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108. How the Pandemic Unexpectedly Launched Kendall Lademann’s Dance Career
40 Plays4 hours ago
In this episode of The Brainy Ballerina Podcast, I’m joined by professional dancer (and one of my former students!) Kendall Lademann for a full-circle conversation on the unexpected twists and turns that have shaped her dance career.
We dive into Kendall’s transition from student to professional at Mareck Dance, including what it was like dancing alongside former teachers and how that environment helped her grow as both an artist and an adult.
We also talk about how Kendall moved forward with her dance career after Mareck Dance unexpectedly folded, finding new opportunities at Lexington Ballet.
Kendall is a true testament to the fact that dance careers never travel in a straight line. She shares so much thoughtful advice for aspiring professional dancers about taking risks, handling rejection, and treating people with kindness in the small world of dance.
Key “Pointes” in this Episode:
- How the teachers, choreographers and directors Kendall has worked with have grown her into the artist she is today
- How the pandemic unexpectedly launched her professional dance career
- Going from dancing as a student in “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” to dancing the title role
- Navigating the sudden closure of Mareck Dance and finding a new path
- Moving away from home and starting fresh with Lexington Ballet
- Unique performance experiences including dancing in a distillery, performing in a music video, and starring as Charlie Chaplin in “A Charlie Chaplin Christmas” with Lexington Ballet
- Kendall’s passion for adaptive dance through Danceability and why teaching became one of the most meaningful parts of her career
Connect with Kendall
INSTAGRAM: instagram.com/kendall_lademann
Links & Resources:
SHOP MSeam Apparel: https://mseamapparel.com/ (use code BRAINY25 at checkout for 25% off all items)
SHOP ORZA: www.orzabrand.com (use code BRAINYBALLERINA for 10% off)
Let’s connect!
My WEBSITE: thebrainyballerina.com
INSTAGRAM: instagram.com/thebrainyballerina
Questions/comments? Email me at caitlin@thebrainyballerina.com
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to Kaitlin and the Podcast
00:00:00
Speaker
I think dance has a way of also forcing you to build a certain amount of resilience for things because, i mean, you're never going to get better if you just keep getting frustrated at things. And so I think I had to, like, learn to be like, you know what, I'm going to do my thing.
00:00:16
Speaker
I know I deserve to be here. I wouldn't have gotten the job if people didn't think that I could do it.
00:00:24
Speaker
I'm Kaitlin, 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.
00:00:41
Speaker
I'm peeling back the curtain of professional dance world with open and honest conversations about the realities of becoming a professional dancer.
Kendall's Dance Journey Begins
00:00:49
Speaker
Come along to gain the knowledge and inspiration you need to succeed in a dance career on your terms.
00:00:59
Speaker
Hello and welcome to the Brainy Ballerina podcast. I'm your host, Caitlin Sloan, and I am joined today by Kendall Ladiman. Kendall has danced professionally with Merrick Dance, formerly Missouri Contemporary Ballet and Lexington Ballet.
00:01:13
Speaker
I was lucky enough to have Kendall as a student when I was the director of the School Missouri Contemporary Ballet. So this feels like a really special full circle moment now get to interview her as a professional dancer.
00:01:25
Speaker
So Kendall, I know that I'm going to know a lot of the answers to these questions, but my audience won't. So I'd love to hear And actually this one, I don't know. Why did you take your very first dance class? Actually, it's kind of a crazy story. When I was two and a half, I was dancing with one of my friends and I ended up getting a spiral fracture in my femur like gosh and was in a spica cast, which is like full body cast for six weeks.
00:01:50
Speaker
And when I got out of the cast, I was walking funny. So I guess they don't typically put kids that young in like physical therapy. So the doctor suggested dance or gymnastics and then it stuck.
00:02:03
Speaker
i mean, I asked my parents at one point if they would have put me in dance had I not broken my femur and they're like, probably not.
Realizing Dance as a Career
00:02:09
Speaker
Wow. Yeah. It was meant to be. Yeah. What was your training like growing up? I started at three, like a lot of kids. And then we moved to North Carolina. And I was also playing soccer. And I feel like I started really getting into dancing more like eight or nine, because that's when parents were like, this is way too much.
00:02:27
Speaker
you're doing soccer twice a week, you're doing dance two, three times a week, you can't do both. Like it's just, it's too much. Obviously a picked dance. And so then from I think probably then on, I was going five or six days a week. And at that point, I was at a very much classical ballet school. We had modern, but it was very much like a more ballet based modern.
00:02:46
Speaker
And that was only once a week. And then everything else was ballet. And we did Saturday mornings, like 9am to 3 or 4pm, which is I mean, longer than I've Worked in a professional day, typically.
00:02:58
Speaker
And then we moved back to Missouri when I was 14. And I joined the school from very Contemporary Ballet and continued that probably five or six days a week ballet and modern and then youth ensemble, which was once a week. And then I went to UMKC in Kansas City for a year.
00:03:13
Speaker
Before I started at Merrick. When did you first start thinking that ballet could become a career for you? From when I was really little, I always said I was going to be a dancer. But I think it was my sophomore year of high school. I don't know if you remember this, but you were able to get us tickets, the youth ensemble tickets to go see Ailey 2. And I think that was the first time I really processed that I could like do it for a living.
00:03:37
Speaker
Like I'd always said I was going to do it. I was like 10 being like, yeah, I'm going to be ballerina. But I think that show is where I was like, oh. I can actually make a career out of it.
Transition and Professional Growth
00:03:46
Speaker
How do you think your goals changed from when you were a younger student to when you were maybe like later in high school? I think as a kid, a lot of the time my goals were like to be in the next level, but that's because that's where my friends were. And I just wanted to like hang out with my friends, you know, just because I wanted to be around people that I wanted to hang out with. But I think when we moved,
00:04:08
Speaker
back to Missouri. We had tiny little classes at school. cb I think it was two other people on Friday nights. That's when like my technique started really improving a lot.
00:04:18
Speaker
And then, you know, I decided I was like, Oh, I can actually do this. And so then there was like a visible goal. I want to be a professional. What do I have to do to get there? So it changed from like, Oh, I just want to hang out with my friends. So like, yes, I want to be in the next level. I want to be better. But what's after that?
00:04:34
Speaker
So out of high school, you attended UMKC as a dance major for one year before starting your career with MCB. Can you talk about how all of that happens?
00:04:44
Speaker
Yeah, it was kind of crazy, honestly. So I graduated high school in May of 2019 and then went to UMKC in the fall. And then we were actually on a school trip in Alabama to perform Midsummer Night's Dream.
00:04:59
Speaker
in March of 2020. And they canceled our show like four hours before were supposed to perform. So we still like were able to do a run of the show so we could get on video, but we went back to Kansas City and they sent everybody home. So I finished that semester on Zoom, which I did not like. I mean, I was on a four foot by four foot shower pan liner thing that my mom put together.
00:05:22
Speaker
i was also going to be like for the next year, it was going to be half on Zoom for like 45 minute ballet classes because they had to deep clean the studio between everything. And I was also going to be in the highest level for ballet and the second highest for modern.
00:05:38
Speaker
And so I was like, I'm just going to take a gap year. And so I talked to Karen, Karen Merrick-Rendy, who is the artistic and executive director at Merrick and just asked if I could take class with the company because then I wasn't going have to pay tuition. i was going to get a full hour and a half class every day.
00:05:53
Speaker
so I started taking class with the company. And then in October of 2020, actually, it was the day that I was going to film a variation to send an audition video to another school.
00:06:05
Speaker
But I was also going to talk to Karen to see if she would be willing to let me stay as a trainee for the the spring season. And so the day that I was going in to talk to her about that, she talked to me first about the training. And then I stayed there for five years.
Lessons in Resilience
00:06:20
Speaker
What was it like starting your professional career at the same place you studied as a student? It was really cool. There's not a lot of professional dancers who can say that they got to dance with some of their teachers, which I think is so cool. It was kind of weird because I'd known them as teachers.
00:06:38
Speaker
Obviously, you have a slightly different personality as a teacher than you do when you're just dancing. But I think something that was really helpful for me is that think was dancing with four or five of my teachers from high school.
00:06:49
Speaker
But nobody kept treating as a student. I was 19, but every single one of those teachers that I had in high school treated me as an adult. Like still, you know, would help guide me with whatever help I needed, but they didn't hold my hand.
00:07:03
Speaker
I think that was really helpful. I was thrown into it, but it also like, it helped to have people that I knew really well and knew me to like help me learn how to be a professional. Yeah, it's a little bit of like a safe place where you can, you know the people and you feel comfortable.
00:07:19
Speaker
Yeah. And you know the dynamics. Yeah, it was really cool because like I said, not a lot of professional dancers get to say that they got to dance. I mean, I danced with Elise who was on the podcast a while ago. i mean, she was my teacher all four years and then I danced with her for five seasons, which is crazy.
00:07:34
Speaker
Were there any corrections or lessons that Elise or any of the other teachers gave you during your training that really stuck with you as you began your professional career? i mean, I have, you know, like the technical corrections that I still work on. Like I tend to really sit in my hyperextension. But I think one thing, and I don't know that anybody ever like directly said this to me, but it was something that's just kind of known.
00:07:59
Speaker
But I think it's something that's really motivating even now is that you're never going to be the best. There's always going to be someone better than you. And I think that has been something that's really helpful for me in pushing myself, in improving my technique, my artistry, different styles.
00:08:15
Speaker
I mean, that's something that's really like stuck with me. And then actually, this wasn't from one of my teachers, but my parents. I had a couple times that I would come home from dance... just like in high school or in elementary school, middle school, whatever. And I'd be like, I can't do anymore. i want to quit. I'm done.
00:08:32
Speaker
And my parents every single time were like, okay, but we've paid for the semester for this year. So you've committed, you've taken a spot, you're taking these people's time. We paid for it.
00:08:43
Speaker
You have to finish the year. And if you still want to quit, then we can talk about it. And I never did obviously, but I think that's something that's really stuck with me too, just in terms of committing.
00:08:55
Speaker
to things you know we all have our days we're like I just I can't do it it's terrible but then you know I come home and like okay well I signed my contract I have to finish the year and then every year I still come back I'm like okay yeah no I'm not done Did you know the dance slipper has remained essentially unchanged for over 100 years?
00:09:15
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Dance Performances at Merrick
00:10:03
Speaker
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00:10:10
Speaker
Was there any rep that you saw Merrick Dance perform as a student that you were really excited to get to perform as a professional? Yeah, actually one of my favorite pieces that I got to perform and that I ever saw Merrick perform, it's called Linger Longer. Sean Aaron Carman choreographed it. The music is all an artist called Cosmo Sheldrake. The costumes were super cool. it was like black pointe shoes with suits.
00:10:34
Speaker
And that was one of my favorite pieces that I ever saw performed, which at the time it was MCB, but I got to do it my third season with the company. And to this day, it's still one of my favorite pieces that I've gotten to perform. You know, that piece the company did for the first time in the first show after I retired and I was like, oh, I want to do that piece. I remember being so mad, like, I wish I got to do that one. But there's always going to be one more piece that you want to do. so I'm like, if there's one piece that I could do again, it would be that one.
00:11:06
Speaker
Yeah. And you got to be Alice. I did. That was a full circle thing because I – Did it twice in high school and I was a quartier and a lobster. And then for like the first time that I did it as a professional to get to be Alice, I was like, wasn't even on my radar. I remember talking to my mom before we got casting and I was like, I think I would be happy if I got to be the Dormouse.
00:11:29
Speaker
which I think that would have been a fantastic, fun thing to do. That is a fun part. I originated that role when we first did Alice, yeah the Dormouse, and it is super fun. Being in the tea party, no matter who you are in the tea party, is so fun. It's so fun. It was so stressful, though. I think Karen told me at one point, she was like, you might be the worst of the plate throwers I've seen.
00:11:50
Speaker
And that's pretty bad because I was pretty bad. It was true. There's a video of me somewhere. I think Elise took it. I completely dropped both plates, like had them slightly in my hands and they just.
00:12:02
Speaker
yeah So for context, people listening in our tea party scene, there's a section at the very end of the whole scene where we're basically throwing plates around like Frisbees.
00:12:14
Speaker
like across the stage and over the years, that has been probably the biggest struggle. Like all
Passion for Teaching and Inclusivity
00:12:20
Speaker
of us dancers could do whatever technical thing you asked of us, but ask us to throw a plate like a Frisbee and we all just crumbled. I remember one time someone's plate going in the orchestra pit.
00:12:30
Speaker
one of those and I think we had a cup that either almost got into the orchestra pit or did. It didn't because I, after there's ah also a part where Alice like pushes the Mad Hatter up because he falls into the splits in the rolling chair. And so I helped him up and I had to go get the cup from that. I know we probably should have the audience like sign a liability waiver. Right? Yeah. I remember Karen saying like, just go outside and just throw a frisbee around. I think we tried to do a run of the whole pattern before yeah run it. Yeah. That was the hardest part for sure. i mean, the dancing was difficult. Yeah. For the first act as Alice, it's a lot. It's dense. Like there's no break. Yeah, once you get the second act, it's pretty breezy. Yeah, there's not really anything that's like terribly difficult in the second half. The most you do is the finale. Yeah. But yeah, in the first act, you have all the solos, you have falling down the the rabbit hole, you have the caterpillar paw, you have tea party.
00:13:30
Speaker
Caterpillar paw is crazy. So crazy. So hard. Yeah. And I just think it's so cool, like, having been in Alice and then seeing you as one of my students get to be Alice. Like, I just think that's such a cool thing to see. And it makes you really proud as a teacher to know that your students have gotten to that point. I loved getting to do that, too, because I think we ended up learning a lot of it off of the video you did.
00:13:55
Speaker
Did you do both of yours with Joel as the caterpillar? Yeah. Oh, no, that's not true. I did first time with Joel and second time with Jose. Okay. Yeah, I think we went back and forth between using those videos for learning it. That was cool too. Because then, you know, you scroll.
00:14:10
Speaker
a certain point past that. And then I'm also in the video.
Transition to Lexington Ballet
00:14:14
Speaker
Yes. But I'm a lobster. Yeah. Yes. Oh, I love that. And one thing that I've really always admired about you, Kendall, is that you have a really incredible work ethic, but you are also really a silly goose. And you have a beautiful way of letting things kind of roll off your back. Like I've seen you get frustrated and that kind of thing, but you're pretty quick to recover and I'm just curious do you feel like that has always come naturally to you or did you have to really work on that skill I think to a certain extent it's kind of come naturally i grew up with two brothers and so you have to be a little bit resilient two older brothers one older he's my older brother is about two and a half years older and then I have a younger brother who's three years younger That's right. Okay.
00:14:58
Speaker
So we're all pretty close in age. So there was, you know, just siblings. So I think to a certain extent, it does. I think dance has a way of also forcing you to build a certain amount of resilience for things because, i mean, you're never going to get better if you just keep getting frustrated at things. During my time at Merrick, there's a few things where like, not necessarily dancing wise, but just a few situations where like my age, or the fact that I didn't finish school would be like brought up and kind of used in a negative way. And so I think I had to like learn to be like, you know what?
00:15:33
Speaker
I'm going to do my thing. I know I deserve to be here. i wouldn't have gotten the job if people didn't think that I could do it. That, I think, was quite a learning curve.
00:15:44
Speaker
I'm still learning, but it's gotten better. How do you feel that you grew as an artist during your time with Merrick Dance? Karen... really, really pushed me in ways that i didn't think that i could be pushed.
00:16:00
Speaker
I mean, you know, that she has a tendency to sometimes put people in roles that are way out of the realm of possibilities. The comfort zone. and you Yeah. yeah Like I remember Hand in Hand, Shannon Lewis, when she cast me in that, also my third season, I remember watching it and I was like, oh, because it's so intense For, I mean, what, 10 minutes?
00:16:24
Speaker
And it's so hard. It's not crazy long, but it's just like driving the whole time. Yeah. And I remember being like, oh, man. Because at that point, I hadn't done a whole lot of like the really hard hitting things.
00:16:38
Speaker
And so she put me in that and i was like, okay, well, I have to, I mean, I was dancing with Elise and then who's now my best friend, Ashley. I mean, they're both incredible dancers. And so i was like, okay, well, I have to step up to the plate.
00:16:49
Speaker
I can't be the one that's that's bringing it down. So I think Karen has a really good way of putting people in stuff that is going to push them. That really, really changed the way that I dance.
00:17:00
Speaker
I had a meeting with her at one point and she was like, I feel like you're not pushing yourself. like, I want you to put yourself at the front of the room. I want you to be in the front when choreographers are here. Make them pick you to be like featured in their piece.
00:17:14
Speaker
And I think that was a big turning point too. Yeah, I feel like Karen has a great way of helping you get over whatever fear you have because she she doesn't care if you mess up. I mean, she cares if you're being careless and you're not like trying, but if you are going for it, she's like, yeah, that's all I want. And I feel like coming to MCB, that maybe it wasn't the first time I'd experienced the kind of environment, but it was definitely the most consistent I'd experienced that.
00:17:42
Speaker
And just being like, wow, I really and in a place where i can just go for it and see what happens. And that's the expectation. Yeah. At first was really scary and then eventually really freeing. I mean, I think she, for me, had to really work on getting it out of me. After my third season, which was the year I did Hand in Hand, we also did Linger Longer.
00:18:06
Speaker
And then that was the first time I got to be Alice. I think that's when I really started dancing bigger. Mm-hmm. I don't know what specifically about that season, probably just a confidence boost.
00:18:17
Speaker
But after that season is when I really started to like, turn into like my own dancer. Yeah. And you spent five seasons with Merrick Dance before moving to Lexington Ballet. And I know toward the end of your time there, things were changing really quickly and you had to make some really big decisions on a very short timeline.
00:18:36
Speaker
Can you tell us a little bit about how that transition period was for you? Yeah, it was not pretty.
Growth and Unique Experiences
00:18:43
Speaker
The date that we found out that they were shutting things down is ingrained in my brain forever. it was June 12th.
00:18:48
Speaker
Karen had told us The weekend before Alice in Wonderland that she was stepping down for the next season. And then on the 12th, they were like, we're not continuing or ceasing operation, I think was the words they used. There was a lot of crying involved.
00:19:06
Speaker
Because in my mind, i was like, I'm gonna dance for Karen. I'm gonna dance at Merrick. That's my place. It was like two weeks, maybe i was like fully shut down. My dad referred to it as like a functioning shutdown state. I was still teaching danceability.
00:19:22
Speaker
i was still teaching at another studio that I was working at. Like I was still doing all of the things, but I wasn't processing anything. i was like, no, this isn't happening. Cause also June is way after auditions happen.
00:19:34
Speaker
And I think it had been about two weeks and my dad that day was working from home and he just grabbed me and he was like, if you want to keep doing this, you have to do something. You're shut down. You're not.
00:19:45
Speaker
doing anything and that just it broke whatever wall I had put up and I like had a full meltdown in my dad's office and then I think the next day I sent my reel a resume and a headshot to Lexington Ballet and two days later had a phone call and was offered a contract. Had you heard that they were hiring later in the season? Like, how did you decide to send it there? Dara, who also danced at Merrick for four years, had messaged them and she was like, hey, if you want a job, they're still hiring.
00:20:22
Speaker
So I googled it and then I like I sent them my stuff and I was like, you know what, it's a job. I wasn't really wanting to do classical and it ended up not being classical, but i was like, it's a job. And even if it's just for a year, it's something to keep me in shape, keep my technique going.
00:20:38
Speaker
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00:20:49
Speaker
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00:21:00
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00:21:48
Speaker
What has it been like starting fresh with Lexington Ballet? How has the season gone for you? i have loved it. Honestly, in a way, it's been very validating because I i spent the first five seasons of my career at Merrick and I went through this phase like as I was starting to look for places where I was like, what if I go to another place and they don't?
00:22:08
Speaker
like They hire me, but they don't like me. like They don't like me the same way that people here do in terms of giving me casting or the way I dance or anything. And the second day of the season here, i was given a four and a half minute solo for the first show that we did, which I actually got to end up performing in our last show of the year too, which was like kind of cool. So I think it was very validating.
00:22:32
Speaker
Also, i feel like I have grown not just like as a dancer, but as a person this year, I've moved away from home. My whole family is in Columbia and I was living with my parents for my last season at Merrick. But here, I'm the only one here, so I have to figure out how to be an adult, how to do things. So that's been really fun to experience, too.
00:22:54
Speaker
I love Lexington. It was not part of whatever 2025 was in my brain. i was like, no, I'm not. Why would I move? And I moved within a month of signing a contract. But it's worked out a lot better than I could have wanted it to, so... What have been some of the cool things that you've gotten to do with the company this year? Our first show of the season was at a distillery and we got to perform outside and it was this beautiful garden setting. It was kind of cold because it was October. So that was really cool. We've done a lot of little pop-up things at different places around Lexington. This like super cool, fancy hotel. We got to be in a music video.
00:23:32
Speaker
Which is really cool. There's an artist from i think she's just outside of Nashville. Her name's Bea Taylor. And so actually our first show of the year was all to her music. And she came to that show and was singing it live.
00:23:44
Speaker
And so then we got to be in a music video for her that just premiered a couple weeks ago. So that's really cool. We didn't do a Nutcracker. We did like an old Hollywood style sort of Nutcracker. i think the way my boss described it was like night at the museum meets Nutcracker. It was called a Charlie Chaplin Christmas. I got to be Charlie Chaplin, which is like kind of weird, but it was kind of cool too.
00:24:07
Speaker
Like I looked a lot like my brother. It's like the first thing my mom said to me after the show. So we've gotten to do a lot of really cool things. And I also have been doing a guesting like every couple months with Fever Production Company. They do like light up fiber optic ballet thing. And it's like an hour long version of Sleeping Beauty. And I've gotten to be a fairy in that twice, which is kind of fun.
00:24:29
Speaker
I feel like a lot of cool opportunities have really... popped up. And I know you're really passionate about teaching adaptive dance with Danceability. Have you gotten to keep teaching on this next stage?
00:24:41
Speaker
I have been teaching. i only teach like once a week. I really miss teaching Danceability though. If there's a way, I would love to try to get something like that started here.
00:24:52
Speaker
That is probably one of my favorite things that I did at Merrick. Like I loved the dancing, but that program was like the best thing i think that I have been able to do.
00:25:03
Speaker
What
Full Circle Moments and Teaching
00:25:04
Speaker
did you love so much about it? I love the students. Did you ever teach Angie and Mindy? Yes, I love them. And I'm so glad they're still dancing. They're still in class.
00:25:17
Speaker
I love them. They're probably of the funniest people I've met in life. Oh my gosh, yes. They're awesome. But like some of the younger students too, one of them, her whole family came out to see the Charlie Chaplin show.
00:25:29
Speaker
Oh my gosh. So like just the people and also the pure joy that you see like when they're performing. i think sometimes we forget that it's such a privilege to be able to do what we do and to see like how excited they are just to be able to get on a stage in a sparkly outfit.
00:25:50
Speaker
It hits something in my brain that's just like, oh yeah, not everybody gets to do this. that's another full circle moment for you because you were a volunteer with Danceability when you were in high school and then to become the lead instructor.
00:26:05
Speaker
That's amazing too. I just think, I feel like when I talk to you, you think that everything just kind of like happened to work out, but I hope that you know that you do. did all these things to prepare yourself like all this stuff that you were doing in high school and all the work you're putting in you deserve everything that you ended up doing it wasn't just an accident it's been very cool to see i called my dad on Monday because you sent all these like questions and I was like I need to just like write things down because off the top of my head I'm not always great and I was like it's really cool to look at like all of these things that I just talked through with my dad and like see all of the things that I did or that
00:26:42
Speaker
happened or whatever to like get me where I am. I was talking to someone the other day. i was like, COVID was a horrible thing. I don't want to go through that again. but had it not happened, I may not have started at Merrick.
00:26:57
Speaker
Yeah. Which is crazy. I know there's probably some alternate universe where we're all taking some other path we would have been on if COVID hadn't happened because I talked to so many people and so many dancers stories started with a big change during COVID in their life. Yeah. It's just amazing how things happen like that. Sometimes you can't always plan for it. It was really cool to like look through Just like the things that I talked about with my dad and just be like, oh, wow.
00:27:24
Speaker
Yeah. What are you most excited about in this next phase of your career? Honestly, I'm excited to see what happens. There's a lot of cool opportunities out there. Like I'm about to, tomorrow morning, I'm driving back to Missouri to guest with the new organization that was started by our rehearsal director at Merrick and her boyfriend who danced with us. I'm guesting with them next Friday. I'm excited to see What else is in the realm of possibilities?
00:27:53
Speaker
think there's a lot more than I thought there was. Because I was just so like set, staying where I was. And then moving was like, oh, there's a lot of other things that you can do with this.
00:28:05
Speaker
Okay, Kendall, last question for you. If you had to give aspiring professional dancers one piece of advice as they're pursuing their careers, what would you tell them? I have two thoughts.
00:28:16
Speaker
One is just to go for it. The worst somebody can say is no, but I got my first job just by asking if I could take class with the company. You have to put yourself out there and go for it.
00:28:30
Speaker
Because like I said, the worst somebody can say is no. And there are going to be no's, but For every no, there's going to be a yes at some point. Or for every three no's, there's a yes somewhere. And then the other thing is this is something my parents said to me and my brothers all the time, but really think about how you treat people, especially in the dance world, because it's so small. I dance professionally with people that I was at a summer intensive with in 2016, or like they know people I went to school with for a year. If you're just having a bad day and you say one thing to one person,
00:29:04
Speaker
A bunch of people might find out about that. They're like, oh, do you know this person? And their friend would be like, yeah, but she was kind of
Advice for Aspiring Dancers
00:29:10
Speaker
mean. Be very mindful of how you carry yourself, how you present yourself to people and how you talk to people.
00:29:17
Speaker
Absolutely, Kendall. And you've always embodied that. You've always been a pleasure to work with. I still remember you as a high schooler coming into the School of Missouri Contemporary Ballet and you just brought such joy and class to the environment.
00:29:31
Speaker
This has been really cool getting to reconnect with you and interview you now as a professional dancer. If anyone listening wants to learn more about you, where can we find you? Probably Instagram would be the best way. Okay, perfect. I will link your handle in and the show notes for anyone who would like to learn more about you and your career. Thank you so much, Kendall, for taking the time to chat with me today. It was so fun.
00:29:53
Speaker
Thanks for having me. I had a great time. It was really good to talk to you.
00:29:59
Speaker
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00:30:12
Speaker
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00:30:25
Speaker
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