MFA Monday: Lauren Ashlee Small

by Lydia MFA Mondays

MFA rightWhen Grad School Becomes Worth It

Part 2

Finding my way out of the airport, hailing a cab, riding into the city to the serendipitous sound of Alicia Keys singing Empire State of Mind, and finding my way to my new home created adventure enough! It was here that I poured everything into my dancing. I tried new styles, met an array of crazy, talented people and movers, and explored my own craft of choreography. I began to want more. Spurred on by the sights and sounds of the city I entered my work into dance festival after festival and found the choreography well-received. I auditioned for a dance company, a cruise ship, and a few musical tours for the experience, interned and understudied with a dance company and performed with another all while completing the program at Ailey and receiving a scholarship for my next two semesters of training.

Lauren Ashlee SmallIn New York I learned the value of hard work. With mandatory classes all morning and afternoon there wasn’t much time left for traditional work. Several days a week after class I booked it from Midtown to the Upper East Side to babysit the cutest kid in the world across from Central Park. I worked at Saks 5th Avenue as often as I could and picked up gigs here and there including weekend work for the 2011 New York Bridal Expo. I learned determination, commitment, and the power of resolve by pushing past obstacles in my technique, choreography, and performance, but more importantly in life. Dancenyc.org became my go-to website for audition postings and choreographic opportunities, and I used the small stage in the basement of the building where I lived to hold rehearsals for my various projects.

Between the load of classes, rehearsing, and walking everywhere I possibly could, I built up endurance and conditioned my muscles and mind in a new way. The struggle to walk up and down the busy streets of Manhattan and not get trampled was lesson enough in itself.

Everyone has a place to be, a strategy, and a story. It was this experience of walking that gave room for a lot of reflection and examination of my life and the lives of the people around me. As a result, I became more decisive. I figured out what I wanted, where I was going, and what worked for me. Most importantly, I soon realized that I wanted and needed to create more frequently and that I needed to feel respected and important in any environment that I was working in.

These two revelations proved vital to my next move.

Stay tuned for Part 3, coming next Monday.

 

Lauren Ashlee Small is originally from Springfield, IL. Her training began at Springfield Dance and the Springfield Ballet Company and continued in college where she completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance at Belhaven University. Lauren went on to study in The Ailey School’s professional division as a recipient of The Oprah Winfrey Foundation Scholarship and to perform with Amalgamate Dance Company and Dance Into Deliverance. Her choreography has been featured at The Ailey School, Belhaven University, American College Dance Festival, Undertoe Dance Festival at the 92nd Street Y, the New York Jazz Choreography Project, and in Amalgamate’s 7th Annual Artist Series. Lauren has interned with Free Arts of Arizona and Amalgamate Dance Company and was a guest artist at the 2012 Teen Arts Performance Camp in Washington, DC and Emmanuel Ballet Academy’s 2014 summer intensive in Juarez, Mexico.

 

MFA Monday: Lauren Ashlee Small

by Lydia MFA Mondays

MFA rightWhen Grad School Becomes Worth It

Part 1

Spring of senior year our classes were soon coming to a close. Before the southern heat would parade in full force, the spring weather was ideal for the occasional field trip outdoors for class. Spring of 2010 we experienced class in the studio, in the long carpeted hallway of the dance department, on the spiral wooden staircase of the Bitsy Irby Visual Arts and Dance Center, outside in the grass where the art majors often set up their easels, and in the soccer field we called, “The Bowl.”

We were masters of our own destinies,

or so it felt, as we created adaptable warm-up routines for our individual movement needs. We threw in a dollop of modern floor and center work, a dash of yoga, and a hint of Pilates or any delicious ingredients we could get our hands on. We had been prepped with the warning that technique class could be a less frequent part of our day-to-day routine after graduation, and we might be responsible for giving ourselves a thorough class or warm-up on a regular basis. At the time, I didn’t think much about the statement, but I would realize the truth of the admonition not more than a month after graduation.

After graduating a year early, I wanted some time to “get my life together.”

My break turned into a four-year stretch

and might have lasted longer had not I discovered some things along the way. Everyone says don’t stop after graduation. Continue to the next step of your education. I understand now why they say it. I felt like I lost a lot of momentum when I stepped out of the creative environment and didn’t have the same creative resources at my fingertips at all times.

It wasn’t just the loss of technique class that left me a little hesitant. Life after graduation is a completely different experience altogether! I had no set schedule, no daily classes, no full-time work experience, no prospects or job offers, and had only auditioned for one company in my life, the local ballet company that I had danced with in high school. I ended up in Phoenix, Arizona working as a nanny during a two month internship with an awesome organization called Free Arts of Arizona. During my four month stay in Arizona I took a whopping ONE technique class, and was left with a feeling of doom regarding the future.

I moved back home and stayed for about eight months. I took class, choreographed for the local company, taught at the studio where I grew up, and I believe I performed a few times during that season. At the time, it felt somewhat repetitious and a bit like a reenactment of my high school experience from a new perspective, but I was dancing again. In January, I auditioned in Chicago for some programs at The Ailey School on a bit of a whim and to my excitement was accepted. August 31st, I boarded a plane with two suitcases and a one-way ticket to the Big Apple. This move was to be my first time in New York City.

Stay tuned for Part 2 next week.

Lauren Ashlee SmallLauren Ashlee Small is originally from Springfield, IL. Her training began at Springfield Dance and the Springfield Ballet Company and continued in college where she completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance at Belhaven University. Lauren went on to study in The Ailey School’s professional division as a recipient of The Oprah Winfrey Foundation Scholarship and to perform with Amalgamate Dance Company and Dance Into Deliverance. Her choreography has been featured at The Ailey School, Belhaven University, American College Dance Festival, Undertoe Dance Festival at the 92nd Street Y, the New York Jazz Choreography Project, and in Amalgamate’s 7th Annual Artist Series. Lauren has interned with Free Arts of Arizona and Amalgamate Dance Company and was a guest artist at the 2012 Teen Arts Performance Camp in Washington, DC and Emmanuel Ballet Academy’s 2014 summer intensive in Juarez, Mexico.