17 & marked

Gail Devers once said

"Keep your dreams alive. Understand to achieve anything requires faith and belief in yourself, vision, hard work, determination, and dedication. Remember all things are possible for those who believe."
Every dream begins with its dreamer, and what is produced out of that dream, is the result of the dreamer’s ability to take action. So here’s my story, I was 17 and marked by an idea that seemed to come out of nowhere, far fetched and unexpected.

In March of 2009, I was working the first show I ever managed for Erin Pride (the lovely mentor of mine), for the first Mix It Up. We were at La Bella Epoque, a beautiful raw space where the show was being held. Erin had originally had someone else scheduled to stage-manage the show, but when he couldn’t do it last minute, she asked me to do it. But here’s the thing, I never stage-managed a show before, so I was scarred of messing up and ruining the whole production. Yet, in classic EP style, she made me do it, and taught me how.

It was only in August that I had my very first dance performance, and still had very little formal training under my belt. Yet, as I was mingling among dancers, choreographers, and art lovers I suddenly felt inspired. I was talking to my friend Jennifer (who would later become one of my best friends) and it was through my dialogue with her that I decided I wanted to start a dance company for disabled and non-disabled dancers.

At that point, I had very little dance experience and absolutely no clue what managing a dance company entailed, but I didn’t care. I had this idea, and I was determined to move forward with it. So I did just that. After speaking to EP, and gathering a small group of people to brainstorm with (Elly, Crystal, Jennifer and the owners of La Bella Epoque), I was ready to give birth to Hand-Cap Dance.

It was a slow start, a few meetings about possible ideas, mission, purpose, and such. Within the first couple of months, the company had 4 dancers including myself, Jennifer, Crystal and Michelle. We booked our first company performance at my sister’s job, and it was our first paid gig, “50” bucks for a new company was a lot.
Soon after I was ready to hold auditions for the company, and had a handful of people show up. This was great since we weren’t offering to pay anyone. They wanted to grow with the company; sadly I couldn't pay them, but what an experience it would be. Once we had some dancers, I was able to get some talented guest choreographers from the Tri-State to set work on the company.

This isn’t as detailed as I would like, for the interest of time but keep reading…
I was young and still had a lot to learn. Luckily, I had a handful of people who had my best interest at heart and they helped me grow. After losing the space at La Bella, I was connected with Liz Grossman, a woman who would lend her space to become the official rehearsal studio for HCD. This grant was a true blessing and allowed the dream to keep reaching new levels.

A few bumps along the way, lost some dancers, and ran into some resistance regarding the name, but I was determined to have the company’s first show, and so a year and two months after the idea came to mind, we had our first informal show, “Breaking Barriers”.

Thinking back, the show wasn’t the greatest, or as great as I would have liked, but I can tell you now—it meant the world to me. To see people there in the audience, and all of those who help make Breaking Barriers a success, I truly appreciate it. They say it takes a village to raise a child, well same holds true for a dream. While a dreamer is all it takes to form the dream, it takes a team to make the team a reality.

After the show, we were underfunds and owed the space money for hosting the event of course I got panicked. I was a young artist with zero funds; making ends meat with what we had. Luckily, my best friend Crystal’s father, Frank donated the missing funds and supported my cause in such a fabulous way.

This is where the team for the dream comes into play.

So what was I left with after the show? I put the company on hiatus and I took several months to reflect on myself, the dream that began to take shape and my future at William Paterson University.

What I forgot to mention earlier in this blog, is that I was sacrificing a lot, rehearsing 7 days a week for my high school dance department and company rehearsal. The stress on my body was intense, and the toll it began to take on my personal life was no easy hardship. I would go into the studio early afternoon, and wouldn’t leave until well after sundown.
I thought about giving up, when things got especially difficult. I began to doubt my dream and myself. Then I was reminded why dance is so important to me. Once my chapter at WPU began, I started to re-visit my company’s mission and purpose.

What was once called Hand-Cap Dance became marked dance project. I made it an SGA Chartered club, and made MDP Company in residency at my university. Once that process was completed, the company began to grow and the dreamer that felt weary was revived and re-focused.

Since March of 2009, the company has doubled in size, and includes to wheelchair dancers and we’ve performed all over New Jersey and three consecutive years in Philadelphia.

We are currently working on our premiere full-length company show called, “Spectrum” a benefit dance show, which will raise money for an Autism organization entitled MyGoal. It will feature guest performances by some of the best companies and dancers in the Tri-State area. For more information, visit www.markeddanceproject.com for all the details on the show in September and the company.

I was 17 and marked by a dream, an idea many doubted but I stayed true to my heart’s desire and myself. I chased after the dream, with the help of some amazing people. Hopefully, my story will inspire others to follow suite in their dreams, and know that anything is possible. I know, because I went from the crippled kid who always fell, to who I am today- a dancer.