We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Shari Polis. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Shari below.
Shari, appreciate you joining us today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?
It was September 11, 2001. I was teaching Kindergarten in downtown Brooklyn, NY. Because I had first period off, I was going to go to the World Trade Center to my friend’s office on the 72nd floor to pick up some physical photographs of my trip to Italy I had left in his car that past weekend. I was debating whether to head into school to do some prep work first, or go straight to the Twin Towers and then head to school. I decided to go to school first. As I was preparing to leave to jump on the subway, the Principal of the school ran into my classroom. The Twin Towers were under attack.
Hours later, after a blur of shock and panic, I returned home to my one room apartment in downtown Brooklyn, As it was a beautiful September day, I had left my windows open. As New Yorkers would remember from that day, the wind blew south at first. My entire apartment was covered in ash, dust, and the particles of everyone and everything we lost on that day. As I sat on my bed, the ash and dust flew up around me. This was the moment in which my life changed. At that moment, I realized I could have died that morning, and I realized what I wanted to do with my life: I wanted to start a children’s dance company and teach kids to dance for the rest of my life.
When classes resumed on September 14, I put up a flyer on the school’s bulletin board that I was starting a dance company. By the end of the week, I had 30 young students, but no studio, business plan, or bank account. All of a sudden, I was starting to get checks. I had to call my dad, “what do I do?”
I found a space in a Brooklyn warehouse, and learned the business as I went. I ran that children’s dance company for 12 years in NYC, growing it to 100 students, 10 teachers, producing over 100 shows and a thriving touring company, In 2016 my family and I moved to Boulder, CO, where I now teach dance and choreograph musicals for kids and adults.
Shari, 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?
I am a choreographer and dance teacher. I teach hip hop dance to children ages 6-13 at the Boulder JCC. I also teach musical theater there, choreograph and direct children’s musicals, and teach adults hip hop. I have been teaching at the Boulder JCC since 2016. I also teach hip hop and musical theater in most of the public and private schools in Boulder. Since the Pandemic started I have been hired to teach in backyards to groups of kids and adults. I choreograph wedding dances, Bar Mitzvah dances, anniversary dances, and dances for corporate events. I choreograph musicals for kids and adults at local theater companies here in Colorado. I teach on Zoom all over the country. I teach private lessons to high school students applying to musical theater colleges, helping them choreograph their solos and gain the technique and style they need to thrive in their field. My classes are choreography and performance based rather than technique based. I teach a dance that the students will be performing at the end of the session. Performance based classes allow me to incorporate many different styles of dance into my choreography such as hip hop, street jazz, contemporary, and more.
My main goal in my work is for my students to gain self esteem and have fun. Growing up in a strict ballet company, I knew deep in my heart that there was a joy for dance somewhere in all of this pain I was going through in classical ballet. While I do expect dedication in my students, building confidence, positive body image messaging, and having the best time in class and on stage are the fundamental elements of my teaching.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
The most rewarding aspect of being a choreographer is watching students who came to me with low self esteem blossom and grow. Watching their final performance during which they shine in their own special way is the most wonderful part of my career.
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
A lesson I had to unlearn is that you need to look a certain way to be a dancer. I am so grateful I found the strength and confidence inside me to pivot away from ballet and find other dance forms in which I was able to feel happy, successful, graceful, beautiful, and talented in my body. I am always instilling this confidence in my dancers.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.sharipolis.com
- Instagram: @sharipolis
- Facebook: Facebook.com/sharipolis