For art lovers in St. Louis, the region offers a vibrant array of opportunities to find our creative fix. Now we can boast one more incredible organization. In 2011, St. Louis Dance Theatre, the region’s first professional jazz dance company, will kick off its inaugural season, introducing audiences of all ages to dance and offering local dancers a new stage on which to showcase their talents.

Like many dancers from St. Louis, Morgan Cameron trained for years to perfect her craft but eventually joined dance companies in other cities due to limited opportunities in the St. Louis region. After returning to St. Louis, Cameron started a family and a business with her husband and founded a part-time dance company. However, beginning in 2011, StLDT will allow her and her fellow dancers to fulfill their dreams full time right here in the region.

I asked Cameron via e-mail about what makes StLDT different and how dance has impacted her life.

1. Why is StLDT so important to St. Louis? What is it going to offer the region that other organizations do not?

When you look at other cities the size of St. Louis and smaller, most have numerous professional-level dance companies, with various forms of dance represented, from ballet to flamenco.  Because of this, the residents of these cities are exposed to great dance and have their lives enriched by it on a regular basis. 

While St. Louis has a marvelous symphony, great museums, fabulous theater companies and other quality arts organizations, it is behind these other cities when it comes to professional-level dance. It's true that there are a number of dance companies in the area that perform from time to time, and there are definitely talented dance artists within them, but there are really only two companies in the region, one ballet and one modern dance company, that perform regularly and provide salaries and work for their dancers throughout most of the year.  When dancers are unable to take classes and rehearse together daily, it's much more challenging to produce high-quality dance that possesses the potential to move and inspire audiences.

StLDT will be the region's first professional jazz dance company and will hopefully contribute to elevating the quality and quantity of dance in this city, for the benefit of audiences and aspiring dancers.

2. How do you balance work, dance and your family life?

Balancing dance and my family life hasn't been easy in the past, especially over this last year.  I gave birth to my second child, my son Clyve, in September of 2009, so I spent last year raising a newborn, managing a business, teaching dance part time, taking classes when I could, rehearsing for a couple small shows, and trying to keep our household in order, which also includes our daughter, Isabelle, who was just starting elementary school. 

Our family doesn't have a lot of extra money for child care, so Clyve just came with me to any classes or rehearsals I could squeeze in.  When he became more mobile and couldn't just be plunked down in a bouncy seat, I started giving myself class so he could wander around and play without bothering anyone else.  He actually does better in a dance studio while I take class than he does at our piano shop while I'm trying to do office work. 

Sometimes I wonder if I'm cheating him and my daughter out of time that we could be spending doing something else together, but then I think about how much release dancing gives me and how much more patient and present and loving I can be when I'm able to get in “me time.”  I still make sure that I set aside special time for each of them, and my husband, every day. 
 
When my contract at StLDT starts, my quality time with my family should actually increase.  Right now, I do so much squeezing in of classes and rehearsals at odd times because I am at our business much of the day, six days a week.  In 2011, I will be stepping away from our business for the most part and just dancing all day. 

3. Why is dance so important to you personally?

I'm not a writer, I'm not a visual artist, I'm not a musician, but I want to communicate with the world and express who I am, and dance is how I do that.  Dance is also my outlet.  It has sustained me through tough times and given me something to look forward to when I didn't feel there was much else. 

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Opportunities for the Dancers in All of Us

In addition to performing for audiences in 2011, StLDT currently offers a variety of dance classes, including jazz, ballet and belly dance, at its downtown studio for both professionals and those stepping  into their dance shoes for the first time.

For parents who feel there’s no room in their busy lives for dance, StLDT provides a convenient schedule to help adults get fit and possibly uncover a hidden passion for dance. Said Cameron, “When you start something new, you never know where it will lead.  I have a former adult dance student who started taking ballet with me and found that he loved dancing so much that it has become a major part of his life and has led to him performing on stage with professional dancers and even traveling the world seeing dance and meeting dancers and other lovers of dance.  It has opened up a world to him that he never knew existed and literally changed his life!”

To check out the upcoming StLDT schedule, meet Cameron and the other dancers, and find a dance class for you, visit www.stldancetheatre.org.

By Nicole Pledge, Lifestyle Blogger for Smart Parenting