Elevé-ted Conversations--A Series of Culture-Driven Dance Journal Entries

A nd so it ends!! As of Sunday, December 23, 2018, at 5:25P, my Nutcracker cherry was finally popped--and to be quite honest, with all jokes aside, it was the most painfully beautiful experience I have had yet as a performer. Though I have been involved in evening length performances that last throughout an entire weekend and performed on major stages before, there is something to be said about performing in consistently sold out theaters for two hours each show… with four shows each weekend…. for two weekends straight… which does not include the community shows and promotional performances. One of the most humbling and difficult parts of this experience is dancing alongside some major key performers, people who have not only performed Ballethnic’s Urban Nutcracker and/or other Nutcracker productions before, but dancers who are featured favorites of pages like International Association of Blacks in Dance, ProAction Dance, and Black Boys Dance Too. Based on the perspective you deci...

E very year--starting from my birthday, November 26--there is a theme to take me through my next year of living. Using the “signs” of the past 11 months to guide my planning, I consider where I want to go physically, professionally, financially, and spiritually by the year’s end . Most of my inspiration for this year comes from the lessons I have learned in practicing Bikram-style Hot Yoga. So much has been learned in my 3.5 years of practicing, namely discipline, patience, and the function of energy. In May 2017 I almost stopped practicing due to financial constraints and my yoga teachers at 105F Chicago made a way that I could continue practicing by becoming a work trade student. Not only was I able to afford my classes, but I started to take them more frequently due to the scheduling, which incredibly helped in my ability to heal and augment my body for dance performance purposes. I also have noticed how often my insecurities are addressed with each 90-minute session in the hot r...