 See what's new on the Burlington Waterfront. Front with Mariah Riggs. Today I'm very excited because I have a wonderful guest, MC Dabalina, who is the executive director of the Vermont Dance Alliance. Welcome, MC. It's wonderful to have you here. Thanks for having me. So for all of our guests, why don't you tell us what the Vermont Dance Alliance is? Sure. The Vermont Dance Alliance is a non-profit member funded, run organization that we aim to shine a light on dance happening in Vermont by supporting, connecting, and promoting our dancers, dance artists, and even our dance lovers. Oh, that's wonderful. And that's really important in the state of Vermont. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I think so. We have, and I don't know if our viewers are aware of how dynamic the dance organizations in Vermont really are. We have an incredible depth of talent and an incredible spectrum of creative arts and people involved in dance that do some pretty remarkable work. And since the Vermont Dance Alliance has existed, it's really helped as an umbrella organization to pull all those things together. I keep talking to people and I always find that Vermont's like a lot of satellites it has. The regions are real. And in having statewide organizations that can bring all those parts together is just so important, especially, I think, in the creative arts. Definitely, that was why VDA was founded, Hanna. So who is the founder of VDA? Yes, I was just going to say that. Hanna Satterley founded VDA in 2017 as a response to the need for dancers to know what's going on in the state of Vermont in dance. People were feeling very much those islands knowing what they were doing and knowing what their friends were doing, but not knowing anything else or anything else is happening. And by creating this website and creating this organization, Hanna was able to really shine a light, have the website host all of the information that we need, classes, workshops, performances. And we're able to then not only know what's going on, but then to support each other. Which is great. And so how would somebody, just so if anybody's interested, it's on the screen right now. It's www.vermontdance.org. So if you're interested in looking at the website, putting on your list of favorites because you're a huge dance lover, you can find it right there at the bottom of the screen and check it out because it is a great website. Yeah, and it's not just for dancers and dance makers. It's also for people who just really like dance, really want to support dance, see dance. We love everybody to be interested in dance. Well, it's a form of human expression. And it's a profound form of human expression. I would say that it's one of the original forms of human expression. We have visual arts, we make noises. So that's like the music, but then we move our bodies. Yeah, and that's what I always say when people say, oh, I don't understand dance. I'm like, do you have a body? And are you moving through space and time? Because that's all dances. We're just like, we're doing a dance right now. We can look at it like the broad spectrum. I talk to my kids all the time about this, but every baby, every kid is born and immediately, they can dance, they can dance. And so I'm always like, why do you feel disconnected from this? We should feel more connected to it. Yeah, and it's funny I've had a couple of conversations too, and I feel like as a society, we've gotten very into being critical, hyper-critical, about things that are arts related. Everybody now is a critic, right? Everybody's on the voice, or everybody's in America's Got Talent, so you're always making judgments, or if it's TikTok and dance videos. It's all about making judgments on what other people are doing, as opposed to it being an expressive capacity of human nature. Yeah, which I think is unfortunate, because it's one of the cool things about being a human. Yeah, I mean, and also I have a strong, my own personal belief is that everybody should be able to move and dance, and I teach little kids in my other job. And a big thing that I say is like, let's all look and see how different we each move and appreciate that. You don't look like your neighbor, and that's amazing, that's wonderful. And it doesn't, you know, you don't have to be in ABT or New York City Ballet to be a dancer. And that's really important to me, that opportunity is there for people to move if they want to. And that's a great point, everybody's a dancer. And I have some friends who would disagree, they're the head bobbers. Yeah, yeah, well then they're a head bobber dancer. That's true, that's fine. That's their own form of expression. That's great. So really quickly, we've talked about it a little bit, but what is the vision of the Vermont Dance Alliance? Really we really desire to take the onus off of our members. And their membership fees pay our bills, keep our lights on, and it's wonderful, and we love it, and we're so thankful. But just what we were talking about before this, dance is expensive and artists aren't really raking in the dough. And so by the six dollars a month we ask of them, it's not much, but it still can be a stretch for some people. And it would be our just biggest wish and desire to be able to actually fund dance, to be giving them the money and then the funding and then the space to do their work or to take their classes, rather than constantly asking of them. Yes, of course I think of it more as a trade organization. You know, your pain dues to a trade organization that's bringing contextuality and networking and has value added components to it that expand the scope of the work that you're able to achieve. Yeah, yeah, definitely. And at six dollars a month is probably better than most express us. I think so. We're the same price point. So I mean, that is a value added service. Definitely, yeah, and we just don't want to ever have to raise that price with inflation, where our costs are going up of everything, everything, everything. And we just can't ask more of our members. They're, you know, they're blood, you know, they're heart. And then that's, it's very much, from what I've understood, it seems like it's a very much a grassroots organization. Where it is the power of the organization comes from the roots of its organization. You know, this matters. Yeah, yeah, exactly. From the bottom up. Yeah, and we want to be grateful to them and be supporting them. Also, one of the things that in our vision that we're trying to head towards is more advocacy. And to really get dancers and our members into the state house and really talk about what dance like means and how much like dance is important for our community and society. So that's something we haven't gone into yet, but that's a really like. Yeah, because it tends to be, and you know, for me, I run a performing arts center, which you all know. And I find that the arts, you know, as a whole, dance always to me, and I think it's very unfortunate, tends to be in the sidelines, comparable to things like visual arts. And in some ways media arts and other forms of the arts. And it doesn't get sort of the grant representation. Yeah. It does not. Which is a real issue. And as one of what I would consider one of like the, you know, cardinal arts, I do think it's unfortunate. Yeah, yeah, you know, there's there's just a huge expense to making dance. You have, you know, if you have 10 dancers and you're creating work, you're not just buying, you know, a score to just learn in a day and then perform the next day. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but choreographers are making new stuff all the time at dance and they're spending hours with their dancers in a studio. So you're thinking about rental space. You're thinking about paying those dancers for their time and their performance, you know, and then the performance and all the money that goes and all the costs with performance. And hopefully the revenue from the performance can actually support the work. Yeah, yeah. Which is a nail biter. I mean, the margins on that are significantly small. Yeah. And I don't know if the community is fully aware of like how minuscule those margins are. Yeah, yeah. And it's really a labor of love. Yeah, definitely. Something I constantly hear from people who do dance is that, you know, it's something they do because they love the work and they want to bring it out there. They just, and they know they're not gonna get a lot in return. Yeah. But they want the audience to experience what they're trying to show to them. Yeah. Yeah, I was just looking at our spreadsheet from like all the years because we're trying to apply for another grant. And you know, I always relook at all the numbers. And the events that we do, the performances we do, it's just that it's looking at the costs and the income and seeing that negative number there. And that, we responded with that, or to that by changing our focus this year. And we're not gonna be doing many events or many performances, but in turn like showing up to those members' performances. Cause, you know. That's great, getting the word out. Yes, and like being there and being VDA there. Present. Yeah, and being a body in the seat. And then also saying, hey, you guys are at this dance performance. Look what all this other stuff is happening, you know, like next week, the week after that our members are doing it, isn't it? Just fantastic. And it can kind of grow sort of that organic chemistry of like artists seeing other artists work, which also can affect their work. Yeah, exactly. And like using that to build because sometimes seeing other people's work fulfills like the mission of your work. Yeah. Yeah, it does. And it helps you grow as an artist. Yeah, yeah. And you know, that's also part of the interconnectivity. I think that's really important about the Alliance. Oh, definitely. I was at the Stone Valley Dance Collective. It's a new dance collective last weekend. And where are they? They're in Rutland. Wow, there's a new dance collective in Rutland, and it's called what? The Stone Valley Dance Collective. I'm hoping to get that right. It's one of our board members started it with some of her dance friends. And it was just so lovely. It was like so many dancers because they were aching to dance. They were aching for performance and they paid for their own costumes, paid for their own space and their lighting. And you know, I'm looking at this talent going, I wish I could just be throwing them all, you know? Money, but I was also just so grateful to see this really generous performance. And it's wonderful. And they were able to get their art out. Yes. Which I think is also part of like, you know, people talk a lot now about mental health. And you know, recovery after the pandemic. Yes. And sometimes, you know, I really think that art heals if it's a part of who you are. Yeah, yeah. And so by having those kinds of experiences is kind of a very fulfilling. Oh yeah, for both audience and the performer. You know, there was all these kids in the audience too. And I'm just going, oh, isn't it so great to have kids at a dance performance like that's all that I want. And they're really quiet. Yeah. And you can see how it has, and there's one of the most amazing things and I can't remember the quote or what it is, but to me about dance too is, dance is a universal language. Yeah. It's one of the only, I mean, of course visual arts, but it's an art form that transcends language. Yeah. Yeah. It's just part of the human experience. Exactly. And so everybody understands dance art. Yeah. And though, I mean, going to the science of it, you know, like your mirror neurons are firing when you're seeing movement. So you're literally dancing as even if you can't dance or you're paralyzed even, like it doesn't matter. Your mirror neurons in your brain are firing. Really? And like you're actually doing the movement in your brain with dancers. That's so cool. I have not heard of the mirror theory. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I don't know if any of you have, but that's absolutely fascinating. I hope I didn't get it. I probably got it sort of right, you know. But that's wonderful. I'm going to look into that. I think that's really fascinating. It's why it moves us so deeply, you know. And it causes that. I mean, that's also just part of our interconnection, too, I think. Yeah, definitely. So, quickly, how did you get introduced to the Vermont Dance Alliance? Yeah, I moved here from Philadelphia in 2015, and I had three kids, and so didn't do much dancing, then had a lovely fourth kid, and not, you know, a whoops, a very happy whoops, and started to get back into dancing very quickly after he was born, because I needed it. And got introduced to Hannah Denison, and was part of the Quarry Project. And from there, met all these VDA members. And so what is the Quarry Project? The Quarry Project was a, it is, was, I think it's still going on, a amazing dance work that happened in the Wells-Lamsam Quarry last, this summer. Sorry, time is weird. And we danced on barges in the middle of this Quarry, and it was really, with live music on a bar, it was just the most amazing performance I've ever been in. Now, is it ongoing? Will somebody be actually be able to go see it this summer? Unfortunately, no, it was sold out. Wow. All 16, 19 performances that we did. I mean, it sounds incredible. Yeah, this is, it was wonderful. There are going to be more things happening like as like an echo of it. So there's going to be a film that Lucas Huffman is putting out. Oh, great. And there might be some other like echoes of the performance happening. I've heard murmurs and rumors, I can't say anything specific, but. That's an exciting project. Yeah, and so I got started in that in 2018. So it was four years that I was a part of that. And from there, met Hannah, Santa, Saturday. And that's how I got introduced to VDA. But then when I became a member, it was when I started putting on my own work and wanted to promote it. And I said, Hannah, how do I do this? And she said, well, you can become a member for $6. Executive director. Yeah, it was great. I know I was just thinking about that. I was like, all right, I put on a show and I wanted to promote it. And what did I do? I became a VDA member and half and left. There you go. And so currently, I mean, this is maybe part of my understanding of the scope. I mean, there are dance groups pretty much in every part of Vermont at this point. Yeah, yeah. There's many, I don't think people realize how many organizations are statewide. Yeah, yeah, there's a lot of, not only organizations, there's studios that put out a lot of dance. And there's just people like me who are just choreographing, just taking whoever and making stuff up. And it's really, we have about 130 members. That's significant. Yeah, yeah. I mean, for a state our size. Yeah. I mean, that's a very vibrant community. It is. And I don't think people realize to the extent how we're embusted us. Yeah, yeah, it really is. And the amount of classes that are posted to our website daily, I get the notifications on my email. And I'm just so excited. I just wanted to tell everybody all the time. I'm constantly trying to keep up with the Instagram to tell people and everything. What's going on? Yeah, yeah. Which is exciting. And just speaking of Instagram, I just recently noticed that you guys had a retreat. Yes, we did. And so what is a Vermont dance line? You can't tell me too much because it's a retreat, I understand that. But for the general public, I mean, what's a Vermont dance line's retreat? It was camping. We? Camped at Onion River Campground. They are so generous. They give us their space for free. Amazing. And they set us up right unlike this apple orchard. And we just set up our tents and we danced and we talked and we had a fire. And it was just so needed after our isolation. You know, even though we've, you know, was slowly coming out, but we really haven't been able to sit together. And we taught each other, you know? So somebody, I have an idea of this thing. Should we do this? Yeah. And then we just went and did the thing. And it was very, just very soul-filling. That was wonderful. Yeah, yeah. That's great. See, I mean, those are the valid value added things that you are bringing into the community too. Yeah. I mean, sometimes just getting creative people together. That's sometimes all you need. It is. It's a huge part of the organic process. It really is. Which is really wonderful. So, who makes up your board of directors? Our board of directors currently are four wonderful humans who are our VDA members. You know, who really, really care about VDA and really want to put in that time and talent. And we have Sarah Briggs, Nicole Ullman, Kristen Campbell, and Joy Madden. And it's a small but mighty group. Tiny but mighty? Yes, exactly. Yeah. It's not the size. It's the quality. It is. And they're wonderful. And I'm so excited to have them. They each bring their own talent. And they give a lot of time too. I mean, I would assume it's a very hard-working board. It really is. Yeah. Yeah. Which is important because, again, it's an alliance. So it is the sum of its parts. Yes, definitely. Which is great. Now if anybody is watching, how would they contact you about becoming a member? They could just go to vermontdance.org and right on the homepage, just scroll down. And at the bottom, it's all the different levels. We have an artist member at $6 a month. We have a patron level at $9 a month. And we have a partner level at $12 a month. And they each give you a little bit different stuff for where you fit in that group. Oh, which is wonderful. Yeah. That's great. So if you're interested, please go to the website and join the alliance because it's going to be wonderful for you. It's going to open up a lot of horizons. So I wanted to ask, too, really quickly, is interesting hearing about the advocacy component. So what are you guys thinking about doing as far as advocacy? I don't know yet. All right. It's something that we started talking about last year and with the amount of events that we put on. And since I have my board, but it's just me, one woman show, a lot of the administration stuff and the event planning and the grant writing pulls my focus. And so that's why we were sort of like, let's clear away and figure out where to put some more effort into. The job is part-time. And when I looked at, I'm a mother of four. And when I looked at my time, I said, well, that's all the time that I have. I can put in a few extra hours, but I really can't create hours in a day as much as I really want to add an extra one. Since this mother of two, yes, it's a real thing. Exactly. So I think that once we get past writing the annual report and a few more things, I'm going to really look into. I had a conversation with John Clacky last year about what to do for advocacy and how to show up. And I think I'm going to reach out to him again. And John's a huge resource. For those of you who are not aware, John was the executive director of the Flynn for many years and has a background in dance from San Francisco. That was John's entire life. So I know a big part of his heart is about advocating for dance in Vermont. Exactly. And now he's a representative from Shinton County. So that's super helpful. Yeah, I know. And I'm a big huge proponent. Also the sweetest person on earth. Did you hear that, John? Anyways. And I think that reaching out to people who know what to do rather than trying to make up the wheel again is super important. And making sure the supports are there, because I don't think, you know, it's interesting. I was talking to somebody this morning and saying that I was interviewing you. And they were like, well, when you think about Vermont and the contextuality of the small towns around the state, almost every small town has a studio. Yeah. So it's funny. We have libraries. Yep, yep, exactly. And you have like a little dance studio. And whoever's running that is a dancer who is enriching your community and bringing dance to your community, which is a value-added community component. Yes. And it boggles the mind how many of those studios are literally in towns across Vermont. Yeah. I mean, places you never would think that they actually have a dance studio. Yeah, we've just started making a list of all these dance studios, because we have some of the Marma members, you know, and then some of them aren't. And so like, come and join us, you know. Come and join this alliance and promote your studio through us. And then there's so much sharing that could happen. You know, they could rent out space to the other members. They could partner with us on a workshop or a project they're thinking about. Like, I want to be the muscle for people. I want to be the person writing the business-sponsored letters and like the grants for people. Like, I want to be able to be that for dance, for dancers. And again, it's the sum of its parts. So it's interesting to think that there are these studios in almost every small town of Vermont, and they're out there. And if they can network with each other, then all of a sudden, people have rehearsal space. They have, you know, it's amazing how they can fill in together and then make things stronger. Definitely. Definitely, rather than just living on your little island, like, to make those bridges. Vermont has a lot of islands. Yes, yes. And MC is the bridge builder, very, very, very important. So there's a couple of events coming up this year that I wanted to talk about. So there's, and I'm don't know, I'm probably butchering this. Nachmo? Yep, yep, yes. You got it. It's kind of like nachos. The National Choreography Month. And so can you tell us a little bit more, what is National Choreography Month and when is it? Great. It is in January. And it is kind of like a version of Nanorimo, you know, the National Writing Month. And the organization Nachmo is based in, I think, New York, could be wrong, but they send out a prompt every day in January. And you get this prompt, either you can look on an Instagram, you can get it in your inbox, you can get it anyway. And they just say like 20 seconds, you know, make up 20 seconds using a light, or make up 20 seconds with just your feet, or just your fingers. Or like come up with a, find a corner of your room and do a slow movement, then change it. It's just all sorts of different stuff. And they encourage you to do this, you know, every day. And then you have something, maybe, at the end of that month. If you want to, you create a dance. So it's almost like an online workshop that builds on itself. Yeah, yeah, it's really great. And for me, like I can only speak personally, I've seen a lot of stuff, is I actually got involved in Nachmo by participating. And then I ran it the next year. But the light thing really captured me. And so, you know, it was like the 10th prompt and I'm playing with Christmas lights in my basement. And then I wound up just like, now it's my forever. I'm just, I'm like the third year of like, thinking about Christmas lights and lighting and everything. And it's really that month has like spurred two and almost three performances of my own. Wow. And so Vermont participates, VDA participates in it, Vermont representation by hosting workshops and little talks and a group, a Nachmo group. And we kind of guide everyone through the process. And then if you would like to, right now it's an on totally online thing, you can submit your film. And then we put it together as a kind of little compilation and we use it as a fundraiser, sell tickets. And then, you know, you send it to all your family and friends and you get a little moment of your choreography being shown. That's great. And it builds it for you too. So it kind of gives you guide rails to like kind of like experiments you would come up with. Yeah, yeah, you don't have to come in with an idea at first you can be a completely blank slate and just, you know. It's so much fun and just follow along. Yeah, yeah. So and that's in January. And so will the Vermont Dance Alliance have that on the website if people want more information? Yes, yes. So that's another thing in January. If you guys wanna follow along, create your own choreography. You will also find that on the Vermont Dance Alliance website vermontdance.org, which is very exciting. Another thing I really wanted to talk to you about too is I know you guys every year do an online auction. Yes. Can you tell us a little bit more about the online auction? Yeah, it's definitely like the non-profit spread butter, you know, I think it's a mutually beneficial fundraiser where you're giving money, you're getting something and the businesses are getting some, you know, basically at some advertising for low cost. And that happens in the spring and we're always looking for more businesses to give. So that's another thing too. Yeah. If you have a business out there and you wanna help support the Vermont Dance Alliance you think dance is important, please reach out to MC and let her know if you guys are willing to sponsor something for the online auction. Yeah, yeah, we're at infoadvermontdance.org. Which is great. Yeah. And so you'll take any, like restaurants, I'm talking to you. Yeah, restaurants. Retail, come on. Exactly, services, massage services, we love massages. Yeah, anything. Yeah, we have, you know, goods too, you know, little things, but gift certificates are really great and everybody loves those. Yeah, yeah. That's a wonderful thing. Yeah. That's super exciting. And so that's in the spring. Yes. Okay. And is that your biggest fundraiser throughout the year? Yeah, it is. It makes sense. Yeah, it really is. It's one of those options, actually, I know. But also in the spring, you do a symposium. Yeah, we're gonna bring it back. We didn't do it last year. And, you know, we're really relatively new. So bringing it back, I mean, like we've done it once. Is it a pandemic? Yes, exactly. Monica Satterley did it in November 2020 and I participated in it and it was wonderful and it was all online. And this year, we're hoping to have it in person. You know, the question is where? We were talking about those islands, which island are we gonna host it on? And also, are we gonna do a hybrid? Are we gonna make sure that people who can't make it or people who are out of the state even can come and join? And we're still in the process of planning it but we want to have dance classes. We wanna have, you know, a small performance. We want to have experts in their field. So dance therapy, dance, physical therapy for dancers. You know, dance on film is always a big hot one to do. Yeah, and we're still in the planning process. The Hopkins Center is gonna be partnering with us, which is exciting. Oh, that's wonderful. That's very exciting. It's a big deal. And that's interesting. I mean, not to kind of go off the rails a little bit, but you know, dance therapy and physical therapy, it's a real thing. I know through years of Pilates, but like people don't realize how therapeutic dance really is. Moving your body, feeling music through your body is a very healing and wonderful thing and we don't take advantage of that as much as we probably should. No, I teach a movement for Parkinson's class and my favorite story is when I taught in Philadelphia this lovely man would come in and exhibiting all the symptoms of Parkinson's, big old cane and then every class he'd walk out of there and we'd be like, you forgot your cane and just like walked out. And I think that's like a huge, like that's like an extreme example. There needs to be more health funding for dance. Exactly. Did I mention? Crime partnership. Exactly, I mean, and so I think it's healing for all of us, yeah. So everybody, thank you so much. MC Juliana, thank you so much for all the work you do for dance and in the state of Vermont. Again, if anybody wants to find out more information, join the cause, register your studio, just find out more about dance, maybe move your own body. Go to vermontdance.org, sign up, get excited. Dance is vital to our state and thank you for bringing it to everyone. MC, I really appreciate it. Thank you guys so much. Have a great month and I'll see you right back here in a month. I did it myself again. Thank you guys so much, take care.