We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Mason Lee. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Mason below.

Mason, appreciate you joining us today. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?

The biggest risk I’ve taken has been creating my company, Mason Lee Dance Theater.

When starting the company, I had no experience on how to manage a company. I only went by the limited resources I used including interviews, YouTube clips, and past experiences. Luckily, I had a mother who ran her own organization so there was some idea of what to do; however she runs a corporate company rather than a dance company.

Initially, the company was low stakes, however as we’ve expanded and provided more things to our community the stakes have gone higher. Now there’s a team relying on me and, if anything goes wrong, it goes back to me. My reputation and my creation, MLDT, is on the line. This puts me at a very vulnerable place and makes this company a very risky move.

Mason, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My name is Mason Lee. I am a dancer, choreographer, and writer. I am also the proud Executive Artistic Director of Mason Lee Dance Theater (MLDT), a bicoastal company that strives to create unique stories, push audience engagement, and have positive artistic relationships.

MLDT was founded September 11, 2023. In our first season, we managed to have 8 dancers, 2 rehearsal directors, and 2 guest choreographers. We have completed fun projects such as creating a short film entitled “Sections”, which centers around dancers’ utilizing prompts, choreography, improvisation, and their voice to create a plethora of dynamics, textures, and movement. With this, the company has performed 14 works (7 of them being company/world premieres). MLDT has also launched several programs to help the dance community in several areas. This included our AMPLIFY Series, which helps emerging choreographers in the NYC area to get their choreography on stage, COMMUNITY DAYZ!, which provides discounted classes to dancers, and RAW SERIES, which gives choreographers a chance to showcase works-in-progress in the LA – metro area.

Our hope is to be a light in the dance community, helping it grow into a bigger and better art form.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

There are several things that society can do to best support artists. One: is normalizing seeing creatives. In other words, make it a habit to see creative things (i.e. going to the museum, seeing a play, watching a dance performance, etc…) The reasons that sports or major events like concerts are doing well is because people make it a point to incorporate it into their daily lives and continue to follow these things throughout time. Creative ecosystems would thrive so much more if more people made it a point to see more art on the local or even regional level.

Second, would be funding it. I’m not saying you should fund everything you see, however if you see something you like, help that artists grow by sending them a few extra dollars. Some organizations such as my own is a non profit, so you’ll get a tax write off anyways, which helps you in the long-run. If you can’t donate money, try donating time, resources, etc…There are a billion ways one can help a person without money.

Thirdly, and this is my last point, but sharing the artist work. Social media has become an easy way to share things that you like. If you love what an artist is doing, share your experience! Let your community know so that they can engage with this artist. I have seen this personally and sharing, whatever way possible, is very impactful to creatives and their businesses.

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

The most rewarding aspect of being an artist or creative is being able to have more power on how you interact with the world. I feel that those who are in corporate, have to follow a regimented schedule for whatever reason. But, with being a creative, you have a bit more flexibility. You can have lighter work weeks or have super demanding ones. You can choose to disengage with the world and create something just for you or you can create something for everyone to see on a massive stage. It’s really up to you. You can ask questions and find freedom in answering it. There’s just more involvement in your life as a creative. You have more ownership of your life in a way.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.masonleedancetheater.org
• Instagram: @mldt.nyc / @mldt_la
• Facebook: @MasonLeeDanceTheater
• Linkedin: @Mason Lee Dance Theater
• Twitter: @masonleetheater
• Youtube: @MasonLeeDanceTheater

Image Credits

Eric Hart Jr.
Owen Burnham