JOIN US IRL: www.instagram.com/wisemillennial
Tasha Blank, founder of "The Get Down", a conscious dance party, and her newest project "The Portal", sits down virtually to discuss the former Get Down (the best dance party in New York City), how the dance floor is a microcosm of life, her upbringing raised outside D.C. and Minneapolis growing up surrounded by music and creativity, the connection between dance and trauma healing, her own struggles with shyness, social anxiety, sadness, anger, and how dance allows to connect with your inner beauty, feeling judged, brave vs. safe when feeling aligned, her post covid pivot, burnout, and next steps with portal.
LEARN ABOUT THE GET DOWN: https://www.thegetdownnyc.com/
JOIN THE PORTAL: https://tashablank.mykajabi.com/tasha-blank
INSTA: @tashablank
INTERVIEW QUESTIONS:
- Briefly explain, what is The Get Down?
- This to me feels like a Millennial version of Studio 54. It is the coolest, most fun, eclectic dance party out there. To me, it is the archetypical Millennial community. At face value, it seems so simple, centered around dance. But it’s actually much deeper than that, and touches many social issues, in terms of inclusivity, stereotypes, gender, race, etc. Is that a fair statement?
- Tell me about your upbringing briefly. I know you attended NYU….did you grow up in New York City? How would you define your childhood?
- I know you’ve spoken previously about trauma, depression, eating disorders, feeling defeated. What advice can you share about trauma healing? Other than dancing as the cure.
- I want to talk about inclusivity…..But to go from the opposite approach, what has happened with society, where it feels like we can’t even express ourselves with words? We’ve become so polarized, so overly sensitive to anyone feeling marginalized, that the least controversial thing we can do is move our bodies….and even that might be politicized or labeled. Is dance the only safe way to express ourselves anymore?
- Covid has to be hardest thing for you….how has get down pivoted? So much of energy is about experiencing it with other people, feeding off their body movements. You lose that virtually.
- What are the barriers? What prevents people from signing up?
- Dancing often can be associated with drinking or drug use, festivals, burning man, etc. allowing us to free ourselves. but interestingly, you encourage the opposite, and promote sobriety at your events. I’m curious if you could shed light on this decision, and why that is such an important aspect?
- Competitors….daybreaker. What makes you different? What's the magic sauce that differentiates you?
- What is something you wish someone had told you five years ago, or you had told yourself, that you had to learn on your own, but would have made life so much easier had you known?
