We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Angeline Carrillo a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Angeline thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Risk taking is something we’re really interested in and we’d love to hear the story of a risk you’ve taken.
I think the best way to answer this question is through my testimony as a business owner and for my company. Starting my studio was by far the biggest risk I have ever taken, and through that one decision has lead to a million more risks and rewards along the journey. I will be brief, but here is the story of how and why I took the risk, and what it ultimately lead to:
My name is Angeline Carrillo. When I was 17, I had a dream that stemmed from a few different places: *loving movement and testing the bodies limitations, *loving Jesus, *a desire to share those loves with others, *and being really, really stubborn. I had a vision of a place that had open doors and open arms for people to discover who they are and what they can do-and be accepted as they are.
This crazy girl with virtually no dance experience took a figurative and literal leap of faith and decided to major in dance. My poor parents found this out on senior night when they were walking their little cheerleader/saxophone player across the football field and heard the announcer say, “Angeline Fletcher will be going to Texas State University to major in Dance” and looked at me with a mixture of shock, horror and confusion.
The funny thing is, at the time, I was in love with Jesus… but I had yet to learn what having a relationship with Him was like. Somehow, He lead me anyways, and it was loud enough that I made crazy, bold decisions. I went to college not knowing much about dance, or about what it would bring me. I spent four years working my butt off trying to absorb as much as I could about anything I could get my hands on. My freshmen year, I sat in my Dance Orientation class as everyone in the room was introducing themselves, saying how long they had been dancing and why they chose to major in it. Each of them had been dancing since practically since they left the womb, and had some grand clear vision of why they were there. Somehow even then, as terrified as I was to say I had never really danced before, I knew in my heart that I wanted to open some sort of place where faith and dance could coexist, and was bold enough to say it out loud.
My senior year, I thought I had it all figured out. I was going to do what God had planned for me, but I was going to do it my way…the safe way. I was going to get a teaching degree, have a full time job teaching dance at a school with benefits and stability, and start a ministry on the side. It was all set and I was confident. I went to my student teaching and a little girl came into the office weeping over the loss of her little sister. I knew exactly how that felt having lost my little sister at a very young age for almost the same reason. Had I not known this kid was a believer, I would have been at a loss for words. I cried with her and prayed with her, and when she walked out of the office, I understood with perfect clarity that public school and my “safe” plan was not where I needed to be.
God placed all the right people in my path. The teacher I was working under in student teaching was a believer and told me she had a friend I needed to meet… Mr. Ted.
**Let me preface this particular point in the story with a disclaimer that my friend was diagnosed with a terminal lung disease over a year ago and he has recently passed away. He forever changed my life, and encouraged me to take a risk on myself and those around me.
Mr. Ted was the coolest person you could have ever met. He knew everything there was to know about dance and dancers. Knew the Bible like he knew the back of his hand. Danced for 20 years all over the world, giving up chances to be a professional baseball and football player for a dream. He danced with Joffrey ballet and has worked with so many beautiful dancers in his life.
My cooperating teacher gave me his number, and next thing I knew, I was at his house. At the time, he was scheduled for a hip replacement, and was unable to get out of bed. We talked for about two hours, cried and prayed. Turns out, he had a dream, too. He wanted to help someone start a ministry. He had been thinking about it for a long time, and he knew exactly how he would do it. In fact, he had tried encouraging 3 others before me to take the steps to make it happen. He gave me a list of things to do and sent me on my way.
The next week, I knocked on his door and told him I was done. This continued all the way until I graduated from college, in May of 2016. By September of that same year, I took a couple of my friends to a senior center called Brookdale Senior Living in San Marcos for our first performance. I called Mr. Ted excited about it. He answered from a Brookdale in Houston after his hip replacement in excited tears. Ironically, that is also the day I broke my back, and was filled with doubts about what I was doing from every possible direction including loved ones reminding me it was a terrible idea… but that’s a different story. In short, even with all of that adversity coming at me, God made a way.
From there, the company grew. What started out as a tiny performance with 3 dancers has grown to work with hundreds of dancers, performing hundreds of times, and changing lives in unexpected ways.
So many people have asked me how I got to be where I am, how this company became what it is. The only answer I can ever provide is God. It has nothing to do with me. He lead me to Texas State to learn from the most incredible professors who still show up and support me and my company in ways I can never repay. He lead me to my husband who taught me as a living example and through encouragement to be brave enough to take risks, believe that I was capable of more and not worry about doing things the conventional way. When I was lacking support in certain areas, God provided it abundantly in others. He helped me to move beyond the doubts of myself and those around me. He lead me to friends and dancers who were willing to take a chance and do something new, willing to pour their hearts into this collective dream and turn it into something special. He lead me to a million places and people, opening doors that I never expected. It would take a lifetime to list out all of the people and places He provided to make this dream a reality.
Eventually, He lead me to a church willing to open their doors so I could start a studio, and most recently abruptly close those doors so that I would swallow my pride and seek where He needed us to be next. Recently we renovated a rental space into a studio and my husband and I actually live in a studio apartment connected to it.
God’s plans are so much more beautiful than anything I could dream, and even as I resist them, begging for a safer, more comfortable way- He consistently pulls me out of my comfort zone and whispers, “I have something new, just trust me.” He also lead me to a dear friend, Brittany Mckinney who wanted to do the same thing all over again in another city, and is in her second year of leading our second branch in Dallas. And one of my favorite ways…He lead me to Mr. Ted, who believed in me more than I have ever believed in myself, and taught me what it means to live out the quote, “God doesn’t call the equipped, He equips the called.”
This company—where it is, how it started, and how far it has come has nothing to do with me… and that is why it has worked. I simply fell in love with Jesus and am learning every single day how to let Him take the lead. There are a million different stories about how many different ways He has opened the doors for me, and now for Brittany… but it is all a manifestation of being loved well by Jesus as He surrounded me with the right people at the right times, trusting through the fears and doubts, and letting the desire to share that incredible love with others be my guide.
I feel like we often have this expectation that a testimony is supposed to be tied off in this pretty little success bow, but I don’t believe that leaves room for Jesus. Our testimony as a company is far from over. I still struggle every single day with self doubt, frustration, fear of the future and overwhelming insecurities…but that is how you know how big our God is. He knows each of us well enough to know how to encourage us, guide us forward and provide for us in the ways we need, and the timing we need, even if that looks completely different than how we would want or choose for ourselves… and the beautiful thing is, it’s always better and He never fails. We don’t have to be good enough and we don’t need all of the right answers. We are enough because God is enough.
I will continue to take new risks in new ways every single day. I think in some ways we all do. The truth is, if we don’t take risks, we don’t leave room to grow, and without growth there can be no true success. I believe risks come in all shapes and sizes, but the beauty is, even if you fail you get the satisfaction of knowing you tried, and sometimes that’s worth more than all the success in the world.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I spoke enough about myself and how we got started in the previous question, but I can certainly elaborate on what we do and who we are, as well as why it matters. A dance studio may at first glance appear too common, as though it would not actually fill any essential needs within a community. On some level, that may be true. Dance studios are relatively common in most areas. You can walk into a room and hear from a handful of people who took dance classes as a child. A lot of studios do start and succeed, maybe even without help or support from grant money. So why is this particular studio different, and worth hearing about or reading about? Everyone likes to think that what they came up with is unique, something you can’t go anywhere to get. After having spent time in the dance world, and worked with dancers in this business for 6 years, I can say with confidence that what we provide is unlike anything in our area, or surrounding areas for that matter. You can go to any studio and get a basic dance class, learn technique, and even enjoy your experience; but I believe dancers and the dance community deserve better than that. This form of artistic expression is beautifully unique to each and every dancer that is brave enough to step into it, and at Psalm 149 dance, we believe that expression is worthy of being celebrated.
Personally, I believe the atmosphere that is generated in the dance world- one of body shaming, gossip/mean spirits, lack of support, and an overly-competitive environment, particularly in small town local competition based studios and school teams, has gone on for far too long. There are far too many dancers out there being told that they are not good enough to do the sport they love. What is unique about my studio, our mission work, and our vision is that we believe that every single person, regardless of race, gender, nationality, size, shape, abilities, etc., should have access to this art for. A place where they can grow technically as dancers, but also have freedom of expression away from competition. Dance is a from of artistic expression that can be a representation of your culture, and we believe it can also be a representation of your faith. We teach dancers how to honor and respect their bodies, grow to love their unique movement and architecture, and dance for something more than just a ribbon, trophy, or approval.
Beyond the difference in how we approach education and community within our studio/company, dance alone is worthy of investing in and pursuing. Medically reviewed research has shown that dance can go beyond the fundamentals of a hobby and is a great form of exercise. Not only does dancing engage all of your muscles and limbs, it also gets your heart pumping for great cardiovascular exercise. The style definitely impacts the intensity of the exercise you are getting, but essentially any form of dance can be a workout. It boosts cardiovascular health, builds up core strength, promotes flexibility, can aid in weight loss, is good for bone health, and some studies have even shown that dancing may help prevent memory loss. This is why our facility also implements fitness classes, workout programs, and personal training. We want to provide health, safety, and the ability to feel accomplished in your own skin to be accessible and affordable to everyone in our community.
Beyond the physical aspect, dance is also an important tool emotionally, physically, and spiritually. Studies have shown that dance can boost mental health, improve self-confidence, relieve stress, keep social connections, improve overall mood, lower anxiety, help memory, and other very important cognitive benefits. At Psalm 149 dance, we have learned that dance is an important tool and a beautiful form of worship. Biblically speaking, a King named David, described as “a man after God’s own heart” did something amazing at the peak of his worship- he danced. He was not worried about looking kingly, composed or above it all. He was not professionally trained, and probably looked crazy- but there was something so overwhelming inside of him in response to knowing how deeply loved he was by his creator, that he could not help but dance. We want to teach dancers how to move with technique, safely and properly- but to also go beyond that and find their own joy in movement.
Beyond dance and fitness, it is my intention to ultimately create a well-rounded center for the arts in my community. I have plans for allowing local artist to have an affordable place to display and sell their work, plans to incorporate theatre and acting, as well as a desire to further my partnership with my husband’s company, Overflow which would implement more artistic elements including design, screen printing, worship, audio engineering, music, and more.
To expand on what we do here, we have two companies: Psalm 149 Dance Company ages 19+; and the Younger Generation Company, ages 13-18. These companies travel to various dance studios, Churches, Conferences, workshops, and wherever else God opens the doors to show our audiences how to worship through dance, how to share what God has done for your life, and what God has done for us. Since the companies opened in 2016, we have seen and at this point worked with hundreds of different dancers and performed between two to five hundred times. We are passionate about what we do and love to share it wherever God opens the doors!
Our studio offers faith inspired courses that teach students how to use art as worship as well as improve and hone their dance practice. We offer a variety of dance courses for registration that will help students improve their technique and enhance their knowledge of individual styles, as well as drop-in classes for those in the mood to just dance! We also offer a variety of fitness classes and Centering Prayer inspired yoga that will allow participants to find inner peace and deeper connection to the Holy Spirit, while they find healing, strength, balance, flexibility, and relaxation through the age-old practice of yoga! Last, but not least, we also offer personal training services to help you achieve all your fitness goals!
This is a unique studio experience and fitness family that you cannot find elsewhere. We care about you as a person, love you as you are, and want to give you the tools to be successful in dance and fitness in the ways you need.
Where do you think you get most of your clients from?
I have tried it all. Advertising with and without a budget, social media, door to door advertising, hanging flyers, posting ads in News Papers, you name it. What I have found that has been the most effective and rewarding way to grow and find new clients has been by word of mouth. I have always been told that a person does not buy what you sell, the invest in who you are and how you conduct your business. The people who find us, love what we do. Yes, they get quality education, fitness, resources and growth as dancers; but what they come back for is the love. We pride ourselves on loving well, and when people step into our studio they can feel that. We have gained more dancers, clients, and audience members by simply loving the people we work with, than we ever had through typical marketing. The people that come share their experiences with others and the cycle continues from there. We have parents who share our information at local meetings and events, kids that bring friends, adults that bring family, you name it. We only grow by how we treat our clients and how they share that with those around them.
How do you keep your team’s morale high?
I think the thing that has been most effective for me is learning about their personalities, how they work, how they communicate and being considerate in how those things clash or compliment my own. I have used tools like the love language quiz, the 16 personalities test, etc. to help myself and my employees understand themselves, each other, and me better. I truly care about the people in my company, employment, and studio and I do my best to show them that they matter. Their opinions, their voice, their person all matter deeply to me and I want to celebrate who they are and what they have to offer in whatever ways I have available to me.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.psalm149dance.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/psalm149danceministries/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Psalm149Dance
- Youtube: UCZr9ydcpHb2cW3DB-S7M3_A
Image Credits
Rachel Evelyn Photography, Natalie Shipman, Lauren Pedraza, Brandilynn Ross, and Giordi Carrillo