Sisters are doin' it for themselves

It's not an easy transition getting older as a dancer. Your body begins to disagree with your decision to continue, there is always young up and coming dancers biting at your heels, and what happens when life i.e. marriage, kids, or other interests become just as important? The answer is you need to adapt to what dance looks like for you.

For myself, I really like the age I have come into as a dancer. I have stepped away from dance enough to have life experiences and it is because of this that I have more to say now than ever as an artist. I have also found a wonderful teaching career in which I learn just as much from my students as they learn from me. There is also my interest as a choreographer, which in this last year I have really settled into my voice and aesthetic. So, my predicament is not how to deal with an allying body, but how to fulfill all of my interests and sill be home in time for dinner with my husband?



This is not an easy task. I could do what I did last year and spend four hours almost everyday in the car driving to dance in San Francisco and then rush back to teach my classes (but that doesn't work for my life), I could leave my husband for months on end and go dance for a company (but that doesn't work for my soul, or my teaching career), or I can give up dancing completely and just teach and choreograph (but that doesn't work for my heart). So to borrow a line from the Eurythmics, this "sister" is doin' it for herself.

I decided that if I want to continue to produce good work without leaving my city, which currently does not have a contemporary dance scene, I need to make it for myself. I started by approaching a choreographer who I am a fan of and told her, in all earnest, that I wanted to dance for her. To my surprise she was willing to create a new work, and with myself and two other dancers we created a new piece which we are hoping to take to some dance festivals, fingers crossed.

Many dancers now are taking their careers into their own hands. Being a freelancer provides you with a level of artistic freedom that you would not otherwise have working for a company full time.It is a great way to choose who you work with and what you do. However, there is the obvious pit falls of not having a steady stream of work coming in. As an independent contractor you have no benefits to fall back on when you are not working, and all additional costs; physical therapy, shoes, ect. come out of your pocket book. This also means working for free a lot. It is definitely a risky business, but recently an acquaintance of mine said, referring to her choreography "Careful does not a standing ovation get".  I think this phrase can also refer to the journey to the work.

Her are some stills of my first project as an independent artist, and check out my new website 

www.leahmariebueno.com

Where you can get even more information about me and my career.