Finding My Version of Success in Dance
By Kelsey Wickman
Kelsey Wickman began dancing at the age of four starting with ballet and tap, then expanding to include jazz, contemporary, lyrical and modern. She refined her ballet training while attending State Street Ballet's summer intensive. Kelsey then continued her dancing while enrolled at Gonzaga University. During college, she participated in academic dance classes, the student-led dance club Boundless, oversaw the dance program's master class program, danced and choreographed for Student Choreography Concerts, performed with the Gonzaga University Dance Team, attended ACDFA and earned a minor in Dance.
Post-college, Kelsey relocated to Salt Lake City where she was able to continue her training at Millennium Dance Complex SLC from a multitude of talented teachers in a variety of styles. In 2015, Kelsey relocated back to Seattle and joined modern company, Version Excursion Dance, who she danced with for 2.5 years. Kelsey is now in her second season with Syncopation Dance Project, a group of passionate adult-age dancers who come together to share their talents. She also participates in the annual artÉmotion adult ballet intensive under the direction of Allison DeBona where each summer she is inspired by dancers of all levels who continue to keep dance a part of their lives even with life, family, work and other obligations. Kelsey's ultimate goal is to still be dancing way into old age.
Outside of dance, Kelsey is the Media Relations Manager at Rad Power Bikes.
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If you had a chance to read my “get to know me” blog, you know I have been dancing since I was 5 and now at almost 30 dance is still a huge passion I continue to pursue. Growing up I participated in competitions, I auditioned for and attended a ballet intensive as a sophomore in high school , went the route of adding on dance team in high school and college, sprinkled in some musical theatre experience in productions of A Scarlet Pimpernel and A Chorus Line, minored in dance at Gonzaga University and more. Basically, when I wasn’t doing school work, I was dancing. Yet, at a fairly young age I understood my time dancing to be limited. This understanding went so far that I clearly remember my last Spring Dance Concert in college wrapping up and I started sobbing, like full on stage makeup running down my face sobbing, because I thought I would never perform again. Sure, I might be able continue to take class as I moved my way into the “real world,” but a future that included dance in any serious form was always out of the picture. But, why?
Now, as someone who has managed to keep dance such a pillar of my life despite the challenges of a career, family, and other responsibilities, I have often asked myself what drove that limited view of dance success and how can I be an example for others in a different view of what I learned as success.
As a young dancer the version of success that was shown to me included full time, professional dancers who were taller, leaner and more talented than me. I started playing that comparison game, the one you can’t actually win at, early on and counted myself out before I even tried. I really had no idea there was a world out there with dancers who were of a broad range in ages, body types, skill levels and more who found their own versions of dance accomplishments worth celebrating.
As someone just now figuring this out, I figured I’d share a few ways I’ve redefined success in dance for myself.
1. You don’t have to make dance your career to keep it up. The range of classes, performance opportunities, companies, and continuing education for dancers as adults is only growing. At one point I remember the only adult class at my studio was a beginning tap class that some of the dance moms took while their kids were in competition company rehearsals. Now, there are studios and programs dedicated to building adult dancers as artists, taking them seriously at all levels, which I personally think is so beautiful!
2. Be open to dance finding its way into your life in unexpected ways. Even though you may choose a path that isn’t 9-5 dancing, it doesn’t mean dance might not find you. When I was in my second year post-college working at a public relations agency in Salt Lake City I got pulled into one of the partners’ offices because they wanted me on a new client. The client was a multichannel YouTube network dedicated to dance and they knew I could speak the same language as the client who was partnering with Nigel Lythgoe at the time (yes, I nerded out a lot when I landed this interview for Nigel, our client and the LA Times and got to be on the call). It was such a fun way for career and dance to cross paths in a totally unexpected way and I got to see career and dance success combined.
3. Start finding ways to support a broad spectrum of dance. This can look like a lot of different things and there is not a right (or wrong) way to do this. Watching more dance was one thing that really opened up my eyes to the amount of opportunities that do exist. I started seeing a broader spectrum of successful dancers in a wider variety of styles. I also think this is one way social media is so powerful, it gives us easier access to discovering dance and dancers that make us feel like doing a little more dancing ourselves. That’s how I discovered my current dance family, Syncopation Dance Project. After watching and talking to people involved, I knew it was a dance space for me. You never know what’s out there until you do some looking.
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There are more opportunities than ever to take our common love for dance and continue it in so many really rewarding ways. Dance doesn’t have to be your professional career or something you get paid to do to be an important part of your life or to feel like you have found success with it. Showing up, continuing to put in work and loving the movement is success enough, but there are also so many other ways to achieve some really great things when it comes to your dancing. If you love it, keep on working at it.