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39. Ballet Through a Modern Lens: Emily Speed's Vision for AVID Dance
13 Plays30 minutes ago
In this episode, I was joined by Emily Speed, founder and artistic director of AVID Dance, a project-based dance company presenting classical ballet through a modern lens.
Emily shares her journey dancing with renowned companies like Alabama Ballet, Ballet Tucson, Colorado Ballet, and Ballet Idaho. Now a principal guest artist and visionary leader, she discusses her mission to make ballet accessible and relevant to today's audiences.
Emily’s journey is a testament to resilience, adaptability, and creative courage. Her insights on turning obstacles into opportunities and redefining what classical ballet can be will inspire aspiring dancers and creative leaders alike.
Key Moments:
- [1:32] Early Dance Days: How a high-energy three-year-old found her calling in ballet
- [5:50] First Steps in the Corps de Ballet: The steep learning curve of transitioning from solo work to corps roles and how mentorship shaped Emily's growth
- [8:24] Transitioning to New Companies: How Emily used a major setback to spur her career forward and come back to Colorado Ballet
- [16:40] Making the Leap to Freelance Dance: Emily’s transition to freelance dance (while dealing with a major injury)
- [23:20] Reimagining Roles: Emily’s creative approach to characters like Bluebird and Clara to bring authenticity to the stage
- [29:20] Founding AVID Dance: How Emily's entrepreneurial spirit led to the creation of a dance company
- [37:13] Leadership & Artistic Balance: The challenges and joys of directing a company while still performing as a dancer
- [47:01] Powerful Advice for Dancers: Why dance should never define your entire identity and how to thrive amidst rejection and competition
Connect with Emily:
INSTAGRAM: instagram.com/aviddanceco
WEBSITE: AVIDdance.org
Links and Resources:
Set up ticketing for your next event with DRT (Make sure to mention that The Brainy Ballerina sent you!)
Get your copy of The Intentional Career Handbook
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
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Transcript
Staying True to Artistic Self
00:00:00
Speaker
I try to stay true to myself and what I really want as an artist. And sometimes that decision doesn't make a lot of sense from the outside. There's a lot of decisions I've made in my career that people are like scratching their head going, what? I don't get it. And for me, they've opened up opportunities. I've had to be pretty brave. I've done some pretty bold things. And I would encourage a lot of dancers to do that more.
Caitlin's Journey: Ballerina to Educator
00:00:28
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. 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 turns.
Introducing Emily Speed: Avid Dance Director
00:01:02
Speaker
Hello and welcome to the Brainy Ballerina podcast. I'm your host, Caitlin Sloan, and I am joined today by Emily Speed. Emily is the artistic director and founder of Avid Dance, a new project-based dance company that presents classical ballet through a modern lens. Throughout her career, she has danced for Ballet Tucson, Alabama Ballet, Colorado Ballet, and Ballet Idaho.
00:01:24
Speaker
And she currently appears as a principal guest artist across the country. Thank you so much for joining me today, Emily. I am so excited to chat
Emily's Dance Beginnings
00:01:31
Speaker
with you. And I want to start by asking you, why did you take your very first dance class? Oh, I took my very first dance class because my mom needed something to do with me. I was really really high energy. And I think that there was a dance class just right around the corner from our house.
00:01:50
Speaker
And I was three-ish, I believe. And she was just like, that seems like a really great thing to do to get her energy out. I don't think she realized that it was going to have such an impact on my life.
Early Training and Influences
00:02:06
Speaker
Right? Were you hooked right away? Yeah, I liked it from the very beginning. It was just the movement and a way for me to focus and channel my energy, but also be able to move, which really resonated with me. What was your training like growing up?
00:02:22
Speaker
My training was a bit of a mix. I started my original very first Nutcracker at Denton Ballet Academy with the Festival Ballet, and that was just right around the corner, maybe 15 minutes from my house. I grew up in a really small town, and Denton was the closest place. Denton's a college town, so they had this amazing Nutcracker, and he brought in lots of guest artists, and actually it was where I saw my very first professional dancer dance.
00:02:50
Speaker
So it had a really meaningful impact on me. And I think that seeing that that was something that I could do as a young four, five, six year old was extremely important. And it was so inspiring. And that was my teacher Hugh Nene. And Mr. Nene was a very good teacher, very disciplined. a Technique at the bar was very important.
00:03:17
Speaker
I struggled with that as a kid. I think it's already kind of obvious that I was active. Now I know I have ADHD. And so that was something that I sometimes struggled with looking like I was paying attention, although I think I absorbed more than he thought.
00:03:33
Speaker
And so he recommended when I was 12 that I go off to a summer intensive. And at the summer intensive, I ended up going to Kirav Academy and they had, you know, Russian training but gone to a training. And they recommended to my mom that I find a teacher that had that style of training.
00:03:49
Speaker
And so that's when we started kind of looking for other teaching, but I stayed at with my first ballet teacher for a few more years and just got some supplemental lessons. And then eventually I moved on and started training with
The Role of Competitions
00:04:02
Speaker
Marina Almayva. She was from Perm. And so I had a very vaganova training. I did YGP.
00:04:08
Speaker
I love some things about YIGP. I think that if you get too focused on the competition aspect, it can be detrimental. But for me, it gave me lots of performing experience and lots of confidence as a soloist.
Choosing Home: A Beneficial Transition
00:04:20
Speaker
And I think that was really important in my career. What was your transition from student to professional like? Well, that was an interesting transition because I i had opportunities to go off to school and my parents were just really adamant that I stay at home.
00:04:34
Speaker
And at the time that was really hard for me. I was really disappointed. I wanted to go off, but I think looking back that it was really a good thing. I stayed with my family. I think my relationship with my brothers is closer because I was at home. And I think that I was more grounded as a person before going into a professional environment, which was really helpful as a human being, first of all. And then second of all, as an artist, I think that can be really helpful.
Teaching and Training: A Dual Journey
00:05:01
Speaker
I had some interesting gaps in my training because I was training at a school that my teacher had just started her school. Certain things were really great because she had me teaching the younger kids all the way up to 10. And so I had a ton of teaching experience as an 18, 19 year old.
00:05:17
Speaker
that I think a lot of people don't have. And she was coaching me on how to teach them. It wasn't just I was guessing, I was getting instruction. But then on the other hand, I was the only dancer at the school in my age, my peer group, and my level.
00:05:33
Speaker
So I wasn't exposed to really anyone else that was trying to do this as a profession. And I remember my first corps de ballet rehearsal asking someone what the eighth mark was. So, you know, there were some learning curves. Gosh, I wish that there's a corps de ballet one-on-one class that people could take right before they entered a company. I think it would be so helpful. I got the one-on-one, not maybe the class, but the life experience.
00:06:02
Speaker
I think the first two years of my professional career, I was trying to learn how to dance in the core. It's not that I didn't want to dance in the core. I wanted to be dancing in that. That's what I wanted to be doing. You know, that's what my peers were doing. And I was so excited to be there. But I just, I had a lot to learn. It's completely different than dancing by yourself. Maybe we should do that. Maybe we should start a core work 101. Yes, I totally agree. It's a very different skill.
Core Experience and Learning Curves
00:06:27
Speaker
Like I was lucky enough to be in an environment growing up and my pre-pro school that I went to where we had a student company and you audition for it and then you rose to the ranks of the company like trainee, apprentice, company member. So you did all the corps de ballet work. You learned how to do that. Then you got to do the soloist roles, principal roles. There was a progression and that definitely made a difference for me going into a career because I had experienced every level of that. Now it was hard to go from getting to do, feel like you're kind of a,
00:07:00
Speaker
a big fish in your small pond, I got to do those principal roles and then all of a sudden I felt like I was back again. So it was hard to kind of feel like you're regressing even though you of course are progressing into a professional career. It's a whole different ballgame. I 100% agree that if a dancer is not getting that core experience to try to seek that out because it does make a difference.
Patience with Training Gaps
00:07:23
Speaker
Definitely. What is cool though about that experience of going into a company and having a gap and having somewhere that you aren't necessarily automatically, I wasn't automatically able to run at the same pace, I guess would be a way to say it.
00:07:38
Speaker
is it just made me so aware throughout the rest of my career of somebody that might be really talented, but have some sort of gap that's not necessarily their fault. And just to have some patience with those people. When I was five years later, when I was a senior core person and I didn't want to have to run something again, I would remember, well, what about when you were that person that we were having to run it again for? And you needed to do it again because you needed the muscle memory. You needed to try it again. on the other edge of that sword. As hard as it was, I think it gave me some perspective later in my career, which... Yeah, absolutely.
00:08:17
Speaker
You've danced for so many notable companies throughout your career. How did you decide
Challenges and Success at Colorado Ballet
00:08:22
Speaker
when it was time to make changes? Well, I have a very unique story of my journey with Colorado Ballet, which was where I spent the majority of my career. So I was in studio company. And like I said, I was struggling with the core work. There were some things that I had some gaps. And so usually Gil gives typical is two years in studio company.
00:08:41
Speaker
But he actually did not give me a second year in studio company. He said, you look great when you're dancing by yourself. We just can't use you. That was pretty devastating for me because I really wanted to dance at Colorado Ballet. They have a shorter company and I'm 5'2". And it was somewhere that I wasn't out of the norm to be 5'2", and I thought that that could be a place where I could he succeed. My teacher had really been concerned about my height. She had thought that I would grow. My whole family is tall. I don't know what happened to me. I just never grew without thinking I would grow. I'm similar. I'm five feet tall, and I was five feet tall when I was, I think, 12 years old, and then I just never
00:09:26
Speaker
I grew again. I can relate. Yeah. So I thought that that would be a great place. I love the mountains and I and had an opportunity to audition at ABT in high school through YAGP actually. And I got to go take company class with ABT, which was my first company class, which was a disaster because I'd never taken company class in my life. And then I'm dancing next to like, you know, Irina and Maxime and all these people that I know. And I was just like,
00:09:52
Speaker
starstruck. It was serious. I'm now hilarious at the time. It was terrifying. And one of my, the judges that had kind of taken me under his wing, he knew I'd had this audition at ABT and he's like, well, I just feel like more of an ABT rep or more of that kind of style is going to be fit you for a company. And so he had also recommended Colorado Ballet. So I was like, this is where I need to be.
00:10:15
Speaker
I had another meeting with Gil and I said, please let me stay. I know I have things to work on, but I promise I'll get better. you know And he was just kind of like, no, I just come back and audition. That's what he said. And I was like, okay. And so I left, I went to Alabama Ballet.
00:10:31
Speaker
That's really where I learned to do core work. Tracy Alvey was there at the time and she had been a principal with the Royal Ballet. I think there was a class that year where she gave me a correction every single combination in her technique class. She was just giving me so much feedback. Sometimes it was a lot, but I did grow a lot and I had made a couple friends in the company there that were a little bit older than me and were kind and helpful.
00:10:56
Speaker
And they knew I wanted to grow and they really like when I would do something that I didn't understand why she was upset they'd be like, well, this is why, you know, and they kind of break down for me. And I'm like, Oh, okay, got it. That was a really great learning curve for me being there. And I actually for the very first time,
00:11:14
Speaker
I got cast to dance something that not all the company was cast in the first cast, and that was Serenade. And that was a corps de ballet, and I was so proud of myself for getting cast to do corps de ballet. And they had me understudying some soloist stuff. But to me, what I was proud of during that time was that I got cast to dance in a corps de ballet piece.
00:11:38
Speaker
and they chose me to do it and I got to go in and I got to do it every rehearsal. So anyway, so Serenade's a very special ballet for me. It was also my first principal role eventually later in my career. Serenade's a special ballet for everyone, I think. Yeah. I've never even danced it and it's special to watch. Yeah. So that's kind of how I ended up in Alabama. Long story, because I'd had the learning curve, they weren't going to promote me essentially right away because they kind of wanted to see me for another year.
00:12:05
Speaker
And I felt like I had really taken such huge strides and I was ready and I needed to really get a paycheck. I was waiting tables every night until midnight and working doubles on the weekends and it was just too much. I needed to get paid to dance, at least something. ah We were doing a lilac garden at the end of the season and I got cast in it over some of the company news. I was an apprentice at the time.
00:12:30
Speaker
And I got cast to dance it. Amanda McCarrow and John Gardner had come to Colorado Ballet when I was there. And so they had met me in Colorado and they kind of seemed terrified Emily. And then they saw like such a huge change and they were like, we're so excited to see you or remember you. And they had taken like an artistic advisor, artistic associate at Ballet Tucson.
00:12:51
Speaker
Yeah. So they were rehearsal, directing and staging and they were involved, but they weren't there all the time. But they said, we think that would be a good fit for you. We'd love to keep working with you. And I jumped at that opportunity. I loved to this day. They've been my biggest mentors in my career. And so I went to ballet Tucson and was there and worked with them for two years. We had kind of had the conversation and it was time for me to start auditioning for a bit bigger company. That's kind of how I came back around.
00:13:17
Speaker
and eventually I auditioned again for Colorado Ballet. And then my first season at Colorado Ballet, I did principal roles. So it was a cool comeback story, definitely an underdog story. And it was a really fun full circle. And I think that as a director, Gil was really proud of me, even though he hadn't seen that whole trajectory. I think he was like really impressed that I came back and I was like, I really want to dance here. I spent another many years at Colorado Ballet and danced a lot of amazing rep and did a lot of roles and I got a lot of opportunities. And I think that that time in my career will always be something I'm just so proud of to come back to that company yeah and then get to dance leading roles. It was a really, really wonderful time in my career.
00:14:07
Speaker
Yeah, what a testament to. I think a lot of times dancers feel like if they get a rejection from a company one year, they don't want to go back. You know, it feels like, well, they didn't like me, why would I go back there again? And it's just such a good ah testament to hear that you were like, this is where I really do think I belong. And I feel that and I just need to go get a little more experience and try again. And look what happened. So I think that's really inspiring to hear.
00:14:32
Speaker
Definitely. I mean, like I said, I was an underdog. I was one of the least experienced. I wouldn't say least talented by any means, but least experienced. I've overcome a lot of obstacles throughout my career. And I think that my passion for dance has been able to help me get through that and my tenacity. How special for Gilda to recognize that?
00:14:54
Speaker
That's really cool for a director to say, wow, um mean that's impressive to me. And I'm sure he sees a lot of dancers and I'm sure that's really hard. He's seeing dancers all the time and he's managing lots of careers, essentially. I think that that was a really special moment to have with the director. I don't know that a lot of people get something like that. There is so much dancers need to learn as they pursue a professional dance career. It can be completely overwhelming. Where do you even start?
00:15:24
Speaker
with your intention. To me, this is the first step in defining success on your terms. Once you have an intention for your career based on your core values, you can begin to hone in on a strategy to make your goals a reality. But without it, you will always feel out of alignment, out of control, and ultimately unfulfilled in your career. So how do you figure out what success means to you?
00:15:49
Speaker
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00:16:17
Speaker
Tap the link in the show notes to download your copy today and start pursuing your dance career with intention. From Colorado, did you move into freelancing? I did. I kind of felt like I had gotten to the place in a way I hit my ceiling. And I didn't think I had hit my ceiling as a dancer or an artist. But I felt that I had hit where the staff felt I was going to go. And that's OK. But I felt like I still had more that I wanted to explore. And they saw me in a very specific set of roles. And I wanted to start exploring outside of that set of roles. And I knew to do that, I needed to go somewhere else.
00:16:54
Speaker
And that's okay. That's just part of an evolution of a career. And so I had been thinking about auditioning and I had a pretty major injury. Actually, I'd already been auditioning. I broke my foot in the fall. Unfortunately, I went misdiagnosed. I fractured my Liz Frank joint.
00:17:11
Speaker
And then dancing on it, I developed a stress fracture in my lateral cuneiform. So those are the bones that make up your arch. So essentially I had fractured two of the bones of my arch. I eventually had to get surgery, but it took a while to get diagnosed. It's a kind of a unique injury that really affected my ability to audition, but I had already made the decision that I knew I needed to move on. And I think sometimes that if you stay somewhere as beautiful as the time at Colorado Ballet had been, I felt like I needed to do something more
00:17:49
Speaker
than I was doing there. I remember actually telling Amanda, who's been my this amazing mentor to me, I just remember saying like, well, if I come to resent the people or the place or my career, to me that would be a failure. And I don't want to be resentful of a time that I'm really proud of and I had a really wonderful time, but it's time for me to move on.
00:18:12
Speaker
And if I stay, I think that's what's gonna happen is I'm just gonna feel resentful and I won't be able to remember this is a beautiful time in my career. And so I made the decision. I was still injured. I told Gil, I was gonna, I think he was pretty shocked. I think it's pretty rare for a dancer to quit their job when they're injured. And I didn't quit. I just didn't reset my contract. And I was still doing my rehab. And so I moved to New York. I mean, I had a pretty tough rehab for my surgery. I ended up having surgery at Stedman Clinic and Vale. That is the Olympic Surgery Center. So one of the best surgery centers in the country is where Wendy Whalen had her hip surgery.
00:18:49
Speaker
They had never done this surgery before. So I was dealing with an uphill battle and I knew that, but I was very confident that I would make it back to dancing. But about a year and a half out of my surgery, I was rehabbing with some really great PTs in New York and the doctor in New York was consulting with my doctor in Vail.
00:19:11
Speaker
And he eventually just kind of said, well, you just might not make it back to the same level you were at before. That time for me being in New York and taking classes and you know slowly starting to add projects to my calendar was a really interesting time in my career because I wasn't sure. But what better place to be an artist if I wasn't going to dance, I just knew I still wanted to be an artist.
00:19:36
Speaker
I think in a way being in New York was the best place. I'm so glad I didn't end up in another company trying to overcome that. I think that would have been too much for me and I would have had more a different type of pressure because I was definitely putting pressure on myself but it's different when you Need to execute classical steps and you're doing a classical ballet and like I could do something that because I was freelancing I gave me a lot more flexibility to still be dancing as I was dealing with that and Luckily, I have made a full recovery Yeah, so freelancing was interesting. I was also, I moved to New York in 2020. But one of the cool things is that because there were pods, I think that I got to know some of the freelancers better in the city. Honestly, my whole plan had always been to freelance until I was ready to audition and then audition and get a job. And I think just the timing and my age and how that worked out, I auditioned a ton. I would have people very interested.
00:20:35
Speaker
but then not offer a contract and or offer a contract that i I wasn't interested in or, you know, it just wasn't the right fit. I'm actually really grateful for that. I think it worked out for the best. I'm entrepreneurial in spirit and I think that freelance has been really great for me.
00:20:52
Speaker
It's allowed me to explore different things I wouldn't have explored in a company. It's allowed me to get outside of the box that I was in. And the other thing is that, I mean, the contemporary aspect of it has been interesting for me. It's been really inspiring. I did end up taking a contract with Ballet Idaho, got to dance leading roles there, but their rep is quite contemporary, which was really different for me, but very inspiring. And I loved the company there. That just, I had some personal life things that kind of made me feel like I needed to go back to freelancing. So I'm back freelancing now, but that was a fun blip as well. And I met some really great people and my director there inspired me to actually start exploring contemporary dance and I would never have explored it if I hadn't gone there. So I think that's a ah really special thing as well. Do you have a favorite role that you've danced in your career? Aurora. Yeah. Yeah.
00:21:46
Speaker
I, well, okay. I loved dancing Clara at Colorado Ballet. I did it over a hundred shows of Clara and I did it with one of my best friends, my friend Ari. And we partnered together a lot and we had this great, like just the great friendship still to this day, but we had a great partnership. We overcame things together. We joined the company the same year. We dealt with ups and downs and all of the things in company life. It can be such a bubble and you forget that that's not the whole world.
00:22:16
Speaker
And that's one of the things I want to say about freelancing, which I know i'm I'm taking a tangent here, but no please I have found the freelance community to be so supportive of each other. The freelance dance community is so special. I think that's what I like the most about freelancing is how supportive other dancers are when you're freelancing, because everything's word of mouth. Everything's somebody, I can't take this gig, but I know this great dancer, but they're also a great person and I'm going to recommend them.
00:22:46
Speaker
But you're not just recommending people on their dance, you're recommending them on how they are as a professional, how they show up in the studio, like all the things that actually matter. Those are the things that create great art is not just having some talent. So that's been really cool. But going back to kind of my favorite role, I think Aurora would be my favorite so far.
00:23:08
Speaker
I also have danced some really cool things in the last year that I got to commission, which is pretty special. Like I get to pick now what I'm dancing. And that is a really unique experience. I don't think a lot of people get to do that. And that's been really fun. I like doing roles that I get to dive deeper into. And I think that telling a story for me is really intriguing and revisiting roles when you get so comfortable with the choreography that you're putting layers upon layers of depth on it. And so I think that's why I liked doing Clara so much. I think it could have gotten old. And I think if I had let it get old, it would have, but I was constantly reinventing it and thinking of things and trying to add to the character. And I enjoy that process, even though Clara is quite a, she's not super complex, right? I would love to try that with a more complex character. Those are kind of my favorite. I like telling stories. I think that's the big thing.
00:24:05
Speaker
Yeah. Could you give some specific examples of how you would kind of reimagine a role like Clara for dancers who are curious how to implement that? Sure. I'm going to use Bluebird because it has less of a story. When I did Bluebird at Colorado Ballet, I came up with kind of ridiculous storyline because I was like, how do I make Bluebirds say something. And I had been exploring this in Clara where I would take the steps and I would write down what step was correlated with what emotion or why the step was happening. Like the choreography was coming from her story. So why did she do that pique fuete? Actually, when I started doing that, I started just nailing things on stage. It was the craziest thing I had let go of all the technique.
00:24:50
Speaker
And I wasn't trying to like do X amount of pirouettes or hit a balance. I was trying to tell the story. And those things started happening so well that that was such a cool experience. And I think that that's so important to remember as an artist that if you can go there and you're dancing, the technique often will work better. But even if it doesn't, it has more depth. So you' it's win-win.
00:25:14
Speaker
But for Bluebird, I definitely had this. I decided that she was a little bit cuckoo because she's in love with a bird. Some of the stuff she was doing, it's a little quirky. The music's a little murky. I was like, she's cuckoo. I think she really is. And so I kind of played around with, I didn't obviously say that on the outside, but just as my own internal, like she's a little delusional. She's very sheltered. She thinks she's in love with a bird. And what does that look like? And you know, when she's flapping or she's listening, how would you approach that if that was actually the case? I know that sounds a little silly, but no, I love that. I don't know where else you can go with it. Yes.
00:25:56
Speaker
That's great advice. It's fun to work on a character that has a little bit more depth. I have some things that I'm trying to work on now to get to a character like that. I've tended to play the young girl, the Clara, the Aurora, which is great for classical ballet because I think a lot of the the leading roles are that. But we can say more with dance and ballet and even classical ballet than just being the damsel in distress. And I hope that I'll get to do that in my career.
00:26:25
Speaker
Do you have a most challenging role that you've danced? Well, I don't know if it's the most challenging role that I've danced, but I did get in Carmen last year with Bali Idaho. I got to play the kind of evil gypsy character. She's kind of burned by Carmen. So then she gets mad and seeks revenge. And that was a fun character. But I am a very petite,
00:26:52
Speaker
small person. And so I think sometimes to play a role that's commanding like that when you don't have the size is just going to be naturally a challenge. And so if I had a fun time working on that. I don't actually think I ever got all the way there, but I've always wanted to play an evil character. I really think that it's something that I could do, but oh, I did, you know, I did play an evil character, but she was a young girl in, um,
00:27:16
Speaker
the pillar of fire which is anthony tutor but that's different because i was getting to use my natural something i'm good at and then yeah make her evil but yeah i think like playing a more commanding character like that is a challenge for me but i think i don't know i love a challenge Yeah, I know I agree being short. I never gotten cast in those kind of more evil characters. I am the same as you, like Clara, the more cutesy roles. I think the most evil character I've done has been Cinderella's stepsisters, but they're not really even evil. They're just kind of ditzy. So it still falls on that, that realm. I'd love to get to do something more in that realm too, because it is easy to get typecast when you're short as a plane, like the young girl. It makes sense, right? Totally. Yeah.
00:28:03
Speaker
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00:28:33
Speaker
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00:28:56
Speaker
Okay, I want to talk about Avid. So can you tell me how Avid Dance started? Did you always see yourself directing the company? No, I did not see myself directing a company. I knew I wanted to be involved in the dance world and I was done dancing now. Realizing that my career wasn't going to take this path that I thought it would, I thought I would be back in a classical ballet company. I wanted to do the classical full links.
00:29:21
Speaker
And kind of realizing that I was contemplating, well, what do I do next? And this was when I was auditioning still. So I hadn't gotten the job with Ballet Idaho yet. I had been asked by a nonprofit.
00:29:38
Speaker
or I had been chatting with a nonprofit about producing a show. So I had already started coming up with like, if I were going to produce, what would I want to commission? Who would I want to dance? I'd already started that brainstorming process. It didn't work out, which is okay. But I all of a sudden was thinking, okay, well, I already have this idea of this show and I still want to do it. And I find that interesting. And the thought of getting to kind of have a little bit of direction in where my career was going was really appealing. And so I decided to do it anyways. And there are so many good dancers out there that i I see all the time in New York, freelancing, or even in other cities that are you know they don't have full-time jobs. And I was like, there's so many dancers that need opportunities. So I'm just going to create this. And I thought it would be like a once a year performance that happened.
00:30:37
Speaker
I didn't really know what my goal was. It was just to create a show the first time and then I would see from there. And it quickly became much more than that. And I realized I know I'm entrepreneurial. I have a good business skill set. You know, I have a real estate business that I run um and I have some investments in my Roth IRA and some things like that. So I had some knowledge and experience of just general business. Not that I have a lot, you know, I'm working on it. And that it was really intriguing to me.
00:31:11
Speaker
to get to use the other side of my brain, to get to provide opportunities for people. And so that's kind of how it started. It has morphed into something more than I intended.
00:31:22
Speaker
But I think that's pretty cool. It is cool. So initially it started off as maybe one project, but now can you talk about what the structure is and what you're doing? Sure. So our structure right now and what we did in 2024, which is our first year. So our very first performance was in New York City last June. I had been thinking it would be great to take it to Colorado. We are technically a Colorado organization but at that point it was still so new we were fiscally sponsored we were still figuring out what was going to be best and what it was going to look like but I had a pretty strong feeling we had gone to Colorado for some open rehearsals and it's kind of my adult life that's where I've lived the most and so I really wanted to get us out there and we were able to do that so we did our show in New York we did well enough financially we could swing making Colorado happen
00:32:16
Speaker
And we performed in Avon at an outdoor pavilion, which is a beautiful space. It's actually one of the stages that Villa Dance Fest uses in their festival. And then we also performed at the Newman Center in Denver, which is one of the stages I had danced at in Colorado Ballet. They no longer dance there anymore. They dance everything at the opera house, but it used to be that one of the triple bills would be on that stage.
00:32:38
Speaker
So I knew the theater well, which was helpful. I had danced at both venues. So we were able to bring it to Colorado, which was really exciting. This year we're going to do the same thing. The venue we're going to use in New York is Symphony Space, which is a much better, bigger venue. And people know what, where it is. They know of it. Not everybody maybe, but it has some name recognition, which is nice.
00:33:01
Speaker
yeah We're also going to be doing a four to six city tour across Colorado. We know that we're doing Telluride, Avon again. I'm sure we'll do Denver Metro. um I have two venues I'm working out right now. I'm talking with two other venues right now in the mountains. Hasn't been finalized yet, but we'll be close to five cities.
00:33:25
Speaker
um somewhere between four and six and I think that's a pretty big increase compared to last year, like which is exciting. We're also working on some ideas for a full length storyline based commission for 2026 and also we're kind of looking into the future about where we want our rep to go and what we want for that.
00:33:49
Speaker
So that's pretty exciting. I would not have expected that we would be, i well, I wouldn't say this far along. I don't know what that really means. I wouldn't expect to that we would it have all of this momentum that we've had. And people are really excited about what we're doing. And that's really inspiring for me. It makes me want to keep pushing forward and doing it. Yeah. You present classical ballet through a modern lens. Can you talk about what that means? What kind of work you're doing?
00:34:17
Speaker
Sure. So one of the things that I kept thinking if I was going to present something of my own or direct a company was I need to listen to what I keep hearing as criticism for the classical ballet world. And a lot of what I've heard is basically that these stories do not relate to today. And as a complete Rina and Bunhead. That was really hard for me to accept and hear, honestly. I was like, no, these are so important. it's so And I do still believe that. But I think that each generation has to create our own art and we have to move our art form forward.
00:34:58
Speaker
And I want to be part of this generation's creation and giving back to our art form. What will people say about this generation's art? I want to be a part of that. And even in a small way, that's the goal is to help artists, choreographers, dancers,
00:35:16
Speaker
say something with their art and say it in a way that's approachable to today's audience because i I want ballet. I love it so much. I want it to relate to as many people as possible. And I think if we don't work on how do we relate to people, then we're only going to keep relating to the same audiences. And to me, that's not really, it's not bad. It's just not enough. I think we need to relate to more people.
00:35:44
Speaker
Yeah, I think a lot of people feel like ballet is not for them or it's stuffy or elitist. I agree. If we want to see our art form continue to flourish, we need to grow the audience base.
00:35:55
Speaker
make sure that everyone feels like it's a place they could come to and feel seen. Exactly. I want to make ballet more approachable. I want to tell stories that are different. Right now, our rep is a mixed rep, and we've done our pinot, so pretty classical, neoclassical, and then we've done new works that are created. So we've done a really wide range of things, and I wouldn't necessarily say that You couldn't call a lot of what we do contemporary ballet, but the reason I say classical ballet through a modern lens is because classical ballet is my passion. And I want to keep the integrity of classical ballet, but move it forward so that we don't lose it as an art form. And so that's where I get that.
00:36:46
Speaker
idea from and we'll see where it goes. Yeah. Are you doing most of the choreography for the company? Are you commissioning other people to do that? How is that working for you? I tried to choreograph last year. I mean, I did choreograph, but it's too much. I really want to still dance and it's a very unique position to be directing and dancing.
00:37:04
Speaker
And I'm trying to figure out how to best navigate that because you're splitting you're splitting two very different things. Because as a dancer, you're really a vehicle for other people's art, although all of the choreographers I'm commissioning are very collaborative. So there's a lot of playback between the dancers and the choreographers. But then I'm also directing. And so it's it's a very odd position to be in.
00:37:27
Speaker
I would love to work on choreography more. I don't think that right now doing it through AVID is best for me personally. And I don't feel like I had the time and energy to fully really immerse myself in the process. If another opportunity comes outside of AVID, I'd be interested.
00:37:47
Speaker
and choreography. Definitely something I want to explore in the future, but I don't necessarily feel like I need to choreograph right now. For Avid, I think there's a lot of really talented choreographers out there and I think it's really fun to get to be supportive and providing opportunities for choreographers as well as dancers.
00:38:07
Speaker
and helping more people achieve their vision and see how that goes, I think that can be just as fulfilling. So for right now, that's kind of what I'm i'm seeing. I'm trying to work with some other people and commission works and sometimes I have some ideas and can you know, say I'm thinking this or what about this kind of theme, would that be something you're interested in? And so I'm still part of that artistic process, but in a little bit more removed way. Obviously, I'm not, definitely don't want to put too many parameters on art, but sometimes I can put a little guide rail here or there.
00:38:44
Speaker
What kind of environment are you trying to create for your dancers in the studio in performance? What's the vibe? I've had not always the best experience in a ballet company. And I don't mean that to be derogatory. I think that we are in a very high stress environment.
00:39:03
Speaker
sometimes you know it's a very demanding world but I truly believe that we can do better in the dance world than we're currently doing and I'm not saying that anyone is a bad person I just think that as we continue to go forward we need to keep making changes for the better And that the more we can do that, the more that we can work on the environment, the better we're going to allow artists to be creative and to feel safe in that creative space. And so that's my goal. There are so many things that go behind the scenes that I think a lot of people and a lot of dancers and other artists that haven't had to do all of the things.
00:39:46
Speaker
don't realize and they can really be stressful. So I am trying to figure out how to balance getting all of those things done and then still trying to create this environment that can nurture art and inspire art. And I don't think that a stressful environment does that very well. I will say that our rehearsal process right now is quite short, which is not ideal. That's why all of the dancers that I am working with and the choreographers as well are extremely high-level professionals, world-class dancers, world-class choreographers. And I don't think that we would be able to do what we're doing on is such a small budget with such short rehearsal time if I didn't have that kind of cast.
00:40:31
Speaker
the artists are allowing us to be able to do this on a smaller budget because of their level of professionalism. And I'm just trying to support them as much as I can when we're in the studio or when we were on trips, I'm trying to make sure that at least meals are covered or at least as much as I can. And then working from that freelance environment of this encouragement towards other artists,
00:40:55
Speaker
needs to be the model of like, if you win right now, we both win because our art is getting seen and it's hopefully making an impact in someone's life.
00:41:08
Speaker
and not, I wanted this role or whatever and there it gets, you know, I'm hoping that that same idea of the freelance culture will continue through this project and company. And even if we were to go full time, I think we could keep that idea of encouraging each other and uplifting each other. I don't think that you have to, in order to be great, you don't have to push somebody else down.
00:41:32
Speaker
What's drawing you to your dancers? I know that you mentioned the level of professionalism and all of that. Is there anything else that really draws you to a dancer that you want to work with? A lot of different things. One of the things that I notice first is how they react to feedback. As somebody who has had to overcome a ton of obstacles,
00:41:55
Speaker
I think that's one of the things that the biggest things that can get in your way as a dancer. And I've experienced that too, where I wasn't receiving feedback and taking it and able to utilize it. And then I've had moments in my career where I am able to do that. And I just see such a difference for myself.
00:42:11
Speaker
The more open you are in general as a person, as an artist, as a dancer, the better the environment's going to be for everyone and the better that the relationships are going to be. And so I think for me that that openness, that curiosity to get better is most important. Yeah. What has surprised you the most about this process of starting a professional company?
00:42:34
Speaker
Oh, that's a good question. There's been a lot of surprises, a lot of learning curves, a lot of learning curves. What surprised me the most, I think that while I knew that it was going to be hard to run a company like this financially, I think seeing the ah true struggle of the art world, the cost doesn't cover the creation process. Like the ticket sales don't cover it.
00:43:01
Speaker
And grant funding is really difficult to get as a new organization. So we've had to really rely on individual sponsorships. And I'm really grateful. We have some people who really believe in us. And I'm so grateful that we have that support. But it's hard. It's a really hard thing. And I think when you're only dancing, you just see, I need these things in order to do my very best.
00:43:27
Speaker
And so it's really easy to think like, well, they need to give us these things because otherwise I can't excel as an artist and that's what you want, right? And it's like, yes, but it's really hard to fundraise and it's hard to, it's something that I think I've been able to work on and develop relationships with people. You know, I find people out there that are inspired by our art and that's really great, but it's really hard. It's a hard thing to balance.
00:43:55
Speaker
I know this is what this dancer is worth, and I know this is all I can pay them. And that's, I think, the most challenging thing. Yeah. Yeah. What's your long-term vision for Avid?
00:44:07
Speaker
Well, I am open to multiple versions, but ideally I'd like to keep growing our tour. I'd love to go to Colorado more than once a year. Right now we're doing a fall tour. I'd love to do a fall tour and a spring tour, and I'd love to have two performances in New York. So maybe a works in progress show that has a choreographer Q and&A at the end of it, but that's a little bit more formal than our open rehearsal process, which we we do open rehearsals often for the public. I think that's really important to keep that open rehearsal process in there. And ideally I would love to have an open door policy at some point, or we could have, you could just walk in and see a rehearsal because I think that from what I've heard from people,
00:44:52
Speaker
that people seeing the behind the scenes process or us not getting it the first time makes it a little bit more approachable and then they understand more of what they're seeing on stage and I think that's cool. I think that's a really great way to make our art more approachable. So yes, I would love to keep growing. I'd love to tour outside of just New York and Colorado. I'd love to eventually tour the US or internationally. We had some potential opportunities to tour internationally, but I don't feel like I have the administrative
00:45:28
Speaker
bandwidth to do something like that yet. So we're going to wait on that. And also that's a big budget item. So, but we're getting interest for those types of things. And I think that would be really cool. I don't know why, but I always wanted to tour and it's kind of the old model, right? Like yeah we have this new ballet company model where every state or big city has their own ballet company and they just stay there.
00:45:52
Speaker
But really, dance companies were original, especially in the U.S., when you look back to the Bali Roos. That was the original model. So I'm not doing anything new. I'm just saying like, well, what about this model that everyone, not everyone, but a lot of people kind of forgot about. The more opportunities you have to perform, the better. And that touring model lends itself to the most performing opportunities, which is why I find it so interesting.
00:46:17
Speaker
Yeah, when you're talking about your whole career, everything you're doing now, you're very measured. And I can tell you are very, you really think through each decision. And I am curious if you could give us some insight into that process, how you balance getting opportunities and wanting to take advantage of them but also knowing maybe this isn't the right thing for me right now or having the courage to step away from maybe something that's pretty good but you want something more. What's your process behind that? Well that is a really ah difficult thing to do obviously and I think that it's something that I'm constantly navigating but I try to stay true to myself
00:46:58
Speaker
and what I really want as an artist. And sometimes that decision doesn't make a lot of sense from the outside. There's a lot of decisions I've made in my career that people are like scratching their head going, what? I don't get it. And for me, they've opened up opportunities. I've had to be pretty brave. I've done some pretty bold things. And I would encourage a lot of dancers to do that more. I think that as dancers, our careers are so short and we're so aware of that from a young age.
00:47:28
Speaker
that we don't have enough time. There's never enough time. or I've heard someone say, well, there will never be something as good in your life as dancing. And I personally strongly disagree with that. And I think it's a bad mentality to set as a dancer. I think it creates a lot of panic and anxiety over our careers. Yes, how special and wonderful that we get to dance for a living and do this. But we are all so much more than that. And I think we have to remember that more importantly, we're people first.
00:48:00
Speaker
and then we're artists and dancers. And I feel very fortunate to do what I do, but I think keeping that I'm a human being first, I am a person that is more than just myself as a dancer is what has allowed me to take risk that might seem a little crazy from the outside.
00:48:17
Speaker
Yeah, on that side, what are the things that you like to do outside of dance? What are your passions? Well, my passion is pretty much dance without me. But my identity doesn't come from dance, you know, so there is that it's a fine line. I'm really a bunhead. I'm all in it.
00:48:36
Speaker
And it's my greatest passion. I'm so lucky to be a part of it. And I don't have a ton of hobbies, unfortunately. yeah I like to do other things, but I don't have a ton, especially right now. I don't have a ton of time for other things. But when I do have time living in Colorado for so long, I love to hike.
00:48:55
Speaker
I have my dog and he will go on hikes with me, which is pretty awesome. I like to cook. I always have liked, not always, but I've liked it for a long time. I've liked to cook. It's usually relaxing if I have time for it. I like to make things from scratch. I usually don't follow a recipe. I just kind of whip something up and I kind of have the inspiration. It's very creative to me. Anything that's allowing me to be creative, I usually like.
00:49:20
Speaker
I'm a people person, and so I like to spend my free time with people I care about in general. Yeah. Okay, last question. What advice would you give to dancers who are pursuing a professional career? Ah, well, I think what we talked about earlier is really important. Just to remember that you're a human, you're a person first, and that dance is not your identity. I think it can be so hard to spend so much time and energy and effort and have to, that's what we have to do in order to achieve the level that we're talking about. This is not something that you accidentally get a job doing. Everyone that does this has spent hours and hours and hours and lots of hard work, the whole blood, sweat and tears thing, right? But we're more than that. And I don't think that you can truly realize yourself as an artist. If you don't know that, that you're more than just a dancer,
00:50:18
Speaker
And that that is not your identity. The more that we can encourage young dancers to start to work on that and think of themselves like that, the better. I definitely didn't, which is why I'm so adamant that we need to help younger dancers know that you're more than just this one thing. And then also just to take every day as it comes, there's so few opportunities and so many talented dancers. I see talented dancers that have done all the same things as somebody else and they haven't gotten that opportunity and it can be really confusing because you're like, am I not as good as I think? Am I not at this level? Just to remember that it is a confusing world and it is so limited in opportunities.
00:51:05
Speaker
And that's not necessarily even reflective on you as a dancer. So much less as a person, but you as a dancer, if we're gonna talk about that, sometimes not getting that opportunity doesn't have anything to do with your talent level or how hard you've worked. And just to find ways to, as young dancers, I mean, I have some of my very best friends I met my first few years as a professional. Most of them aren't dancing anymore and they're doing amazing things.
00:51:33
Speaker
Dance gives us so much more than just dance. Dancers are pretty special people. So just to remember that, that there's options out there and that dance is not the whole world, even though it sometimes feels that way.
00:51:43
Speaker
Yep. Okay. This has been great. So much, so much insight, Emily. I love this conversation. If anyone listening wants to learn more about you or about AVID, where can they go? Our website is ww www dot.avid, A-V-I-D, which stands for Artistic Ventures and Dance, and then the word dance. So A-V-I-D, dance.
00:52:04
Speaker
D-A-N-C dot org. And our Instagram is at aviddanceco. We'll have some performances coming up. Season announcement is coming soon with all those Colorado tour dates. And I hope that people will check it out. Amazing. Thank you so much, Emily. Thanks, Caitlin.
00:52:23
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. 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.
00:52:49
Speaker
I'll be back with a new episode next week. In the meantime, be sure to follow along on Instagram at TheBradyValerina for your daily dose of dance career guidance.