. And then I would also say later on,
00:08:41
Speaker
having the opportunity to travel and work with companies, working with Missouri Contemporary Ballet, later Merrick Dance, where I met you, those types of opportunities and experiences are really, really stand out and valuable. It was really impactful for me too, to work with you. And I still like have such amazing memories of all the times working with you. Yeah, it was a really special time. And I remember that first time that I came in and worked with you guys and what became, I got to come back several times, a repeat relationship.
00:09:09
Speaker
Those are the most memorable things, is building those relationships and being able to come back again and again again and see the growth and evolution of a dancer, an organization, a company through time and having a small role in that. I guess that's always the things I've enjoyed most about being in dance.
00:09:28
Speaker
Yeah. How did you start getting more into choreography? this this something you did from an earlier age? Or like you said, you always were interested in it. You were always in the studio working on things.
00:09:39
Speaker
How did you start really getting these commissions and working with companies and making that more part of your career? I did start early. i was a summer choreographer at Houston Ballet Academy for a summer. We would have three student choreographers and I did it one year and no idea what was going on.
00:09:57
Speaker
But i loved it. I knew eventually this was something I wanted to do. so Oh, gosh. Yeah, Nan really gave me my first shot back in 2009 after i had kind of semi-retired from performing.
00:10:09
Speaker
And it went really well. And I think what drew me to it was that I had an opportunity to work collaboratively with the composer and musician and having something that you can offer and say, had this collaborator and here's what we do together, provided opportunity where it's like, oh, wow.
00:10:26
Speaker
There's an understanding of music. There's this other component where we can present works that have original composition. It's like the Tchaikovsky's here, Pettipa. Exactly. And it just also informed everything that I love to do. I love working in that way, in that manner, collaboratively.
00:10:45
Speaker
And I just started to do exactly what everybody just says. It's so cliche. You just have to start. you just have to start. You send your works out. You write letters, well, emails. You apply, apply.
00:11:03
Speaker
apply and it really was the hustle couple of yeses and a lot of no's that's the part that you know nobody sees behind the scenes and that's just really how it started so multi-layered having a product something i could offer i'm not just me i also work with these other people here's how we do it here's what we like to do and then just getting out there and the grind and and trying to make it happen That kind of leads into my next question for you about your choreographic process. Is it story driven, music driven, movement driven? Like where do you start when you are making a piece?
00:11:36
Speaker
I have notebooks of ideas. I write things down. I'm very free writing type of person. Dreamscaping, I guess you would call it. So I have all of these ideas and then I also have archives of music of ideas.
00:11:50
Speaker
And sometimes I try to put them together. Very musically driven. I grew up somewhat of a musical family. And so that was always really big, like at the forefront of a lot of my creativity and what I connected to as an artist. So music for sure, musicians,
00:12:08
Speaker
And i mean, really and truly it's keeping my eyes open because I see and I meet a lot of wonderful artists that are graphic artists, projections, design, music, theater.
00:12:23
Speaker
And I'm always asking questions to myself of how can i interweave these things? Yeah. And then it has transpired into Still works for the stage, but also like not for the stage and a little bit into film and just some creative spaces that hadn't ever considered in my earlier years of like, where can dance take me and what can it do and where can it be seen and to who and how. What are some of the things you have to think about as a choreographer differently and when you're working on a piece for film versus a piece for the
Creating for Film vs. Stage
00:12:56
Speaker
stage or a site-specific work? To be honest, I'm a big believer in what I have to consider is the team around me because
00:13:05
Speaker
I know my strengths. And so it's also a huge responsibility for me. Let's say I'm making a film. I want to find the people and the team and the environment that are also going to do the things that I don't know.
00:13:18
Speaker
You don't know what you don't know. And so I'm always considering these things when I'm making work. Every project I have to consider the environment and what's happening. For me, it's not just about the steps and the music and making a dance. I immediately started to think about what's happening that's going to support and create that. It's going to look different for a film. Somebody is going to understand the camera and have more knowledge than me.
00:13:42
Speaker
And I'm going to be learning in real time too. They're going to tell me, hey, yeah this is how this angle works. I try to always put that at the forefront of what I'm making is who knows more about me about that thing and how can we come together? Yeah, i love that. If you had to describe your choreography to somebody who has never seen one of your works, what would you say? How would you describe it?
00:14:02
Speaker
Well, oh gosh. Aesthetically, it falls into the spheres of contemporary dance. I would say that my choreography can work in balletic, modern, contemporary, different spaces.
00:14:17
Speaker
So it works in the spheres of contemporary dance, but it's not just one-sided, i would hope, I guess people would say. If I had to describe it myself, I don't describe it Like, I don't really describe it because I, one day i I really want to make a really strong ballet piece and the next day I want to try to do something different. So when you're working with dancers in different companies, like a more ballet company, a more modern company, how do you approach working within their are strengths to really show off what they're great at, but also not losing your choreographic voice and the story that you want to tell in your strengths? How do you mesh those two things together?
00:14:54
Speaker
There's the product, there's the story, there's the narrative, the idea. Here's the group that you're working with. You do your research, you connect with the dancers, kind of understand the overarching aesthetic of the company.
00:15:07
Speaker
And to be honest, companies are just so versatile. The repertoire they're doing also goes into a lot of different spheres of whatever type of company they are.
00:15:18
Speaker
So I feel like I never really worry about any of that type of stuff. I come prepared with movement, but every single time, the thing that I love the most about choreographing is the moment of connecting and and understanding how they move.
00:15:32
Speaker
You give something and then they answer that question. It becomes a fluid conversation in a way and you benchmark it and you chunk it together and that's a broad way of saying something that actually is really intricate and deep does that make sense yeah having worked with you i can i definitely feel that way like you said you always come prepared and you have movement but you're very open to interpretation of it and there's sometimes that you're like no i really want this to be this And sometimes that you're like, well, actually, I kind of like the way so-and-so did that. Let's all maybe do it more like that person or... Yeah. So it's not held so tightly that it can't evolve, but you still do have a very strong sense of what you want and when you want it to be a certain way and when you're okay with it.
00:16:20
Speaker
Yeah. And it's probably evolved quite a bit since we worked together because I just feel... Even as time goes on and you think, oh I know how this works. I do even more homework now. ah yeah As the years go by, I understand more and more about being prepared, but nothing is too precious that you have to hold on to it so tightly that it breaks.
00:16:44
Speaker
If you're a dancer who's feeling lost, overwhelmed, or even just unsure about your next career step, I am here for you. As a former professional ballet dancer turned dance career mentor, I help dancers get clear on what they really want out of their careers and build a real, actionable strategy to get them there.
00:17:02
Speaker
Whether you need help setting goals, planning for auditions, navigating mindset blocks, or just having someone in your corner who gets what you're going through and can hold you accountable, mentorship can make all the difference.
00:17:17
Speaker
If you're curious about whether working with a dance career mentor is the right fit for you, i offer a complimentary career consultation so we can talk through your unique goals and challenges.
00:17:27
Speaker
Just head to the show notes to schedule your consultation and let's build the dance career you've been dreaming about. I'd love to talk more about your journey in academia as well, because I know it's been a really big part of your story.
00:17:40
Speaker
What made you decide to go back to school and pursue your MFA? oh my gosh. Okay. It's one of those things where it's like something fell out the sky and you're like, oh, I could try this.
00:17:53
Speaker
i didn't really have a plan at one point. And I had a friend say, Hey, there's this job opening and you should, you should try. And I never thought about teaching in a college. I didn't even know something that would be available to me. And I applied and i ended up teaching six years as an instructor.
00:18:10
Speaker
It was wonderful. I loved it. And was like, okay, I can see this as the next chapter. As you are probably aware, you have to have certain credentials and hit certain benchmarks academically to work in academia. And I needed to get my master's.
00:18:24
Speaker
And so i pivoted and went to school full-time for two years to get my master's. And was at the University of Iowa. They had a program that really supports choreographers and also has the research. It was just a great place to really see and learn and understand about dance from that perspective.
00:18:42
Speaker
So long story short, it was out of necessity, but ended up being the biggest blessing. It was a world I didn't even know that I could tap into. And I didn't have an undergrad. didn't have an undergrad. oh I haven't read paper in 20 years. I didn't realize how much I loved being a student again. i had no idea. And so it's kind of never stopped since then. and I went to grad school in 2015 and just took that leap of faith and went for it. And what's so beautiful about it is that you can still exercise those muscles in the professional world. I can still go and teach and they support that. They want that.
00:19:16
Speaker
It brings me back to that full circle of loving teaching, performing, and choreographing. Working in academia holds space for all of those things.
Academic Pursuits in Dance
00:19:24
Speaker
What does learning and working in academia offer dancers that the strictly professional dance world doesn't offer them? It's an artist-scholar perspective in tandem with technical training.
00:19:37
Speaker
So you are constantly in dialogue with what you're learning. kind of awesome. I can only speak for myself. I was so focused on the form. It's a necessity in your formative years. There comes a time where you you're graduating high school, you're starting to think about where you belong and where dance belongs in your life. College or university training. Yeah, what's different about it is that you're engaging it from a scholarly approach a lot of times, but you're also learning masterworks. You're learning the history of these works, you're performing the works, but you're also engaging with your professors and the guest stars who are creating new innovative works. So I think it's always on the precipice of innovation and foundation at a really concentrated level. I never thought about it in that way of when I was a undergrad dance major,
00:20:28
Speaker
Where'd you go? I went to Grand Valley State University. That's right. i knew that. Yes. Yeah. And when I started, it was a really ballet-focused program, and it kind of evolved while I was there, which was interesting and kind of led me to contemporary ballet. But my first year there, i got to dance a valanchine ballet, and and never thought about how beautiful it was to get to do that as a student versus doing that maybe for the first time as a professional. i am a student, and I'm learning, and I'm okay to... maybe enjoy this process more than the pressure I would have put on myself.
00:20:59
Speaker
Of course, you still put pressure on yourself, but in a different way than if it was like, this is my first professional job and I'm doing this role. might've felt very different. So I do think that student mindset is a really beautiful thing to get to do these amazing works in that space. Yeah. I mean, and that it's available. you know, you get to look back and like, I did that thing. I did that ballet. I did that show. I did that performance. I worked with that person as a pre-professional or a young professional. It's such an awesome opportunity.
00:21:27
Speaker
And like I said, I didn't really know, almost like I didn't even understand. we're talking when I was a teenager, that college was an option. I thought I had to do this one thing this one way. Then you start to realize, wow, it has so much to offer. Yeah. You've taken so many different pivots in your career. do you have any insight for dancers into when to know when it's time to try something new or make a change?
00:21:54
Speaker
o Oh my gosh. I think it's the Libra in me. Always just trying to seek equilibrium and balance. Always being guided by my morals and my principles. I don't even really mean it that way. I mean it like my values in dance. It's usually led by curiosity. I'm always wanting to achieve something new. Wanting to do it all. Having to learn sometimes that there's something to be said about doing one thing really well for a really long time. For me, it was always about exploring that there's an inner voice and there's a calling. It'll tell you when to try and what to do.
00:22:31
Speaker
What is coming up for you next? What are you excited about? I've been granted this opportunity to assume a role within my university as artistic director. It's a big learning curve, which I think is coming at the right time because we have to always be learners. And so I'm learning how to do some different things and I get to think about things curatorially. I'm excited about that. I'm excited about The things that my students are doing right now, they're working on their capstones. I think we have like almost 30 students. wow That's a wonderful time for them. so I'm also thinking about them. I'm working on a collaboration with a long time composer
00:23:13
Speaker
collaborator. her name is Dr. Michelle Gott and she lives in Ottawa. We're doing a collaboration right now with a company called Voices Dance Project and also some other collaborators within that. We're going to perform and do a festival of harp and dance evening length performance in Ottawa in May. the highlight of my summer is teaching at American Dance Festival. you know, I really love being there in that environment and with that group of people.
00:23:40
Speaker
And then all the little things in between, enjoying this time in life with the people and things around me. Yeah. Can you share more about Kennesaw State University for dancers listening? Because it's not a university that I know much about.
00:23:53
Speaker
What type of program is it? Who is it geared toward, I guess? Yeah, absolutely. It's a BA program with a strong emphasis on performance and scholarly.
00:24:04
Speaker
research So it's an artist scholar program, ballet, modern track, but with all the offerings in between jazz and contemporary work. We have a choreographic residency where we bring in two internationally renowned choreographers. They work the whole summer. The students at our program have potential to literally dance year round, which I really love. They focus on performance.
00:24:25
Speaker
research, pedagogy. It's a nice sized program. We have our own theater, state-of-the-art theater. It's just for dance. They get to perform a lot, should they choose. Then what I would say about this program is that it also fosters what people do beyond the stage where they go. We have a lot of students that go on to run successful studios and businesses, all kinds of things. And so it's a nice program. it's about It's about 25, 30 minutes north of downtown Atlanta.
00:24:56
Speaker
And it's growing. OK, awesome. One question I have for you, with everything you've done in your career and all these different pivots you've taken, at this moment in time, how are you defining success in your career?
Defining Success in Dance
00:25:09
Speaker
Defining success for me, i think it's a blessing to still be in it and still love it just by the years itself. It's been a lifetime since three years old. To me, that's success. Success is locating myself within it. And success is is just on the daily, not being afraid to see where it takes me. you know, I'm no longer performing. You know, your relationship changes with it. So defining my success is also seeing the success in others.
00:25:38
Speaker
through my students, through the growth of the organization that I'm within. Actually, at this point in life, actually like acknowledging that on the daily is success for me.
00:25:49
Speaker
Last question I have for you. Sure. If you could tell aspiring professional dancers one thing you'd want them to know about pursuing a career, what would you tell them? To not think of their career as one thing.
00:26:01
Speaker
A career is a spectrum of many things within this form. What they do is not going to look like the person next to them or down the road or even from day to day or month to month of what they think it's going to be. And that's okay.
00:26:20
Speaker
It's exciting. If you can stay malleable, you're really in it and you're really winning and to trust that process. And to trust the people that are supporting you and around you, to trust that they're going to support you and provide the tools and to use those resources. Oh my gosh, that's it. Use the resources of those around you.
00:26:42
Speaker
Ask questions, connect and be present. Take advantage of the professors and the teachers around you and be a part of of their lives and they'll be a part of yours. And I think for dancers to know that we like to be asked the questions. I feel like I was a student. I thought, i don't want to bother them with my questions. And now on this side of it I'm like, please, I would love to talk about my experience and share what I've learned with you because there's so much inside of us that we we want to help our students.
00:27:11
Speaker
Yeah. Bother your teachers. That's what you say. Bother them. They want you. Yes. Yes. I love that. Autumn, this has been so amazing. Thank you for all of your insight today. if anyone who's listening wants to learn more about you and your work, where can we find you? I have an Instagram.
00:27:28
Speaker
I have a website. It's autumnetman.com. You can always email me. There's a little tab there. would love to connect with anybody who might want to. Okay. Amazing. Thank you so much, Adam.
00:27:38
Speaker
Thanks, Caitlin. This is wonderful. I mean, I can interview you now. Like, what is, no, really, like, I actually want to ask this.
Inspiration Behind The Brainy Ballerina
00:27:45
Speaker
How did you land upon The Brainy Ballerina, like how did that evolve?
00:27:51
Speaker
That'd be like a whole other podcast episode, but I guess my short answer is that I felt like when I retired, I was very lost. I thought I was going to stay with Missouri Contemporary Ballet. I was assistant executive director. I was moving toward that role and then we ended up moving.
00:28:07
Speaker
My husband got a new job. And so very quickly, everything that I planned for my future just evaporated. And I wanted something that was my own. And i wanted a vehicle to share all these things that I had learned. And I remember thinking I wanted to start a company and I was just like chewing on what I was just going to call it for a while. And I remember I was in the shower one day. My shower thoughts are like, that's where all my ideas come. But I kept thinking, what are the things I want to teach people?
00:28:36
Speaker
My students, when I'm teaching, what is the most important thing to me? And I've always been just really focused on helping my students be smart dancers because I always saw in my career how important that was above all else. Honestly, if you can be a smart dancer, you're going to get work, you're going to do well.
00:28:53
Speaker
Mm-hmm. So I had that idea in my mind and then the brainy ballerina just popped into my head. okay and then it's grown from there. But like you said, things happen that you don't even expect. And I was very set on one path and then that changed and I had to find a different way.
00:29:09
Speaker
You're a perfect example of trusting the process, planting a seed and and seeing where it grows and bringing people together in ways that you never expected. Oh, never. yeah And I mean, the podcast was not even on my mind when I started. no intention of starting a podcast. But then as time went on and i have had kids now and my life can be very big in some ways, like very big and beautiful raising kids, but also it can feel kind of small sometimes and that you can be a little bit isolated, you know, just like I need to talk to an adult.
00:29:39
Speaker
And so the podcast almost came out of my personal need for wanting to connect with people and hear their stories and just learn more and have these conversations. And so it is a little bit self-serving, but I think it has been really helpful to a lot of dancers as well. So it's been cool. Right. It's relatable.
00:30:00
Speaker
It's awesome. Yeah. Thanks, Autumn. It was so nice to connect with you. That was really fun. Yeah. Likewise. Let's do it again sometime.
00:30:11
Speaker
Thank you for tuning into the Brainy Ballerina podcast. If you found this episode insightful, entertaining, or maybe a bit of both, I would so appreciate you taking a moment to leave a rating and hit subscribe.
00:30:23
Speaker
By subscribing, you'll never miss an episode. And you'll join our community of dancers passionate about building a smart and sustainable career in the dance industry. Plus, your ratings help others discover the show too.
00:30:36
Speaker
I'll be back with a new episode next week. In the meantime, be sure to follow along on Instagram at The Brainy Ballerina for your daily dose of dance career guidance.