Q: How did you begin dancing?  

I was one of those kids that started out dancing at four years old, that ballet and tap combo. I danced through high school. I loved it and I breathed it. It was my everything. I trained at Boston Ballet so I was a total pinhead. And when I went to college I knew I wanted to be a professional dancer. I went to New York University Tisch School of the Arts, graduated, and started working immediately as a professional dancer doing kind of musical theater dance and also some ballet. And I realized once I graduated that I hated auditioning, which was a really big challenge just because you need to love auditioning to get the job. I loved the work, I just didn't love the auditioning. And I realized I was kind of burnt out because I'd been dancing for so many years and I wanted to do something else. But I didn't know what that was because I didn't want to be a choreographer, I didn't want to open a studio, I wasn't interested in teaching. Then I saw an audition notice for a TV host for a children's dance video on how to Electric Slide, hokey pokey, Macarena, all of those fun party dances. I auditioned and booked the job, and it became a global sensation for like two years. I thought wow this is a way to incorporate my love for dance into something that I'm also good at. I'm good at talking and I'm good at interviewing and I'm good at trying to make people feel comfortable and tell their stories. So I went and got training in New York City and went to a coach because my work on-camera was a little green and raw. And after I had spent a solid year with him he's like “you're good but I don't think you're going to work in New York, you look more all American, and the people who are on camera with your look work out in California.” And so I went West, and that completely changed my career and was a game-changer. I started in the automotive industry with my first big job. I was working for Toyota and hosting a show for them. Eventually, I sort of circled and found my way back to dance because Dancing with the Stars was big, So You Think You Can Dance, and I started working for Maria Menounos’ AfterBuzz TV and doing after-shows for them. Eventually, that grew into a career with Dance Network. There was an article in People Magazine, and I went to LinkedIn and found the CEO, sent him a message and I said: “you need to hire me, I'm entrenched in all these dance shows, I know everyone, I can be your West Coast office.” And that's how that morphed and became a huge career for me.

Q: What have the performing arts taught you that you have applied to your everyday life and how you engage in the world?

Authenticity. I had a mentor of mine and every year he asked me what my theme was this year. I don't usually do resolutions, I do themes, and I couldn't think of one. And he was like, “I want you to take this one and run with it” and he goes, “maybe you'll understand it maybe you won't, maybe it'll take some time, but be authentic.” And I thought, okay, what does that mean exactly? I understand the basic definition of it, but what does that mean in my work? And honestly, I'm not going to lie, it took me about 18 months to understand what that meant in my work. And what that meant in my depth of storytelling of other people's stories. I want people to feel comfortable with me, I want to just be myself, I want other people who are watching my interviews to connect as well because it's not just about me or the person I'm interviewing, it's collectively as a group trying to understand someone's story and where we come from. As artists everyone is so raw and emotional and that's how they express themselves through art but when they have to do an interview, they can often be uncomfortable so I want them to feel as comfortable as they are with me and tell their story as they are doing it through movement. It honestly took a long time but I think that has been the way I've started to approach my work, it finally felt like the light bulb went off and it went off in my personal life too. So, carrying that around with me and being who I am, not putting on any airs, especially here in Hollywood, has helped me tremendously through the years.

Q: How do you think that we can keep producing journalism at a time that it's really not at all profitable but maybe more important than ever?

We have to find a way to tell stories and it's not easy, but I'm asking all artists to do this honestly right now. We as artists love to give our work away for free all the time, and some of that is important because I do some of my work and put it up on a website and I don't charge or anything else like that because people go through hard times and arts helps people through hard times, but you also have to find a way to make money off of this, whether that's a Patreon page, or sort of exploring that if you're teaching, maybe doing a by donation class right now through these hard times. I think we have to collectively find a way to not only be able to express ourselves but also remember that it's show business. We're always great at the show, we're not great at the business. And this is a wonderful time to be retooling and rethinking our business strategies. And so I'm kind of doing a three-prong approach in terms of, I offer some free content because everyone should have access to at least some, I do some low cost or by donation stuff, and then I also do a Patreon page where people who want to seek some of that additional content will be able to find me. And every once in a while if I feel like an interview I've done on Patreon resonates with what's happening in the world, I'll say hey, it was a Patreon exclusive now let me throw it out there free to the world. So I think that by finding things like that. That's going to help us through a lot.

Q: Can you speak about maybe some challenges that you've had in dance journalism and how you've kind of built an audience? How do you get other people that maybe are interested in dance but maybe won't read your journalism or just regular everyday people that read the New York Times? How have you kind of dealt with that and then some other challenges in the career as well.

It's interesting because I grew up in a time in New York City when The Village Voice was everything. Deborah Jowitt, who was the dance critic for The Village Voice, was my dance history teacher at NYU. I don't think I realized when I was 20 years old that I had a legend sitting in front of me and teaching me. I just sent her an email about three months ago saying “thank you” because I didn't realize how big of an impact she made on my career. But she was someone that was covering all the modern dance shows, especially through the 60s 70s 80s when people weren’t sure what modern dance was. I think when you find a voice, and you find one that strikes a chord, people will follow you, even people who don't follow dance and I think in an era of social media, this is a great way to get people to find you and to follow you. Maybe they won't love everything that you're covering, but they might like one thing, and most of my work is commercial dance, but I try to find something because even if someone's not watching So You Think You Can Dance, I bet a lot of people saw La La Land or Zoe’s Extraordinary Playlist, which is the same choreographer, Mandy Moore. So I've been able to sort grab people on certain topics and things like that. Dance journalism is tough right now, and it gets tougher as it moves forward, but I always tell people just keep on persevering through. I mean, this pandemic is a moment in time, and I hope it allows all of us to rethink the arts and rethink dance journalism, even though we're a small part of it. You have to remember that if you keep on persevering through the cream always rises to the top. I'll tell you, I tried to cover Dancing With The Stars backstage every week. They only wanted entertainment coverage, they only wanted Entertainment Tonight, they only wanted E!, they only wanted Access Hollywood. I badgered them so much, in a good way, but I was so persistent that about four years ago they finally let me start covering it because I was like you are a dance show, you need dance coverage, you have all the entertainment coverage, let me be a singular voice, and it worked. So that's why I always say that persistence and perseverance are a good thing.  

Q: How do you think dance and/or journalism can be a platform for social justice issues?

First of all, when it comes to dance itself, especially at this moment in time, it allows for artists to express themselves. There's so much that you can do through dance and I think it's really important that people have a voice. When it comes to dance journalism, I think sometimes we worry about ruffling feathers, but also speaking our voice speaks for the arts in general because the dancers are dancing through movement, and we're speaking with words. So if we can find a way to come together, that makes it the perfect opportunity to talk about social justice issues.

Q: How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected you as a performing artist?

COVID-19 has been a really interesting moment in time. When it first went down we started writing, right away about how it was affecting the dance shows because Dancing With The Stars was on tour. They went from eliminating meet and greets, then eliminating photos, and then eliminating the tour all together. Then they postponed the last two and a half weeks  And then they completely canceled it, which I kind of knew was going to happen. So You Think You Can Dance, we were prepping to cover that but of course the auditions have been put on hold, they've been moved to video. I'm just not sure the show is going to happen this year. The only show that lucked out was World of Dance in that they finished taping on Friday March 13, so their season is in the can and they're going to start running it May 26. So it was all this whole crazy chaos of talking with publicists, talking with the dancers, like are you guys running or even get shut down, what do you think. And then things started to happen and you started to realize what the financial impact was going to be. And the loss here in California, I want to say the arts community has been hit twice, not only by COVID but also by a law called AB5. I don't know if a lot of people know about it but initially it was designed to go after the gig economy like Lyft, Uber, make sure that there are worker protections. Unfortunately in California, it was this big sweeping law that took freelancers with it too. And we're talking about freelance dance teachers, we're talking about freelance dancers with dance companies, writers and translators, which even affects nurses, there are so many aspects of the industry. It was saying that you couldn't hire freelancers anymore, that you had to hire everyone as part time or full time employees to make sure that people have worker protection. So I think that the intentions were good, but unfortunately, it caused a lot of collateral damage and caused a lot of people to lose jobs because all of a sudden, dance companies couldn't add 30% of costs to their payroll. Where are you going to find that money at a time like this? So we've been hit with a double whammy here in California. Just make sure everyone is aware of the P.R.O. Act (Protect the Right to Organize Act) because it's already passed in the House and it's on its way to the Senate when things get back to normal. And so it's going to be a hard time out here on the West Coast to recover from all of that and that's been a lot of the stories now and dancers and choreographers are finding a way to try and keep some income flowing while everything is shut down because there's no production happening right now. So they're doing those those online classes and originally everyone was out there and doing it for free, I'm seeing now that a lot of the dance conventions are now organizing weekends and saying “for $99 you get access to 50 different teachers, they're going to be teaching Friday, Saturday, and Sunday pick and choose your classes.” They're thinking of better ways to function and like I said, rethinking business strategies and models are going to be a big thing throughout this time. So that's been a lot of my coverage. And then Dance Network went under March 31, that affected me and I thought, holy cow, how are we going to do all of this.  But joining World of Dance Studios allowed me to rethink my strategy and continue with my storytelling. I know it's a hard time for everyone and sometimes the arts are just the best escape.

Q: Can you talk a little bit more about what you’re working on right now? I'm interested in the production and administrative side of what people are doing, what they're thinking about, especially moving forward where the industry just isn't going to look the same when it comes back. How are people reacting to that? Are people adapting?

First of all, So You Think You Can Dance was supposed to start up in the fall. I'm not sure that's going to happen. And I've been thinking about this because dance is a contact sport, and an art at the same time. I feel like maybe if things start to taper off it'll shift and maybe it'll be a winter show this season. We've got to figure out the dance shows and how to make that possible. On the good side of all of this Break The Floor, which does a lot of the major dance conventions out here, and a lot of people have participated in JUMP, they did something in the last couple of weeks. They have studios out here in North Hollywood, California, and they brought in Travis Wall and Mandy Moore and Mark Meismer and some of their big dance educator talents and they had two assistants and they were able to shoot a live convention while still social distancing. It made me start thinking, I hope something like So You Think You Can Dance was watching this. It wouldn't be an ideal season where you can do tons of partnering and lifts and everything else. But if they want to do a season, they could do it based off of this model because it worked very well. They had two different rooms going at once, one for classes, and then they did a convention that was judged. That happened last week, and it was smart. The conventions are very expensive and a lot of these kids and parents have paid a lot of money over the years so I thought it was a nice offering to everyone during a difficult time. And they've been very good about saying “we're giving you all of these incredible Emmy-nominated choreographers but also remember your best training will always come from your home studio so please support them, send the money to them right now because they do need it, we're going to lose a lot of local dance studios.” So I think that we're seeing a lot of innovation happening that could work. I don't think it would work forever because we all want to get into a dance studio and dance with our friends and our teachers, but I think in the interim if we start rethinking models a little bit, we can do this. Singing is a little bit different but American Idol found a way to make the season happen with the top 20, they're singing from their homes. Disney's been really good about getting equipment out to people, ring lights, everything else. So for a fraction of the cost you can make a season happen and I feel like Dancing With The Stars is a hard one to make happen, but I feel like So You Think You Can Dance, if they take a look at and see what some of the other dance producers are doing, they might be able to do it.

Q: I feel like this is a really great time during this mass pause where we can sit and really examine systems, specifically in the dance world and community, that haven't been working, that are outdated maybe in terms of access, in terms of who we're reaching and  we’re letting reach us in terms of what shows are being put on. So, after the pandemic, what do you hope to see change and shift?  

I think first of all, access to dance is always important. I am on the marketing and PR committee for American Dance Movement, formerly known as Dizzy Feet Foundation, run by Nigel Lythgoe, and access is always a huge issue when it comes to underserved communities. And I think at a time like this, where a lot of people are losing their jobs, what would you cut out? Of course you wind up cutting out things that don't keep food on the table and a roof over your head. Some kids are losing their dance classes because their parents lost their job. We have to make sure that we keep those kids dancing. And we need to be looking at some of those charities and making sure that they're funded and the ones who do serve underserved communities are getting to these people because arts are everything. Even if you don't want to be a professional dancer, we all know it helps you so many other aspects in their lives, and for people who live in challenging situations, whether it's at home or in their neighborhood, this is an activity or a focus or a passion for them. And that is going to keep them out of trouble or just keep them focused and keep them engaged throughout their entire life, that is one big thing that I hope. If they can contribute, could find a charity and donate, even if it's just $5-10 to keep that happening. I also think it's time for everyone to take a big breath and a big pause and take a look at what's happening on the TV dance shows when it comes to casting. Dancing With The Stars has never been a great show in terms of representation when it comes to people of color on the pro-dancer side. They do a pretty good job on the celeb side, but they don't do a good job on the pros side. There are so many Latinx ballroom dancers and we haven't had a black female pro ever. I would like to see that. I can name a whole bunch of dancers who are killing it in the ballroom community that should be on the show. And also when it comes to World of Dance, making sure that other dance styles besides hip-hop and contemporary are represented. They did better with ballet and tap last season; they're having a Native American dance troupe this season. I'm very excited. So I think that their eyes are open to it, they're aware of it, but we can always do better moving forward. And I think when it comes to the ballet world, I think this is on everyone's radar, but making sure that women are represented on the choreography side in ballet and also on the administration side. I would like to see more women as artistic directors and leading ballet companies as well because they're a major force as performers but then after they retire, they don't always wind up on the administration side and hopefully we'll see more leaders in that respect.