Dance Careers: Unfiltered

When you think of dance in LA, you think commercial. But there is actually a pretty large community of contemporary dance companies in LA doing amazing things. Today’s episode is a Career Spotlight episode and we are highlighting contemporary dance company experiences in Los Angeles. My guests, Michaela Moore and Nicole Hagen, both have a plethora of experience not only as dancers in LA, but also serving in different roles like rehearsal director, community liaisons and marketing. We chat about:

• the lengthy process of auditioning
• figuring out the mutual relationship between company and company member
• the best advice for those looking to be a part of a dance company community

Michaela Moore @__mickmouz was born and raised in Colorado Springs, CO. Her dance education has come from Robin’s Danceworks, The Ann Lacy School of American Dance and Arts Management program at OCU, and the BFA dance program at the University of Colorado-Boulder. In 2017 she joined AGT’s “The Silhouette’s” for a 4 month International tour, dancing across Germany and performing in 75+ shows.
Michaela is a member and rehearsal director for GEOMETRY dance company, under the direction of Mackenzie Martin, with whom she has performed at MASHUP’s International Women’s Day Dance Festival, Fiestalonia Sea Sun Festival, Capezio’s A.C.E. Awards, Donovan Wood’s music video “She Waits For Me To Come Back Down” & Duomo’s music video “What About Us”, in collaboration with Netflix’s Bridgerton.
Aside from performing, her love for teaching and choreographing is expansive and she has choreographed/produced award winning pieces for the past 12 years. You can find her teaching at GENESIS STUDIOS every Tues. Michaela truly believes in the art of dance as a way to globally communicate through movement.
Nicole Hagen @nicole_hagen is a LA-based dancer, educator, and choreographer, who has performed works by Elías Aguirre, Gianna Burright, Genevieve Carson, Roderick George, Tess Hewlett, Madison Hicks, Iker Karrera, Kate Hutter Mason, Waeli Wang, and WHYTEBERG. Nicole was a company member with L.A. Contemporary Dance Company and MashUp Contemporary Dance Company, which provided her the opportunity to perform at iconic venues including LA Dance Project, The Odyssey Theatre, ODC Theater, The Architecture & Design Museum, and Highways Performance Space. Commercially, Nicole's credits include Paramore, NBC’s This Is Us, Banks, and Netflix’s Dear White People.
Choreographically, Nicole’s work has been seen on a multitude of stages throughout SoCal such as AMDA’s Cosmo Theater, LA Dance Project, LA Theater Center, IAF, Bootleg Theater, Sophia B. Clarke Theater at Mt. San Antonio College, McCallum Theatre, Musco Center for the Arts and Waltmar Theater at Chapman University, and ACDA's Screen Dance Festival. She has been a two-time finalist at the McCallum Choreography festival.
Nicole is on faculty at Loyola Marymount University (LMU) and AMDA College. She holds a BFA in Dance Performance, with a minor in Business Administration from Chapman University

Hey y'all! I'm Justine, the voice behind the DC:U pod and MNTR MGMT. After 15+ years in the industry as a choreographer, dancer, producer, educator and more, I'm now working closely with dance artists on professional development, business skills and digital enhancement. Curious? Book a free 1:1 Career Call. You can also help support the podcast! Subscribe and receive exclusive member benefits --> Pod Producer/Supporter
Connect with me on Insta @mntr.mgmt

If you’ve ever asked yourself “What do I post??” or “How Often do I post??”, then this is the episode for you. Today’s guest, Amy Leisner, after working for Discount Dance, started her own company, A18 Media, a social media agency for dance studios and professionals.
We chat allll the things:

• Repurposing
• Bio basics
• Story highlights
• Pinned posts
• hashtags
• and everything in between

I love this chat because it is SO pertinent for dancers right now who are wondering the who, what when and how for posting on social media. we also chat about some of the roadblocks to posting, and why you should use each post as an experiment.
Dance studio content prompts: http://www.a18media.com/cp
Instagram: https://instagram.com/a18media
Website: https://a18media.com
Amy Leisner is the founder of A18 Media - an online marketing agency for the dance industry. She grew up dancing at studios in her small town in Wisconsin and went on to earn her degree in dance from Columbia College Chicago
She then became a traveling preschool dance teacher in Southern California. It was during this role that she discovered the power of great marketing to fill up her classes, and so she went back to school and earned her degree in Advertising.
After spending time working for marketing agencies throughout Southern California for clients both in and out of the dance industry, she built a successful freelance copywriting business, which has evolved into a full-service marketing agency for the dance world. Amy loves helping dance business owners feel confident and excited about their marketing by demystifying it and co-creating simple strategies that lead to big results!

Hey y'all! I'm Justine, the voice behind the DC:U pod and MNTR MGMT. After 15+ years in the industry as a choreographer, dancer, producer, educator and more, I'm now working closely with dance artists on professional development, business skills and digital enhancement. Curious? Book a free 1:1 Career Call. You can also help support the podcast! Subscribe and receive exclusive member benefits --> Pod Producer/Supporter
Connect with me on Insta @mntr.mgmt

Self-care isn't selfish. It's paramount. Charity Baroni joins me on the pod to discuss her prolific career as a dancer in LA (2 Taylor tours?!, Selena Gomez, Katy Perry, etc), and why recognizing we are all human drove her career further along than anything else. We also dive in to the realities of being a tour dancer, what it was like watching the ERA'S tour as her former dancer, and the mental well-being of professional dancers.
IG @Charitybaroni
Charitybaroni.com
Charity Baroni was born and raised in Nashville, Tennessee. She moved to Los Angeles in 2008 and hustled hard, built relationships and thrived in the entertainment industry as a professional background dancer for almost a decade! She performed and toured with artists such as Selena Gomez and Taylor Swift all over the world, and also performed with artists such as Beyoncé and Maluma in music videos, live performances with Flo Rida, danced on the Grammys with Katy Perry and more. She performed on multiple live shows and awards shows: Billboard music awards, MTV movie awards, X Factor, CMT awards, Radio Disney Awards, Cowboys Thanksgiving half time show, SYTYCD Australia, and Buzzfeed to name a few.
She learned and experienced a tremendous amount during her time based in LA and journeyed back home to Nashville to share her professional experiences in her choreography, teaching and mentoring other dancers, as well as performance coaching artists. Her choreography credits include working with Lainey Wilson, Maren Morris, Ryan Hurd, Sara Evans, Mitchell Tenpenny, Lukas Nelson, Zayn and more. She has also worked with and taught the USA women’s gymnastics national and Olympic team as their dance teacher at national team camps and has choreographed several of the gymnast’s floor routines.
She recently pursued mental health and education and received her BA in Counseling and is a licensed and certified counselor. Through all of her experiences, she has learned how to hold onto truth, boldness, light and fun and reminds people to focus on the importance of mental and emotional health. She does this especially when sharing her passion of dance and life in the entertainment industry with others!

Hey y'all! I'm Justine, the voice behind the DC:U pod and MNTR MGMT. After 15+ years in the industry as a choreographer, dancer, producer, educator and more, I'm now working closely with dance artists on professional development, business skills and digital enhancement. Curious? Book a free 1:1 Career Call. You can also help support the podcast! Subscribe and receive exclusive member benefits --> Pod Producer/Supporter
Connect with me on Insta @mntr.mgmt

Todays guest is the lovely caitlin sloan, AKA @thebrainyballerina. You may have seen her popping up on your explore page every now and then with her poignant posts about professional ballerinas, but she also gets real candid with me today on the pod. We chat about the stigma behind shifting focus away from performing in your dance career, juggling self care, and how to get past the ick in social media.
IG @thebrainyballerina
WebsiteHi there! 👋🏻 I’m Caitlin, a Dance Educator and Career Mentor based in Madison, WI.

I received my Bachelor of Arts in Dance from Grand Valley State University and Graduate Certificate in Nonprofit Management from the University of Missouri.

I danced professionally for nine years with companies including Ballet Tucson and Missouri Contemporary Ballet (now Mareck Dance). I have taught at schools all over the Midwest, most notably serving as Director of The School of Missouri Contemporary Ballet and Youth Company Director for Central Indiana Dance Ensemble. I am currently on faculty at the School of Madison Ballet.

I founded The Brainy Ballerina® in 2019, a virtual resource providing support and guidance for aspiring ballet dancers. I have worked with dozens of dancers all over the U.S. to give them the skills and confidence they need to successfully pursue professional dance careers.

Hey y'all! I'm Justine, the voice behind the DC:U pod and MNTR MGMT. After 15+ years in the industry as a choreographer, dancer, producer, educator and more, I'm now working closely with dance artists on professional development, business skills and digital enhancement. Curious? Book a free 1:1 Career Call. You can also help support the podcast! Subscribe and receive exclusive member benefits --> Pod Producer/Supporter
Connect with me on Insta @mntr.mgmt

I’m thrilled to bring you a conversation I had with my former agent, Janee Lynch, who is now a senior business executive for SAG/AFTRA in LA. Because of her vast experience in the entertainment industry, I had to pick her brain on her time as an agent as well as the pivot to working for the union and being a full time advocate for dancers’ rights. I spent a really formative time of my career with Janee as my rep and it’s very special to me that she was able to take the time to drop her knowledge and insight with us. It’s SUCH an important episode in so many ways, and you’ll learn:

• how to get your agent to GET YOU
• when to join the union, including eligibility and advantages
• How the union takes care of its members

@janeecheree
A Southern California native, Janée Cherée Lynch began working in entertainment at the age of two (2) years old as a model, actress, dancer and singer. Over the years, her resume included several national print and commercial campaigns, television shows, music videos and educational programs. She attended California State University Long Beach, obtaining degrees in Communications and Dance in 2007, graduating Summa Cum Laude. Shortly after graduation, Janée began working on the business side of entertainment, getting her foot in the door at Clear Talent Group, starting out as an assistant and quickly becoming a Dance Agent, representing some of today’s top Creative Directors, Choreographers and Dancers. In 2011, Janée branched out on her own, becoming the Director of The S Agency, a boutique talent agency, focusing on representation of Dancers, Singers and Actors. In 2016, Janée merged The S Agency, with Eighteentwentysix, a tour production company, as Director of their agency
division. During her time as an agent, Janée also judged on the dance and cheer circuit, and was a frequent guest speaker at numerous conventions and intensives, providing today’s talent with the perspective of being both a performer and an agent, and educating on the ins and outs of entertainment contracts. With a passion for performer rights, in 2017, Janée joined Screen Actors Guild - American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) as a Senior Business Representative in Music. Janée’s focus is contract education and enforcement for Singers and Dancers for TV, Film, New Media and Music Video contracts. Janée is also a staff liaison for Singers and Dancers, working on numerous events and educational forums for SAG-AFTRA members, as well as a contributor to the negotiation teams, working on Singer and Dancer contract provisions.

Hey y'all! I'm Justine, the voice behind the DC:U pod and MNTR MGMT. After 15+ years in the industry as a choreographer, dancer, producer, educator and more, I'm now working closely with dance artists on professional development, business skills and digital enhancement. Curious? Book a free 1:1 Career Call. You can also help support the podcast! Subscribe and receive exclusive member benefits --> Pod Producer/Supporter
Connect with me on Insta @mntr.mgmt