We were lucky to catch up with Paula Rivero recently and have shared our conversation below.

Paula, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.

In acting you have to take risks, make choices for your character, for the story. That´s how you put your own print in the work, the way you build and shape the different roles through your acting.
Taking risks means to grow, to dare to go beyond, and keep looking for more. For me being a performer/choreographer brings me joy, it’s my passion and I can not just settle down with one thing, one win, one achievement….there is something inside of me that drove me into this profession and I like to honor and fulfill that feeling, and in order to do that I have had to put myself out there and try new things.
I thing 2 of the most life changing risks have been, bringing musical theater to my home town (Chihuahua,Mx) because its a city that didn’t had a lot of projection with that, and by co-creating Musicalia and doing Little Shop of Horrors we opened a new wave of possibilities in the arts in the city.

And the other one will be moving to New York, I love my hometown but again this force drove me to do more and want more. So I took a big step, packed my suitcase and came to keep learning and keep doing art.

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?

Hola!
My name is Paula Rivero (aka Polly) I am a Mexican actress, performing arts teacher and choreographer based in NYC.
I started as s dancer when I was 2, then in high school I got introduced in a small production of a musical theater showcase at school and that changed my life. After that I got involved in more theater groups and later I co-created Musicalia, a musical theater company and we did musicals as: little shop of horrors, mamma Mia the musical and grease the musical, where I had lead roles and choreographed ensambles with more than 60 people.
I am also an performing arts teacher, I taught jazz, hip hop, and tap at some schools in my hometown. And here in NYC I have also been involved with R.evolucion Latina in their Broadway Summer Camp Sessions and with ICONOS KIDS, I am a dance teacher and co teacher in acting.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

I am a strong believer that art heals and its a great conductor for us to be better humans, because we either create it or consume it.
Theater, dancing, singing, learning to play an instrument, eng able to speak several languages, have done magic for me and I ove to share and do that with my students.
My misión to my craft is make the world a better place, make conscious humans, thoughtful humans, happy humans

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

this is a hard one because the worlds economy is not at its best and people are struggling, but there’s always a way to support new artist, in theater specially. A lot of performances and new work are either free or donation based. Liking a post on instagram and sharing your friends projects, help being the voice to spread out the work of others.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @pollyrivero_

Image Credits

Matt Sympkins. – th done I’m sitting
TheaterMAMA – the one outside radio city music hall