We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Leigh Purtill. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Leigh below.
Alright, Leigh thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Do you wish you had started sooner?
I first started teaching dance while I was in college, studying pedagogy and technique. I knew early on that, as much as I enjoyed performing, I really loved teaching more. My mother says it’s because I like to boss people around. Ha! Seriously, though, I have been drawn to teaching from a young age, especially movement. My first job – ever, at sixteen years old – was a cheerleading coach for a summer football league for young children. It was a lot of fun and I was good at explaining how to do things.
The summer after college, I taught dance at an arts camp in Massachusetts. Returning home to Connecticut, I auditioned/interviewed for a teaching job in my hometown. After four years teaching teens, I went back to graduate school in Boston. For the next ten years, I taught intermittently, usually subbing at studios where I was studying myself. But then, after leaving a full-time job in California, I needed work and a friend suggested I go back to subbing dance classes. With her recommendation, I subbed and was hired not long after. It was intended to be a temporary, part-time job so I could pursue other creative outlets.
Here I am, eighteen years later with a full-time teaching job (my own business) and a nonprofit ballet company that I founded in 2017. I wonder where I would be now if I hadn’t taken that ten year break. Would I have achieved what I have now ten years ago? Dance is tough because it’s physical effort. Anything can happen and you need to cherish every day you are healthy and able to be in the studio. I do wish I had those ten years back.
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 have danced since I was a very young girl, starting with ballet, tap and jazz when I was four years old. My mother placed me in classes because it was something she said she always wished she could have done. At the time, dance classes were the purview of girls; we didn’t have access to the kinds of extracurricular activities that girls do today. As my parents moved frequently, the local dance studio was one of the first things we located in the new town. Because of this, I had exposure to multiple styles of ballet so now, when someone asks me what style I teach, I reply “American.” It’s a blend of French, Cecchetti, Royal Academy of Dance, and Vaganova. As a dancer, all that moving was not great: I didn’t have a home studio where I studied year after year. Usually that can solidify your technique and you build a network of friends and teachers who can assist you as you progress.
As a teacher, however, all this can be very helpful. Because I teach adults, mostly dancers who take this as a serious hobby, my experience reflects a lot of what they are going through or have gone through. With me, they have a teacher who understands the passion they share for ballet but who recognizes the limitations they face as adults with families and careers. I also am sympathetic to students who are brand new as adults and who, like my mom, always wanted to dance as a child but for whatever reason, did not have the opportunity. I can give them the space to learn technique, to enjoy a community of like-minded people, and for many, stage performances.
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
Like everyone else in the world, my business (teaching dance and running my nonprofit ballet company) stopped during the pandemic. While many people could switch to remote work, particularly those who work in offices, dance teachers couldn’t do anything like that. How do you teach when you’re not in the same room? How do you correct students when you can’t show them in person? You aren’t there to touch them and move their limbs. It’s suddenly a two-dimensional class!
Fortunately for me, I have always wanted to offer classes online. It was something I felt could be useful for dancers all over the country (the world!) who didn’t have access to classes locally or who had limits to being in a class. It was the ultimate way to make ballet for everyone! My company’s mission statement.
The day after the city shut down, I was on my YouTube, live-streaming class. I did that every single day for 6 months and then every Friday morning for another six months. I learned so much by just jumping in with two feet and when Zoom was available, I started teaching classes where I could actually see my students. It was very educational and to this day, I still teach students via Zoom all over the country. I even have a remote arm of my ballet company!
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
My creative life has been varied since I was in high school writing very bad poetry. I was an abstract painter for years; my portfolio for my graduate school application was slides of my work. I attended film school and expressed myself through stories on film. I am a writer and have had four novels published by major publishers. And now I am a choreographer.
What I love about what I do now is that it combines all the creative expressions I have experienced. As a choreographer working with adult ballet dancers, I get to be a writer, a director, a dancer (without actually performing!), and a painter (with light, costumes, sets, and so on). But where all of that was previously something I did on my own, I am blessed to be working with others. It’s truly collaborative and as such, it brings in everyone else’s experiences too.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.leighpurtillballet.com
- Instagram: @leighpurtill
- Facebook: @leighpurtill
- Linkedin: @leighpurtill
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@LeighPurtillBallet
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/adult-ballet-class-with-leigh-purtill-la-canada-2?osq=Adult+Ballet+with+Leigh
Image Credits
Katie Ging
Tate Kirgiss
Rawl Paredes
Amanda Singrassia