We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Kirsten Hodge-Reid. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Kirsten below.
Alright, Kirsten thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Are you happy as a creative professional? Do you sometimes wonder what it would be like to work for someone else?
A straightforward answer would be yes. My entire life I have considered myself a creative. Since the age of 3, I have been heavily involved in the arts, especially dance. As I was growing up I just knew that I would be in the dance world! That was the dream. Towards the end of high school, I began to really digest the life of a creative in the real world. There isn’t a cookie cutter path and I knew there might be times of instability. Would I be ready to take that on at the young age of 18? I scared myself out of going to college for dance and instead got my degree in elementary school teaching. Being a teacher for the past 5 years has been a joy and I definately get to use a lot of my creative juices within my position. However, when I stopped dancing after high school and went through my college career, I felt a major void. Being a creative is who you are. It doesn’t just disappear. Once graduated from college (2019), I knew I had to find a dance community within my hometown. Now being back in dance consistently, my creative joy has returned. With the newfound passion of dance as an adult, I’m not afraid to take on anything to evolve my dance journey. Although I love my position as a teacher, I know it won’t be a long term career for me. The path I have taken was meant for me. With my younger fears of instability as a creative, I now have a balance of the two. My “9-5 job” is helping build the life for me to become a creative full time. It can be a struggle at times working a 9-5, then going home or to the studio to work on my craft. However, when I think about the end goal, my childhood dream, its to be within the dance world full time. Being a creative is unique because the path to becoming one is creative within itself. Embracing the journey has really been a joy.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I first got started in dance like any other, my mama put me in dance classes at the age of 3. From there I continued throughout high school, attending the dance program for middle school (Noe) and a youth performing arts school for high school (YPAS). I’ve studied various genres such as ballet, tap, jazz, contemporary, hip-hop, modern, pointe and most recently heels. In college, I helped choreograph step shows and was the creative director for our homecoming fashion shows. After graduating from college and returning to my hometown, I began my training in dance again, specifically hip hop and heels dancing which is a newer style becoming very popular within the industry. I’ve trained in Louisville, Nashville, Atlanta and LA. Traveling is a major tip if you are a creative! You get the opportunity to network with other creatives and learn different gems and styles from people all over. After about 2 years of training, I began hosting my own classes within the community. Shortly after this happened, an adult studio (CrestView Studios) opened that provided classes of various styles for adults. I of course applied to be a heels instructor and now currently teach beginner heels classes at CrestView weekly! I also provide privates for anyone wanting to deepen their dance journey! As my brand of dance builds, I have other creatives reaching out to collaborate on projects which is super exciting because it puts me closer to becoming a creative full time.
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
The most rewarding aspect of being a creative is realizing that my craft is not meant for me but for others. Dance of course brings me so much joy. It’s a release, it’s fun, brings calmess, etc. All of those are for my benefit. The real reward comes from seeing the joy that my creativeness brings to others! Each week I choreograph a combo for class. Every class, the students bring the combo to life! Seeing it on them and the joy they get from class ignites me! I also LOVE to perform. The real reward though, is when people come to me afterwards and thank me for touching them with my performance.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
After graduating college, I wanted to find a dance community in my hometown. Fortunately, I found one for adult dancers! At the end of 2021, the studio had to shut down. Our community was now without a dance space for adults. Although dancers in our community hosted pop up classes in various spaces, classes weren’t consistent and neither were spaces. 2022 came and I was determined to start hosting classes at least once a month to provide a space for the community. This is where I ran into various obstacles. The biggest issue was finding a space. We have many dance studios in our city however, majority were not available for renting space. Other studios weren’t responding to emails or answering calls. Would it be this hard to provide a space for dancers who just want to create? I tried numerous studios throughout the city and was on the verge of giving up when it hit me on the head. I failed to reach out to my old studio! The studio that began my dance training! How on earth did I not start there? Reaching out to the owner, she was quick with responding and was able to get me booked within minutes. From then on I was able to host my classes there before CrestView Studios opened where I now have consistent weekly classes!
Contact Info:
- Instagram: kirsten_jade_
- Facebook: Kirsten Hodge-Reid
- Twitter: kirsten_jade_
Image Credits
Tadeo Reyes