The DancePreneuring Studio

To create one's own world takes courage -Georgia O'Keeffe It takes courage to create.  It takes courage to be vulnerable, to share your art with the world. Courageous is one word I would easily use to describe the artists in attendance at The World Choreography Awards that took place in December 2021 at The Globe Theater in Los Angeles. Wisdom and inspiration were abundant throughout my conversati...

"The true mark of a leader is the willingness to stick with a bold course of action — an unconventional business strategy, a unique product-development roadmap, a controversial marketing campaign — even as the rest of the world wonders why you're not marching in step with the status quo. In other words, real leaders are happy to zig while others zag. They understand that in an era of hyper-competi...

Leadership is lifting a person's vision to high sights, the raising of a person's performance to a higher standard, the building of a personality beyond its normal limitations. —Peter Drucker To be an effective leader for others, the most important person is to first lead yourself. This session covers the following leadership lessons I gleaned from attending Freestyle Session 2021 in Los Angeles,...

"We dance for laughter, we dance for tears, we dance for madness, we dance for fears, we dance for hopes, we dance for screams, we are the dancers, we create the dreams.” -Albert Einstein Even though we are coming out of this pandemic, seems like yesterday and it seems like a lifetime when things were shut down and we were navigating and figuring things out.  Regardless of circumstances, life requ...

According to Merriam Webster dictionary, the definition of juxtapose means to place (different things) side by side (as to compare them or contrast them or to create an interesting effect) Interesting is a mild word to describe the work of Jacob Jonas The Company. I would use engaging and fascinating, for examples. Juxtapose is the title of their recent work that I got to experience thanks to The...

Art is a political act. Dance is discipline and revolt. My body is my country. -Anabella Lenzu (Photo by Todd Carroll) 2019 seems so long ago, especially in light of this past year of coming out of the pandemic. Looking back at history of some notable events in 2019, included some fortunate and some not so fortunate such as the All Women Spacewalk, the Amazon Forest wildfires,  Trump’s Impeachment...

Our work has always been rooted in unveiling inequity and celebrating with radical joy in the face of adversity. We are not any one thing to serve to satisfy white centered ideology. We are not inferior in our Bollywood, in our abstract work, on stage, or in a cypher. We are a brown and black global majority dance company, and our blood is blue. -Achinta S. McDaniel, Blue13 Dance Company Indian da...

All of us are part of a beautiful pageantry of human experience. Let us make the most of this life in all we do. ―  Laurence Overmire My lovely guest today has colorfully and beautifully amplified the human experience, through her extensive work in film, television, animation and theater.  Melissa Greenspan has been on notable shows such as Desperate Housewives, NCIS, and Modern Family t...

Out of clutter, find simplicity. From discord, find harmony. In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity. -Albert Einstein To describe this time as difficult is an understatement for most, yet within it lies a surplus of serendipities and loads of lessons. I am grateful to experience this firsthand learning from artists that I would not have access to if it weren't for the pandemic. Two of t...

I have attended many live performances in the last few years thanks to podcasting. Not only am I entertained and moved, but I glean many lessons that apply to dance, life and business. The following thoughts are a summary of my experiences at various productions from the last few months. With all of the fantastic and not so fantastic experiences that have gone in my life these past months, I didn\...

One thing in life is certain. And that is life is unpredictable.  You don’t always know what will happen next. Does that trigger fear? And what is fear to you?  Anxiety? The unknown? Or, can you approach fear in a different way, as an acronym that stands for feeling excited and ready? I thought about this after my conversation with the insightful Louise Reichlin of Louise Reichlin & Danc...

What do you do when you are hospitalized in a foreign country and you don’t speak the language? When doctors tell you that you won’t live past age 25? If you’re Hal Banfield, you press through despite these odds. And you know that doctors are NOT God.  Former professional dancer turned award winning journalist and photographer Hal Banfield and I talk about this experience that ha...

What started as an experiment to carry on a legacy, has turned into a successful dance company, The Leela Dance Collective.  They have provided incredible experiences to audiences all over the world. Their latest work,  Son of The Wind,   will be presented soon at one of my favorite venues, The Ford Theaters in Los Angeles on Saturday, September 14th, 2019 at 8:00pm. I had the pleasure of having a...

Life. Death. And everything in between. The human experience. Reaction. Response. So many aspects of the human experience in this fantastic production entitled “Drift” by Micaela Taylor and her company The TL Collective, presented at one of my favorite venues, The Ford Theaters in Los Angeles. Links from this session: Our sponsor Fuse Movement Long Beach The TL Collective Facebook Instagram Ford T...

Session Summary: They say that third time’s a charm, but in the case of dancer and author Renee Harris, every time is a charm when she’s been on the podcast. This bonus session is brought to you to promote the July 6, 2019 event for Developing Next Artist at 626 Night Market in Arcadia California, in the greater Los Angeles area. It’s fun to switch things up once in a while so I...

Session Summary: Three dance companies. One good performance. Two outstanding performances. With anything, especially art, the difference between good and outstanding is subjective. This session is a summary of my experiences at three different dance performances from Ate9 Dance Company , Malpaso Dance Company and Batsheva Dance Company  .  Listen to this episode to find out the one show that put...

Session Summary:  Ballet. Balance. These two words clearly go together. Throw in life such as a family with a husband, two young sons, and juggling different responsibilities.  Where does balance come in now? I personally prefer the word harmony over balance but in this context, balance will work. John Lam, Principal Dancer at The Boston Ballet, and I have fantastic dialogue regarding his perspect...

Dance is for everyone.  Movement is for everyone.  Art is for everyone. Session Summary:  Ballet.  Michael Jackson. Bows. Solos. Companies. A few themes that were delightfully presented by performers from different abilities and demographics in Jerome Bel’s Gala at The Ace Hotel in Downtown Los Angeles. Diversity and inclusivity were illustrated with different interpretations of these mentio...

The art of life lies in a constant readjustment to our surroundings. -Kakuzo Okakura- Session Summary:  The Only Constant  performed by L.A. Contemporary Dance Company at The Odyssey provided thoughts on the following 10 constant things in dance. life and business: No matter how loudly or clearly you think you are communicating, not everyone will hear you or understand you. Everyone has their &#82...

  “To say nothing is saying something. You must denounce things you are against or one might believe that you support things you really do not.” ―  Germany Kent Session Summary:  Dancer. Educator. Yoga Instructor.  Certified Massage Therapist. Explorer. Advocate for change. Well accomplished academic. She’s the whole package and one of the nicest souls I’ve met. Currently based in...

  Maybe is a word that I always thought was lukewarm and non-committal...until I saw this production of  Maybe  at The Odyssey Theater in January 2019. This word now makes me think of patience, process and possibility.   Session Summary:  I love surprises--sometimes. Depends on what the surprises are. When it comes to dance and art, surprises are always welcome. ...

Session Summary:  First impressions and expectations can be unpredictable. That was certainly the case with watching this collaboration with Hubbard Street Dance and Third Coast Percussion. Having dreamt for many years of seeing Hubbard Street live, I was expecting solely a jazz dance style in their show, but I witnessed much more. Third Coast Percussion was new to me so my expectations were...

Session Summary:  First impressions can be lasting impressions. LA Dance Project and Mythili Prakash made lasting great impressions with their performances, and provided valuable reference points in their work that apply to dance, life and business. If you've listened to prior episodes when I review dance events, I take note of my first point of contact, from the first email, phone call and r...

Session Summary:  28 EXPLOSIVE DANCE FILMS, THEATER & ROOFTOP SCREENINGS, Q&A, HOLLYWOOD, GLOBAL BEATS by GINGEE, COCKTAILS, UMAMI BURGER, AWARDS, MIXER--If you saw this description for an event, you'd want to attend, right? I enjoyed my time at The Divulge Dancers Film Festival in November 2018 which inspired 5 essential elements to empower as an artist. Empower the element of your c...

I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel . -Maya Angelou- Session Summary:  Stimulating, Fascinating, Pure Innovation. These are a few words that I would use to describe the incredible dance performance company that is Pilobolus. Their recent production called  Come To Your Senses &n...