Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Mia Klinger. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Mia , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?
I was actually born into an artistic family. My grandmother and my mother both taught dance so at 3 years old I was taking classes. Myself and two other siblings carry on our family’s legacy.
Mia , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
My maternal grandmother had a dance studio during the 1920’s and 1930’s. Women didn’t work when they got married so one of her students took it over while she raised her kids. My mother started her dance studio in 1953 and it was when ballet was becoming popular in America. She particularly studied George Balanchine and New York City Ballet while she had off teaching in the summers. She would travel to Saratoga Springs, NY which was NYCB’s summer home to watch warm-up class and rehearsals during the day then we watched performances every night. Her idea to start a youth ballet came from George Balanchine. In 1975 she started Cuyahoga Valley Youth Ballet dba Ballet Excel Ohio which became one of the first youth ballet’s in America. My mother, Nan, wanted to give her students real world experiences in dance. Each year the dancers work with different choreographers to create new ballets. She wanted to stay away from ballets that had already been done before like the Nutcracker and Swan Lake. We currently have a collection of over 60 ballets in our repertoire.
Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?
The arts and education in general in America have been dumbed down to the point that everyone wins a trophy and very little work reaps rewards. This is not preparing our students for the real world. One of the most important lessons I want all my dancers to learn is failure. They need to learn this and know they will survive failure and to not give up to get further in life. At the end of the day, dance is about life lessons and teaching kids how to be a survivor. If they become dancers, I am thrilled. If they don’t, I am still thrilled knowing that whatever they do the will be a professional from the experiences dance has taught them.
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
The best reward from being a dance teacher is seeing your dancers go on to bigger and brighter things in their future but still returning home to the dance studio just to say hi and give me a hug.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.klingerdance.com
- Instagram: @klingerdance
- Facebook: klingerdance.com
Image Credits
Jackie Zorich for the picture in front of art wall, girl with blue sky in background, and 2 dancers in a big jump Steve Allen for in class pictures