Filling the Connection Gap: How Dancer for Dancer is Linking “Pals Around the World”

By Madison Huizinga, DWC Blog Editor

*Samantha Parr, founder of Dancer for Dancer*

The COVID-19 pandemic isn’t the only phenomenon that’s caused the dance community to be a bit disjointed. A culture of competition and perfectionism has permeated the dance world, causing many dancers to see others as rivals rather than peers. To help alleviate the challenges that this type of environment can bring about, 17-year-old Samantha Parr has created the organization Dancer for Dancer to unite the dance community through open discussions, mental health support, and mentorship. Through Dancer for Dancer’s Pal Program and with the help of Pal Program coordinators like DWC staff member Emma Neilson, the organization is providing connection and support to dancers worldwide.

Samantha began dancing when she was three years old and started to get involved more seriously with intensives and competitions around age 12. She’s attended intensives with Joffrey Ballet School, Pacific Northwest Ballet, and Ballet West and competed at the Youth America Grand Prix several times. At her studio in the Bay Area, Samantha has performed several lead roles in original ballets, as well as Clara in The Nutcracker. “I think the thing that keeps me dancing is my ability to express myself. At the end of long days, it’s nice to have something that I can work hard at. It keeps me grounded in a way and helps me focus a little bit,” Samantha shares. “I hope to continue to dance throughout college and beyond because I love it so much.”

The idea for Dancer for Dancer first came to Samantha in May of 2020, months into the COVID-19 pandemic. “I felt very disconnected from my ballet community in my studio,” she recalls. She remembers struggling to stay mentally healthy and falling out of love with dance a bit, due to the difficulty of learning at home. Samantha figured she must not be alone in these hardships she was facing, so she decided to schedule a Zoom call to connect with some dancers.

Samantha’s first Zoom call, with around 14 dancers, was towards the end of June. During the first several meetings, the dancers held discussions about racial inequality in the dance industry and later began talking about mental health among dancers. The Zoom calls began with dancers in Samantha’s area, but soon grew as others heard about them and as she informed friends from dance intensives she had attended. Little did she know one upcoming Zoom call would make her idea take extreme flight.

Around January 2021, Samantha’s friend and Dancer for Dancer Ambassador Eleanor Green reached out to Casimere Jollette of the Netflix series “Tiny Pretty Things” to attend one of the Zoom calls. She said yes! Samantha and her cohorts organized a giant Q&A with Casimere and about 300 dancers from all over the world attended. “That’s kind of where it began to take off,” Samantha says.

Currently, Dancer for Dancer is extending its programming beyond Zoom calls through the Pal Program. “In ballet, there’s this unhealthy competition that I had experienced a lot when I was younger and it always left me feeling weird,” Samantha says. “I could have benefited from having an older dancer being my support system...That’s the inspiration for the Pal Program.”

Dancer for Dancer’s Pal Program contains two subsets: the D4D Mentorship Program and Pals Around the World. The D4D Mentorship Program consists of seven mentors from around the world aged 16-19. The mentors have been trained in giving mental health support by a professional and connect with younger dancers to give advice and provide guidance for wherever they are in their dance journey. The D4D Mentorship Program is open to younger dancers of all backgrounds who are interested in connecting with an older dancer, click here to sign up.

The Pals Around the World program is a global, virtual program in which any dancer of any age and from any dance background is paired with another dancer to correspond virtually for four weeks. Dancers can connect through Zoom, FaceTime, social media, texting, or any other medium they see fit. People are welcome to reapply for the program once the four weeks are up to connect with a new dancer. Samantha shares that Pals Around the World is a “chill” and “laid back” program where dancers have the opportunity to make friends with other dancers around the world. Participants also get “special access to D4D Pal Program workshops on mental health, self-improvement, and peer support.”

Pointe Shoe Fitter and DWC Blog Contributor Emma Neilson has recently gotten involved with Dancer for Dancer as a Pal Program Coordinator. Emma began dancing around age 13 to supplement her figure skating training. After training in ballet, jazz, modern, lyrical, and contemporary throughout high school, Emma graduated with her AA in Psychology from Shoreline Community College and then decided to take a gap year. Starting in 2019, she began training year-round at the International Ballet Academy in Bellevue, Washington where she is today.

Emma came across Dancer for Dancer while scrolling through her Instagram feed. The organization’s account popped up as a recommended account for her to follow. After looking more into Dancer for Dancer and its offerings, Emma was amazed by its mission. She noticed that Dancer for Dancer was looking for coordinators and decided to apply. Shortly after that, Emma was interviewed and joined the team. As one of the Pal Program Coordinators, Emma’s role with Dancer for Dancer involves her collaborating with local studios in the greater Seattle area to see if they’re interested in participating in the Pal Program. There are numerous positions open at Dancer for Dancer, such as a Tik Tok Coordinator, Discord Moderator, and more, click here for more information.

Moving forward, the biggest change Samantha hopes to see in the dance world is for all body types to be accepted. She hopes that the “ballet body” ideal is eliminated and that companies start catering to dancers of all body sizes. “How your body looks doesn’t determine how your body dances and I feel like if the dance community is accepting of all body types, it would put less pressure on girls and boys to feel as if they have to fit into a certain mold that maybe they weren’t born like,” Samantha shares.

Additionally, Emma says that she hopes to see dance become more accessible to a wider range of people in the near future, specifically people of all ages, abilities, and socioeconomic classes. “Your age and what you think your physical capabilities are shouldn’t impact your ability to participate in something that gives you joy,” Emma states.

Dancer for Dancer was born to fill a gap that Samantha was witnessing in the dance realm. She was able to create a vessel to connect dancers in meaningful ways, something that was sorely missing and needed in the dance industry. For others who are interested in creating their own organizations, Samantha’s biggest piece of advice is for people to give themselves time to let their ideas sit with them. “Think about what the people are wanting or what you feel like they need more of,” she says. Once you figure out what your community is lacking, you can start finding ways to provide what is needed and build from there.

Dancer for Dancer's website