We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Casey Noblett. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Casey below.

Hi Casey , thanks for joining us today. What’s the kindest thing anyone has ever done for you?

When I was 9 years old my mom, and also my dance teacher, took her entire studio to an open community dance class with her idol, Jacques d’Amboise. After that class he pulled me aside, complimented my dancing, and asked if I would be interested in performing in his residency show at DUKE that he was currently working on. The answer was of course yes and I think my mom was more excited than I was! After that show, Jacques invited my mom and I to come to New York City, train at his prestigious National Dance Institute summer program for 5 weeks and LIVE on the fifth floor of his upper west side brownstone for free! There was even a dance studio across from our bedroom. This led to many summers spent in the big city training and the beginning of my realization that dance can in fact become your career.
I was just a small girl from a small town and this famous and generous man took a chance on me and offered up his training and his home. This one act of kindness changed my path, my little brother’s (now a dancer and creative director in Los Angeles) and my mom’s life. As I move forward in my career, I am always trying to pay that forward and to look for those special dancers who just need a hand, an inspiration or a path to success.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I grew up in a very small town, Roxboro, NC, dancing at my mom’s studio. After being invited ( graciously and randomly) to train at the National Dance Institute in NYC with Jacques d’Amboise, my entire view of the dance industry changed. I saw that people can make a living doing what they love so I focused all my energy on those 5 weeks spent in the city each summer. I came back to NC each year and trained as hard as I could and to help, my mom would fly in teachers from NYC so that we could train with the best dancers in our field.

I danced in college and began teaching on the side while performing and traveling. I was always asked “Do you know a great tap teacher or do you know a fun musical theatre teacher?”, which I did. So to make it more official in 2001 I started N-House Productions and would do exactly what my mom had done. We focused on bringing in working professionals from all over the country to studios who may not have access to that level of talent, either financially or physically. I was able to bridge the gap between small town studios and big city dancers, as was our mission.

As we toured around the country we saw a need for an additional level of training for those 1 or 2 dancers in each studio that really wanted to have a go at this dance thing. As working professionals ourselves, we know how hard it is to make that transition but wanted to share what we know with the next generation. Thus the Commercial Dance Intensive was born in 2014!

CDI creates events that teach dancers of all ages how to be successful in the dance industry. We of course focus on all the fun classes like hip-hop, musical theatre, heels, dancing on camera, etc but to take it a step further we cover the business side of dance as well. Dancers learn how to read contracts, do their taxes, get an agent, take a headshot, revamp their social media, etc. As my friend and faculty Adam Cates, author of “The Business of Show” says, “You are your own small business and you have to treat your dance career as such!”

The Commercial Dance Intensive has been so incredible to build and continue to expand as we learn what young dancers need to be successful as our industry is ever changing, as we saw in COVID. We built myindustryprofile.com so that dancers have a super easy and affordable way to build their websites. N-House Productions became CDI On Location and is still going strong in studios all over the US. We are launching Industry EDGE Commercial Training Program this summer which is an online way for dancers to connect and train with us throughout the year from home or their college dorms.

Every year we produce a full music video with an artist so that our dancers get to be on set and also build their resume before they are actually working in the industry. My brother Cassidy Noblett is our creative director and has 8 music videos under his belt through CDI. It is so fun to be able to collaborate with him and also for the two of us to build something we are so passionate about.

Our path forward is a year round training facility and if it’s on the vision board it will happen! I was so fortunate to be given the opportunities I was as a kid from rural NC. Now, I get to give back to all those young dancers who just want to be told “you got this” and then shown how they actually CAN have it all.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

One of my favorite events is the Commercial Dance Intensive parent seminar which not only includes our faculty, but my dad. He is a dentist. A “civilian” as we like to refer to non-dancers. His insight on being a dad to two dancers and knowing absolutely nothing about dance and being along for the ride is always so insightful. One of my favorite things that he helps parents understand about the arts is this…

When non-artists graduate from college they apply for jobs that they are not always qualified or trained to do. They aren’t expected to be an expert and the company will teach them how to do the job they were hired for. They are also in the running with other entry level applicants and not seasoned CEO’s or directors.

Cut to dancers. When we graduate college and start auditioning, we are expected to know EVERYTHING and be experts in every aspect of the job we are applying for. No one will teach us how to tap or sing or dance with a partner once hired. We have to already be proficient in ALL of it. And the other applicants? Some are in fact newbies like us but we are also competing against our idols and famous dancers and those who have been in the business for years and have page long resumes! There is not a separate audition for those of us who just moved to the big city.

I just think this breakdown is such an awesome way to truly understand what we as dancers go through on a daily basis and to give us a little credit! Imagine having to go to 50 job interviews and being told no thanks. Welcome to the life of a dancer!

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

For me, the book “The Secret” changed everything. If you haven’t read it, it’s the Law of Attraction 101. In addition to making me a more positive person in general, it forced me to put out into the universe and clarify exactly what I wanted out of my business and my career. Even if you don’t meditate (you should!) or want to physically build a vision board and stare at it for hours, this book forced me to define my goals, list them, identify them, and put all my focus and energy into them. I think as founders we get so overwhelmed with all the ideas and goals and wishes and dreams that we end up with small efforts in too many places so we become stagnant.

After absorbing the true nature of these ideas and thinking, I was and am able to identify my big dreams and start to focus on the small steps that will lead me straight there.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.commercialdanceintensive.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/commercialdanceintensive/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@CommercialDanceIntensive/videos
• Other: www.myindustryprofile.com

Image Credits
Nick Isabella Photography, MK Cranford Photography