Since I am kind of a mystery to all of you out there in Tennessee dance-land, I thought you might want to know a little about me. Well, more than a little. 

My Arts Beginnings 

I love dance, but I have to admit I am not a trained dancer. As a matter of fact, I got tossed out of ballet class as a kid for having weak ankles and an inability to stay coordinated with the other dancers. I finally ended up learning how to dance and work as a team in theater. I figured out how to fudge my way through a dance routine in a musical by being lucky enough to have great dance partners. Any success I owe to them.  

I grew up around dance and theatre. Both my aunts on my father's side were professional dancers when they were young. Three of my cousins were amazing ballerinas as kids, and two still take tap class. They used to do tap routines with my 80-year-old aunt when they visited her. Theater and dance run in the family. It's in the blood. I think it all started with my great Uncle Bud. He was quite the entertainer, but that is a whole other story. 

Why I Interviewed for the Position 

I decided to interview for the position of Executive Director of Tennessee Association of Dance (TAD) because I am at a point in my life where I want to build something that is meaningful in the arts, and do something challenging, while applying my years of work in the nonprofit world. I found out about the job from a friend who was familiar with what I had done growing the Business Education Partnership Foundation at the Rutherford County Chamber of Commerce. My friend thought I'd be a good fit. 

My Involvement with the Arts 

My history in the arts goes waaaaay back. When I was five, I was very shy and my mother put me into an acting class to bring me out of my shell. I've been performing ever since.   

As I was growing up, my mother served on a number of arts related boards, one of them being Portland (OR) Civic Theater. I spent a lot of time there taking classes and going to some wonderful plays and musicals. Mom and I used to dance to the music from the shows when I was growing up. We used to do a mean Charleston together. 

I wrote and directed musical reviews, puppet shows, and plays with my cousins and neighbor kids. I even put my grandmother's dogs into shows. When I got into the work world, I started volunteering my time with theater and other arts related organizations. I have been on the board of just about every arts organization in Rutherford County, or at least worked with it. I developed Arts Day for both Youth Leadership Rutherford and Leadership Rutherford, helped create the Rutherford Arts Alliance, and was one of the founders of the Boro Art Crawl. 

Rabid Arts Supporter on Her Soap Box 

I am a rabid supporter of the arts, and have gotten up on the soap box now and then about the importance of the arts in not only developing creativity, but also in developing critical thinking skills. Arts are also important to economic development. 

In a time that is totally wrapped up in science and technology, we are forgetting about the arts and that art is one of the most basic expressions of humanity and culture. It is so much more than a single painting or dance or couture gown or building. It is healing, it is creative, it is reactive. As Beverly Sills once said, "Art is the signature of civilizations."  

Each art has its own emotional edge, but there is a rawness in dance found in no other art. Perhaps it is because it goes so far back in time and is part of every culture's physicality. Did you know that belly dancing can be traced back 17,000 years? It was interesting seeing Breaking as part of the Olympics this year. It is the ultimate combination of athleticism and the body control of a dancer. Break dancing is almost coming full circle from belly dancing, as it requires a similar ability to master every muscle in the body and to be able to compartmentalize movement.   

My Non-Arts Background 

My non-arts background is in leadership, marketing, project management, and public relations, but I have done a number of things within these boundaries. Someone once told me I had a checkered past because I have done so much. 

My first job was running kid’s birthday parties for a children's theater company at the ripe age of 13, although you couldn’t do that anymore. I have also done everything from keeping the books for my father's veterinary practice to being a retail buyer to working in advertising and event planning to being Marketing Director for The Daily News Journal and being the Executive Director of the Business Education Partnership Foundation. Previous to this job, I was a project manager for a senior move management company and a freelance writer. I still freelance write and edit.  

Building a TAD Team 

Running a nonprofit, especially when you are the only staff member managing a state-wide organization, requires having knowledge of all parts of business -- from finance to staffing to marketing to management. You could say that my checkered past has prepared me to do what I am currently doing. I have learned something from everything I have done and all the wonderful people I have worked with, and even from the not so wonderful ones. 

Over the years of working in Rutherford, Williamson and Davidson Counties, I have met a lot of people with a lot of skills that can help TAD. I have to say that I could not do what I am doing now without their help. It is going to take a village, and I am currently building a team to lead TAD into the future composed of a combination of old friends and young leaders I am meeting through dance.  

I love making connections between groups, and I am particularly excited about the opportunity to collaborate with the diverse network of dance studios, choreographers, professional dance companies, dance education programs in higher education, and community and business partners to develop an organization that is meaningful and integral to the success of the dance community in Tennessee in the coming years.