I’m so excited to introduce you to my guest on the podcast today, my good friend, fellow dance educator and UNCSA alumnus as well as physical comedian, actor, writer, musician, super-talented and wonderful guy Matthew Donnell! This conversation is just packed with nuggets of wisdom for dancers and all creative people.
We talk about the highs and lows of being a multi-passionate jack-of-all-trades, his highlights as a professional ballet dancer, how to fall down and get back up again, the importance of révérence, character dance, and learning a variety of techniques in addition to ballet training, developing character in dancers and human beings, serving our communities, helping dancers find their voice, and we assert that all people are valuable!
"Two things in my career that I will loudly proclaim that I am proud of and one is that fall, and the other one is the successful unionization of Kansas City Ballet and making the call to get that ball rolling because ... we ensured that they would have a great contract for the history of that company and that helped those dancers start learning to have a voice for themselves ... Managers and directors want to have the best product. Dancers want to have the best product, where's the disconnect? If you can put a mechanism in place that allows both parties to work together, that's so important ... I try to teach students that, too. That's why my class doesn't go over. I end my class on time ... I want the dancers to learn that their time is valuable." - Matthew Donnell
Thanks again for listening, definitely check out Matthew’s website matthewdonnell.com as well as his current teaching with the Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet. For my highlights from the conversation, links discussed, and more free resources, come visit me on the blog at ablythecoach.com
Blythe C. Stephens, MFA, Bliss Catalyst, she/they
A Blythe Coach: helping multi-passionate creatives dance through their difficulties
& take leaps of faith into fulfillment through coaching, yoga, & dance education
