Getting to Know DWC Ambassador Dominique See
By Nicole Barrett, DWC Blog Writer
Photo by Catlyn Griswell | click below to shop the look!
Advocating for mental health around the dance community is something very important to one of our new DWC ambassadors, Dominique See. Starting at the age of three, Dominique has always been involved in the dance world and has strived to achieve the acceptance everyone deserves. Read on to learn more about Dominique’s dance journey and work at All That Dance and Genki Pilates!
Dominique is from a small town in southern Washington State called White Salmon where she started dancing at the age of three. She signed up for dance classes with her friend and ultimately, she just never stopped dancing. She was involved in the performance companies at her studio where she shared that she learned she wanted to dance forever. She majored in dance at the University of Washington and graduated in 2017. While dancing at UW, she was the President of the Dance Student Association and worked with the Chamber Dance Company. Dominique wanted to be as involved as she could in the dance community at UW and that is what she did.
Post-graduation, Dominique went into the pilates teacher training program to become a pilates instructor and was dancing here and there in different places around the Seattle area. While dancing in Seattle, she was involved in the Tint Dance Festival and danced with Pat Graney for about two and half years during this time. Dominique then began performing with MALACARNE and did a virtual zoom performance in 2021. She then began teaching at All That Dance in Seattle and has been involved in the dance company there.
Growing up, Dominique was always drawn to ballet more than any other style. “I was very much drawn to ballet with the structure and the precision and the thought that ‘this is what you do when you do it,’” Dominique shares. She describes a sense of comfort when dancing in a style like this where she can tell her body exactly what she wants to do and how to do it and she felt that it was a grounding point for her.
Photo by Catlyn Griswell | click below to shop the look!
As she got older, she started shifting over to more modern dance instead of ballet. Dominique mentions that the physical aspects of the dance world and the stereotypical body types that were required for ballet dance as an adult were something that made her switch over to modern dance instead. “What I love most about dance is you have all the control in it, but you also have control in how much you let go,” Dominique shares.
When asked about her biggest challenge in the dance world, Dominique shares that it was her inability to say no. She mentions that this realization occurred for her when she became more aware that you don’t have to do the things that hurt. She also mentions this need to please the choreographer and feel appreciated when they show attention to you, which is something very common in the dance world. Because of this, she wants other dancers to know that no matter what “you are your own body, your own dancer, your own artist, and you are your own person.” She wants dancers to be mindful of their own health and safety and know when to say no.
One of the things that Dominique is looking forward to about being an ambassador is that it can allow her to become more of an advocate for mental health in the dance world. Having gone through mental health challenges herself, she wants to be able to raise awareness for similar issues that are very common in the dance world. At All That Dance where Dominique teaches, there is a “Love Your Body Week” that has been picked up by numerous other studios around the country where time is taken out of dance classes during the week to discuss loving your body. Dominique shares that this week is something that has helped her want to lift up the voices of people struggling with these issues and advocate for more awareness.
Dominique just got finished with a five-hour duration show at the Georgetown Steam Plant that she did with Malacarne. “[This performance] was epic, it was amazing and so fulfilling,” Dominique shares about the show. She is looking forward to the end-of-year recital for All That Dance where she gets to watch all the kids that she teaches perform.
Photo by Catlyn Griswell | click below to shop the look!
Outside of teaching at All That Dance, Dominique is a pilates instructor. She was trained by Lori Coleman Brown in downtown Seattle through a very intensive training process that is very deeply integrated with how to look into the body. She mentions that dancers could utilize pilates greatly to help feel safe and secure in their muscles when performing. Because of this, Dominique opened up her own pilates studio Genki Pilates for more artists to have access to these utilities. This summer, Dominique hopes to put in more time to Genki Pilates to help serve the whole dance community.
Moving forward in the dance world, Dominique would like to see more studios pick up the ideas of Love Your Body Week as they have at All That Dance. She wants everyone in the dance community to feel that they are enough and that their body doesn’t limit what they can and can’t do. Seeing that incorporated into the dance world makes Dominique very hopeful for the future of dancers and she hopes to see these changes happen in more places.
We are so excited to have Dominique as one of our new ambassadors!
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