Thanks for inviting me to take a look at your blog.

For me, one of the biggest challenges since leaving school is realizing how long it actually takes to build something. In school, we receive more or less instant gratification with feedback at least every semester (4 months), a rigid structure and system is in place, and we get something new to work on pretty much all of the time. Projects are linear, relatively short and concise. Our bodies are finely tuned throughout the entire process. We are given opportunities to make our own initiatives, and there is a system of support underlying it, plus we get to interpret the works of others and support their vision. Truly fantastic, but then there’s the “real world”.

I think that all of these aspects are out there…it just takes more time to find them, put them together, and actually get an idea off the ground. Plus, no two paths are alike, so things can get disheartening when we feel like we’re the only person on the planet that is going through this or that. Persistence is a word that comes to mind…and persistence isn’t easy, but dance isn’t the only field that requires it. I embarrassingly burst into tears the first time that I heard I wasn’t eligible for a BC Arts Council grant, but the next year (which feels like a LONG time, but perhaps isn’t) I was ready to make my arguments successfully.

I’d like to get a “Creative Focus Group” going this year as one more supportive tool for us young artists to use so that we can make work for each other, help push each other forward, and then when we’re ready…get the general public involved, and then maybe some money will come our way so that we can feed and shelter ourselves comfortably as dance artists and not have to rely so heavily on baking brownies.