We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Joanna Stone a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Joanna, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Are you able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen?

During my career I have had many paths which enabled me to earn a full time living from my creative work. Currently I am the founder and creator of a barre fitness method and instructor training that has allowed me to earn a steady income in between dance and acting projects. Barre Vida is a fitness method with a foundation in many dance concepts so I have been able to teach and do body conditioning as part of my income which keeps me injury free and ready for any physical movement I find in my performance and rehearsal schedule. Prior to creating Barre Vida I was hired as a full time dance company member for a company in Mexico City named, Contradanza. I had a salary with them, though I supplemented my income by doing commercial, print, and brand modeling. I have always taught dance, barre, yoga, or some movement form since I started to pursue this path in high school. My recommendation to those starting in this path is to find a job doing what you do best, that uses your creative skills. For example I also have done stilt walking shows, danced at theme parks, and hosted kids shows. These were not what I set out to do professionally but they were jobs that used my creative talents and that taught me so much about performance so that when I did get the opportunity to work in some of my dream positions I was ready. I feel fulfilled in making a living from my creative work and my best advice would be allow the path to not always look like the dream you set out for it to be, and one day you might realize you are actually living that dream.

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 distinctly remember the summer before I entered my final year of middle school at Pershing Middle School, a Fine Arts Magnet School. I would put on music in my room and stretch for as long as I could every day and then head to the theater to rehearse for a play. I started to influence my friends to stretch, workout, and eat healthier foods. In both dance and theater we did a lot of improvisation and comedy. That summer was the start of my career. It was also around this time I realized I had dyslexia, a different way of thinking that has enabled me to think outside the box which I think has helped me in this artistic and business career.

My first professional dance job came from a call back when I was fresh out of college. I didn’t get the role but I had the opportunity in the call back to work directly with the artistic director. I spoke with her and said I wanted to do a free internship with the company if possible because I felt connected to the work. That internship turned into a paid position which led me to be hired for other dance companies, touring productions, and stage shows. I learned there isn’t always a straight line to getting work. For example my fist acting job on a Comedy Central Show that lead me to get into the acting union came from an audition in which I didn’t’ get the part, but was later hired for another part because the director remembered me.

My current dance research and work now is with Dance to the People. We are working on making art without waste that promotes the valuing of life and demands justice for Indigenous peoples, people of color, and poor and working classes of the world, as for the stopping of the annihilation of natural systems. I started this research in 2010 and it wasn’t that well received, though now it is pertinent. I think even now people look at us oddly when we say we dance with trash. Our last performance we made all of the costumes, scenery, and props out of re-purposed items and it was a success.

When I started Barre Vida I knew exactly how to teach Barre to People and how to format and teach an instructor training course in-person and online from what I had learned in graduate school. Even though I got my MA in dance, I learned so much pedagogy and course building that I could apply that to really anything. As a business owner I offer instructors who certify with me and students who train with me an opportunity to learn about body functionality in depth. I have a gift which started young that allows me to understand the body somatically and through years of practice I have figured out how to pass on that knowledge to people. That is one of the things I am most proud about of what I have created and I think people who come to me to workout or get certified learn something new every session and that is what keeps them coming back.

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

I had to unlearn persistence. There are times when it is good in a career, it is how I got my first job, but there are times when it needs to be channeled into the creative process. I had to learn (still am) to linger more in the details of my path and process. When I first started I wanted to jump from school to dream job to making money. I had so many dream jobs and so many ideas of what I would do when I made that money that I kept persisting on getting them and I failed. Even in my first professional job as a dancer in a internationally known dance company I was jumping for other jobs I thought would make me more money or more famous. I was touring in Cuba and South America and I realized I wasn’t present with the work I was doing at the moment, the creative work I had wanted to do since I was 12, because I wanted more. I started to investigate the dance piece I was performing deeper on a creative level, instead of spending my time writing to agents and looking up auditions. My creative work got better and people noticed. I learned that I will not accomplish every single one of my dream jobs or dreams and that is okay, but to enjoy when I am doing what I set out to do in my life in the first place.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

A society best supports artists and creatives when the society itself values having a creative ecosystem. When a society believes that art is an important part of itself. That comes from creative education and the ability to recognize how creativity influences us all. Artists need financial support because art is not part of a capitalist agenda. I think societies that recognize that help artists the most.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.jostonemovement.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jostonemovement/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCc4h7syGDCV1lCCRrn3bH4w
• Other: Other websites: www.barrevida.org and https://www.dancetothepeople.org/

Image Credits
Main Photo; Shani Hadjian