We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Lindsey Pool. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Lindsey below.
Lindsey, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?
“Tale of the Lion King” at Disneyland Resort. By far the MOST meaningful job I’ve done so far and one that’ll live in my heart forever. There’s a few reasons why this one was so special to me. First, I helped make history! This was the very first all-black show at DL. Second, this was also my very first all-black show, let alone my very first all-black community ive been involved in. The area where i grew up in Seattle lacked a lot of people who look like me. I grew up without representation in every community I was part of. Even though I had friends, and great ones, I felt alienated. I remember having debilitatingly low self-esteem. I found myself often wondering why I wasn’t treated like my peers. I knew that for sure, but the reason why, I wasn’t able to put my finger on it. I grew up feeling far from beautiful. I was comparing myself to my peers, and wondering why I didn’t look like that, too. And the very few black peers who I did interact with, dismissed me. I wasn’t considered “black enough”. I’m mixed race, my mom is chinese-american and my dad is black. I embrace both ethnicities proudly! But because I present as mainly black, I was treated as such. Dad was the only source of real representation I had close to me. But I didn’t get to see him much due to his busy work schedule. (Don’t get me wrong, he was still a VERY present father, and my mom always was and still is my biggest cheerleader!) It took me until the moment I got hired to fully embrace what being black means to me personally. Being surrounded with people who not only do what I do, but look like me too, was something I didn’t realize I needed that bad until it happened. It boosted my confidence and helped me to see that I’m not alone in this world! And not to compare my appearance to those who look nothing like me. Every day I worked was a day filled with laughter, joy, loudness, banter, rawness, authenticity, and sometimes a little drama…but we were a family. That’s how families are. I learned and grew so much as an artist and a person, and accumulated so much joy while still going through one of the hardest times in my life. We closed January 7th of this year. Even though I feel we closed too soon, 7 months later I’m still dripping with gratitude for the experience and the relationships I built.
Lindsey, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I’m Lindsey Pool, 25 year old professional dance artist born and raised in Seattle Washington. I’m the girl who never grew out of her “i wanna be a ballerina!” phase. Dance was absolutely my first love, i knew its what I wanted to do before I knew what it meant to “do something” with your life. I like to think of dancers as being the coolest live human decoration. And I pride myself as such!
For the first 16 years of my life I attended Pacific Northwest Ballet School in Seattle. I trained to become a ballerina and in hopes of joining their company. And even though I thrived, I found myself discouraged like so many other young girls due to body image issues, contributing to declining mental health. With that however, I knew I was still put on this earth to be a mover. I changed directions and began attending a competition studio, where I expanded my training and took up jazz, contemporary, hip hop and lyrical. It was interesting to see the similarities and differences in the environments, especially hopping from one immediately into another. After doing that for the last 2 years of high school, I graduated and had the pleasure of coming out here to LA to get my BA at AMDA college of performing arts. After graduating in 2021 and still pushing to earn my degree through the peak of the pandemic, I was extremely grateful to be picked up by Bloc Talent Agency, and i’ve been with them ever since. Some of the highlights of my career include working for the Disneyland Resort, Debbie Allen’s Hot Chocolate Nutcracker, doing a commercial for Cadillac with iconic ballerina Ingrid Silva, and many more!
Because my strength mainly lies in technical as opposed to street styles, I feel what I have to offer is unique in the LA dance world. I bring my ballet training into everything i do in some way, shape or form, emphasizing my individuality as an artist. I pride myself on being versatile, a chameleon if you will, when it comes to dance styles. I strive to continue to be well rounded, which helps in making myself useful to any director, choreographer or recording artist I may work with. Something else I’ve found i’m consistent in is contributing to a positive environment. I try to bring positivity, empathy, and compassion into every room I step into. I’ve found that this has not only gotten me into a lot of great positions, but also help maintain them. And I’m grateful to have many opportunities to create meaningful relationships along the way. I wouldn’t be who I am without the community I’ve built! This is only my 3rd year in entertainment (and in a post-pandemic world), I had quite a few very significant setbacks so far in my 20s, and I still can’t believe I was able to get to where I am today. I’ve got so much ahead of me and I’m eager to continue to learn and embrace my personal process!
Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.
Unfortunately, and especially more recently, I’ve noticed many people treat dancers like we are disposable. Whether that be first-hand or second-hand experiences, or stories from other friends in the industry, its something i’ve faced the moment I graduated college and began auditioning/booking. It usually shows itself in things like the pay amount we’re offered (often little to none at all), working conditions on the job, or simply being cast aside or being a last thought. It’s already difficult to make a full time living doing this alone, sometimes it can feel dehumanizing. To be a dancer is a mental challenge just as much as it is physical. What I mean by that is, you have to learn not to stand in your own way and let some things go, especially while you’re training or on a job. So pretty much all the time. Dealing with negative working conditions can make the mental work that much harder. Additionally, our field is one of the few where consistent work isn’t guaranteed, even if you’re a “successful” dancer who books a lot. I’ve found there can be periods of the most exciting, tornado-like chaos in your life. And its so overwhelmingly fun! But on the other end there’s equally as many dull, boring and restless moments. Honestly, I’ve found that most of life can be like that anyways! And I wouldn’t have it any other way. I’m grateful to be part of the generation so hungry for change across the board. My peers and I consistently push for better conditions and appreciation, and i’m hopeful to see it happen sometime in the near future
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
The jumpstart of my career post-grad was littered with anxiety. I truly believe it was the biggest struggle I’ll ever know in my entire life. I lost my dad last November to early onset Alzheimer’s. He was 70 years old. My entire family fought a tough 5 year battle. Early 20s are already hard enough, you’re just trying to figure out this whole life thing. But adding being in performing arts college, a pandemic, and suddenly being thrown into being a caretaker to your father at 19… it added a lot of stress to my life. My dad was diagnosed in 2018, about 2 months before I was about to move to LA for school. It was a difficult decision to leave, but I knew he wanted me to live my life despite the circumstances. He was an successful meteorologist in seattle, going through so many changes in the public eye was tough. Becoming a caretaker was even harder, I hadnt even really thought about what it meant to be one yet. For the last 5 years of his life my younger sister and I stepped up and did everything he once did for us. It was so weird doing the “role swap” so early on in my life, and really hard not to compare our situation to peers my age and their families. We were going through what most people go through with their parents, but much, much later on in life. I used to get pretty down on myself for having depressive episodes and outbursts, or periods of low motivation and extreme anxiety. A really big reason for that was because I was away from home more than I wished I could be. I deserved way more grace from myself at the time. Additionally, I found that the once happy long-term relationship I was in, quickly transformed into one of frequent emotional and verbal abuse. My world really came crashing down when I found out he had been unfaithful multiple times just a few months after we were forced to move dad into memory care. I unfortunately stayed in the relationship, with the extreme fear of going through another major change back to back. About a year later, the news broke that my full time job, Tale of the Lion King (and my most favorite dance gig to date) was being shut down. As I mentioned earlier, this was something that had so much sentimental value. This came as a big shock to me and my entire cast, as we had the impression that the show had at least 1 or 2 more years left in the run. We’d be on already for about 1.5, and we were nowhere near ready to let go. And since this is at Disneyland Resort and upcoming shows are confidential, there was no guarantee at the time of being re-hired. (Don’t worry, I’m thankfully still with them today!) We lived out those last 4 months to the fullest. Again, another large change. And then appx. 2 months later, my dad tragically and finally passed.
2023 by far was the most difficult year for me, and I can confidently say i dont think I’ll ever go through something that hard ever again. But after looking back, and with a lot of help from my community and friends, it’s the most unmistakable representation of my resiliency. It’s so interesting how life works. you can go through the most amazing time of your life AND the most awful at the exact same time. But over those 5 years, I still accomplished what many dream of doing. I aspired, applied and got admitted into an incredible performing arts college, graduated successfully and obtained an agent just a week later (GRATEFUL!), had some incredible auditioning and booking experiences, worked my dream job early on in my career and had so much time to enjoy it, and found strength to end my relationship. Grief is a process, something that comes and goes as it pleases. But I’ve been finding so much joy in finding myself again and reclaiming my life! Honestly, I’m still learning to give myself credit for all of this, and it’s a work in progress. But the fact that I’m still standing, still facilitating growth, and in a better place than I was a year ago, is something to really celebrate.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @lindsey.pool
Image Credits
Nick De Morst