We recently connected with Elana Jacobs and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Elana thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What were some of the most unexpected problems you’ve faced in your career and how did you resolve those issues?

When I started my career as a choreographer/artistic director and Pilates instructor in 2011, it was very important for me to have balance between creating work and teaching Pilates. Having a steady flow of creative projects was vital for my sense of self. Productivity was defined by how many projects I created. I never considered that my idea of productivity would have to change drastically. Since becoming a mother, my life has become a balancing act of much more. I am no longer churning out as many dance performances per year. Between mothering two, owning a Pilates studio, and continuing to be the Artistic Director of a dance company, I have had to embrace my practice as interdisciplinary. If I try to hang onto that old version of success and trajectory, I end up feeling dissatisfied and not present in any of my jobs. On a good day, I am remembering that as I hold my son’s hand, the feeling and shape of it can inspire my work as a choreographer. As I am teaching clients in Pilates, I can bring in a sense of artful composition which provides clues for movement that is best for the body in front of me. I can remember the healing power of touch I’ve learned from being a teacher when I am soothing my daughter after she falls. In other words, I can allow for the fact that all my separate hats are not so separate at all. It is a beautiful and feminine/non-linear way to look at productivity. Strong and supple all at once. I would imagine that as I continue to age and life happens, I will continue to shapeshift and so will my definition of productivity and purpose.

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 am a Choreographer and Pilates Instructor living in New Orleans. Since 2011, I have served as the Artistic Director of performance company CabinFever. In addition to performances in traditional venues, CabinFever creates and produces site-specific works performed inside people’s homes and historical spaces inspired by memory and architecture. With CabinFever, I have created original performances in institutions, including The Marigny Opera House (New Orleans), On The Boards and Town Hall (Seattle), and Links Hall, Soho House and Hyde Park Arts Center (Chicago). Most notably, I was commissioned to create a performance throughout exhibit spaces at the Museum of Contemporary Art – Chicago as part of their Merce Cunningham exhibit titled “Common Time.”

In 2020, I founded The Subtle Grand, a place for body inclusive Pilates focusing on feminine life cycles. I reject the notion of a “beach body” and am more interested in the joy and labor of rediscovering and reclaiming our bodies over time. Certified through Romana’s Pilates at True Pilates NY in 2010, I have taught in Pilates Studios in New York, Seattle, Boston, Chicago, and New Orleans. During these sessions, I have witnessed first hand how this form of movement can be profoundly healing. In an effort to be an advocate for women’s bodies and health, in 2019, I began additional education in this field. My additional certifications include Pre and postnatal Pilates Specialist™, Support your Floor™ (pelvic floor), and The Center Method for Diastasis Recti Recovery™ through The Center for Women’s Fitness with Carolyne Anthony. My mentors include Debra Fernandez, Lori Coleman Brown, Teresa Shupe, Victoria Torrie-Cappan, Megan Del Prete, Chick Owens, & Eiric Orvid.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect of being an artist is being in a room with dancers and musicians, creating our own language, and moving toward a message that cannot be said with words. It’s a practice, but when I am able to carry that creativity, spaciousness and trust into my Pilates studio, the results are golden.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

I had to unlearn that there is one path to being an artist. I am continuing to learn that being an artist, for me, is mostly about keeping up a creative practice and refining my voice through my medium time and time again.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.elanajacobs.com
• Instagram: @cabinfeverliveart

Image Credits
Hillary Olsen
Christiana Botic
Joy Jacobs
Nathan Keay
Varvara Degtiarenko
Varvara Degtiarenko
Joy Jacobs