Take a Peek Inside My Brain & My Life This Quarter…Up jumped Spring. She arrived not just in budding trees and longer days, but somewhere deeper—in the way my life has been quietly, insistently greening again. These past few months have been colored by new life, nurturing young life, play, and necessary joy. My sister had a baby! A whole new human that I will get to know and love, just like that. Tiny and miraculous. And in parallel, my own world has become riddled with young people: I have been teaching 3 groups of kids at Artistry Dance Project every week, and have been teaching tap dance regularly at a public middle school (Ballet Tech NYC). Watching my students learn, collaborate, struggle, and ultimately step into my choreography with confidence has been its own kind of magic. I’ve also returned to working with A Free Bird, teaching voice weekly to a young talented singer navigating cancer with determination and a commitment to joy. And in my private lesson work, I’ve been teaching tap to a brilliant 7-year old performer living with vestibular and proprioceptive challenges. She is a Rolodex of performing arts fun facts, sings jazz with the confidence of Peggy Lee, and is discovering a wonderful sense of agency and confidence through dance. There are more children regularly in my life right now than there have been in a long time—each with a specific set of needs, interests, gifts, and quirks. I feel the gravity of the responsibility that comes with being a trusted adult in their lives, and I feel great excitement at the opportunity to get to help shape their development. What a challenge and gift it has been! In this world that increasingly feels terrible, fractured, and difficult to hold, being in the presence of young minds full of curiosity, unfiltered questions, imagination, and play has been a kind of recalibration. They remind me of what is possible, and often of what is important. They’ve brought lots of laughter into my routines, softened some of the harder edges of the outside world, and affirmed something I sometimes forget: I am good at what I do! My education & training—as a teacher grounded in culturally-responsive pedagogy, in teaching students with disabilities, and in a Universal Design for Learning framework—doesn’t live on paper. It shows up in the room: in the way I choose to listen (even when the kids are little menaces), to adapt, to learn from them, to try, over and over, to meet each person where they are, and to provide them with the tools, motivation, and affirmation they need to continue to grow on their own. And alongside this season of nurturing, it’s also been a season of play! Last month, I had the immense joy of stepping into one of the most iconic figures of my childhood: Snoopy! I performed in the world premiere of the Peanuts 75th Anniversary Vince Guaraldi Symphonic Concert with the Seattle Symphony. It was an experience that surprisingly demanded a lot from me: physical comedy, acting, leading partner dancing, vernacular jazz, tap soloing, the precision to learn a full show in 5 days, and a deep well of imagination. It was joy-filled, rigorous, and unexpectedly wonderful! You can watch a little bit of it here, and read a sweet review that mentions my tap number as a standout moment here! I began the year performing in a delightfully absurd drag-meets-tap-dance piece I choreographed. It was a fever-dream collision of tap dance, work-place drama, physical comedy, Lindy Hop, forgotten pants, and, yes, banana phones. It’s silly in the best way, the kind of work that invites laughter first and asks questions later. It was a good reminder that not everything needs to be serious or didactic to be meaningful. Here’s some of “Phone it In!” All in all, this season has felt like a lovely return—to play, to purpose, and to the persistent beliefs that joy is worth making space for, and that often, young people are our greatest teachers!
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