Got a case of the Mondays?

Well, this will surely lift your spirits! Another installment of musings from Master of Fine Arts holder, Heather Nabors! Enjoy!

 Heather Nabors is the Assistant Director of Dance Programs at Rice University. Heather relocated to Houston this summer from North Carolina. Heather has been a teacher and freelance choreographer in NC since 2005. She served as an adjunct faculty member at Catawba College, Greensboro College, Elon University, and UNCG. In 2012, Heather founded ArtsMash, a collaborative arts concert in NC. Her work has been presented at ArtsMash, The Saturday Series, UNCG Dance Department Alumni Concert, Greensboro Fringe Festival and the American Dance Festival’s Acts to Follow. She has choreographed over 14 musicals in NC for community theaters and local high schools including Rent, Oklahoma! ,The King & I, Legally Blonde, Little Shop of Horrors, and Children of Eden. Heather received her MFA in Choreography from The University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

Stop, Collaborate, and Listen

I am an only child. When I was seven, my favorite t-shirt exclaimed “I’m the boss” in 70’s iron on fabulousness. I did not enjoy sharing my toys with my younger cousin. I did not appreciate being told what to do by anyone. I would create countless dances in my bedroom and force my mother to watch every last one of them.  It took a little while, but eventually I grew out of this self-centered phase (well, for the most part) and over the years, I have learned how to work quite well with others.

One of the best lessons I have learned from my work in musical theater is the art of collaboration. As a choreographer, I am used to being in charge. It is my dance and I make the final decisions. (“I’m the boss,” remember?) When I am choreographing a musical, artistically, I am the low woman on the totem pole. I have been fortunate to work with good directors who respect my opinion, but I know that if my choreography interferes with singing or action on the stage, I have to rework it. The music and dialogue are set, so I have to be flexible. I have a healthy ego, but I know when to leave it at the door. It is a trait that has served me well and has allowed me to continue working.

My graduate school did not have a combined performing arts department and I don’t remember any department co-mingling or collaboration. The only non-dancers I saw enter the dance building were the pianists who accompanied our technique classes. One semester, I ventured out a bit and took an art class with a fellow dancer. We were the only non-art majors in the class and our classmates regularly spent class staring at us as if we belonged to some exotic species of bird. Unfortunately, I never considered venturing to the music building and asking a music student to write a piece for me. When I first experienced the intense collaborative process of putting together a musical, I realized what I had been missing. I had always enjoyed the feedback process offered in choreography class, but I had never worked with anyone outside my field. It was refreshing to get a non-dance perspective on things and bounce ideas off other artists with radically different backgrounds.

A few years ago, I met a lovely musician and asked him to create a score for me. This collaboration was one of the most exciting and frustrating experiences of my life. I am a task driven list maker. My partner for this collaborative process was a little more laid back. I had to develop a new set of skills that allowed for freedom on both ends and didn’t squash his or my artistic voice. I also had to loosen the reins and put faith in his ability to create something that enhanced my work and expressed his point of view.  I videotaped my rehearsals and we viewed them together. I tweaked my work to fit his notes and he found the nuances in my movements and used that to fuel his writing. The piece turned out well and I loved this collaboration so much that I am marrying the composer. (I can now have free music whenever I want it! Yay!)

As choreographers, we can become isolated and lose our sense of community and collaboration. It is easy to get tunnel vision and miss connections with other artists that can inform and reinvigorate our work. Furthermore, I have seen many choreographers lose jobs and burn bridges because they never learned to play well with others. Use your graduate school experience to form partnerships outside the dance community. Collaborate with painters, musicians, filmmakers, and mimes. Take in all the art on your campus and let that fuel your creativity. It is great to be surrounded by a supportive group of dancers, but there is much to be learned from artists in other disciplines as well.

Another Monday! Another start to a great, full week!

Another  MFA Monday featuring….

(drum rrrroll please)

            Heather Nabors!

Heather Nabors is the Assistant Director of Dance Programs at Rice University. Heather relocated to Houston this summer from North Carolina. Heather has been a teacher and freelance choreographer in NC since 2005. She served as an adjunct faculty member at Catawba College, Greensboro College, Elon University, and UNCG. In 2012, Heather founded ArtsMash, a collaborative arts concert in NC. Her work has been presented at ArtsMash, The Saturday Series, UNCG Dance Department Alumni Concert, Greensboro Fringe Festival and the American Dance Festival’s Acts to Follow. She has choreographed over 14 musicals in NC for community theaters and local high schools including Rent, Oklahoma! ,The King & I, Legally Blonde, Little Shop of Horrors, and Children of Eden. Heather received her MFA in Choreography from The University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

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The “MFA Monday” series features the musings of local Master of Fine Arts holders. Enjoy their thoughts on the process of attaining an MFA!

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I Love Jazz Hands

I love modern dance. It is wonderful and fulfilling, but it doesn’t always pay the bills. Prior to moving to Houston, I spent nearly a decade making a living teaching jazz, tap, ballet, modern, and dance for musical theater, and choreographing musicals for community theater.

As a young studio kid, I was a full fledged Jazzerina. I spent my early years studying everything from jazz and tap to ballet and acrobatics. In college, I discovered modern dance and though it felt a little foreign in my body at first, I soon warmed to this new way of moving and developed a deep love and appreciation for modern dance. I was drawn to graduate school by my love of choreography. Once there, I was fully immersed in modern dance up to my eyeballs and I loved every minute of it.

While my graduate program did not openly discourage studying other forms of dance, it was not exactly encouraged either and the pickings were slim. There were a limited number of jazz classes (though none were taught by faculty) and tap was only offered because one of the graduate TAs had the ability to teach the class. Though it was never explicitly stated as such, the message was implicit: modern dance was “high art” while other dance forms were seen as mere entertainment; suitable for commercial pursuits but not worthy of serious study.

In graduate school, I imagined I would land a full-time teaching job within a year of graduating and soon after, would start my own modern dance company. (Totally realistic, right?) However, when I began looking for teaching jobs, I found modern dance jobs scarce and I quickly realized that in my area of North Carolina, the need was for teachers who could teach jazz in theater departments. The reality of life quickly hit me in the face and I dusted off my old jazz shoes in pursuit of a modified career path. I started teaching jazz to beginning theater students and to my surprise and delight, it was awesome! I found them open to everything and completely receptive. They didn’t see dance as commercial vs. artistic, they just wanted to move and learn the basic skills to help them succeed in a musical theater audition. Around the same time, a friend and colleague mentioned that her husband was looking for a choreographer for a musical he was directing and wanted to know if I would be interested. I instantly accepted the opportunity and so began my entrance into choreographing musical theater.

During these intense jazz and musical theater years, I learned many things about myself. I really love jazz. I love musical theater. I love working with beginners who have no formal training. And my love of these things in no way negates my love of modern dance. I don’t care what kind of dance I am teaching – I just want to move!

In graduate school, you may have visions of what you think your career will be like, but these plans may go slightly askew. Be open to every opportunity and don’t be afraid to dive into the “commercial” side of dance. Don’t limit yourself to only working in dance departments and reject teaching classes that are not a level 4 modern technique class. My working colleagues in North Carolina earn their bread and butter from being amazing tap, jazz, and hip hop instructors. In my new position at Rice, I get the best of both worlds. I get to work and train wonderful students who love modern dance. I also get to teach beginning level jazz dancers, some of whom come to me not knowing a jazz square from a square root.

I love dance in all shapes and sizes. It challenges me, awakes my senses and inspires me. I love the shift of weight, curve of the spine and release I get from modern dance. I also love a good jazz hand and tapping out the shim sham on a wood floor.  As a student, I felt the need to choose art or entertainment. As an adult, I know it’s all just dance and it rocks.