Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Whitney Branan. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Whitney, appreciate you joining us today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.
I think I came into consciousness as a human spinning, twirling, creating. There are pictures of me when I was little in outrageous outfits (completely mismatched late 80’s and early 90’s leopard and neon spandex workout gear, oversized sunglasses, my mom’s heels, scrunchies, leg warmers… you name it, playing on a fake piano in the back yard, swimming in an igloo cooler, putting on shows for no one.) So, I’ve just always been this way. My parents were kind enough to channel all of that imagination into a system that could focus it. At two and a half years old, my mother signed me up for dance lessons at Performing Arts of Germantown, a local dance studio in Tennessee. I also started taking voice lessons there.
As I grew up, I took as many classes, workshops, and performance opportunities as I could find. I was privileged to be a part of an incredible theatre program at Hutchison School that took me to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland for several years. I danced out in Las Vegas at Bally’s Casino in an industrial for a while during my sophomore year of high school. I traveled to New York when I could with my dance studio to take lessons from professionals at Broadway Dance Center and STEPS. I competed. I went to the Broadway Theatre Project one summer to learn from Ann Reinking. My entire childhood was filled with grabbing anything and everything I could to learn because I loved it, not because I felt pressured or forced. It came from within, and my parents supported me.
For my collegiate and early professional craft-forming, I picked a program that I thought would be the most well-rounded for performers who sing, dance, and act. I also took directing and choreography classes at Wagner College. I think I’ve carried the same philosophy from when I was a teenager to a young adult: grab anything and everything that you possibly can to learn a new thing about the art you love. I hear my imposter’s syndrome and then release it. I don’t automatically back down from an opportunity just because I don’t meet all of the qualifications because I know I can learn fast and do well under time and pressure. When I got the call from Billy Elliot to train their performers for Broadway and Tour… I hadn’t done the style of dance they needed me to teach in four years. However, I knew I could gain that still back fast and could teach it at an expert level. So I simply told them to give me the job. I didn’t listen to the present me with her doubts and excuses on that phone call… I listened to future me yelling back into space and time that I could do it and I would do it well. That job launched the rest of my career.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I am a SDC (Stage Directors and Choreographers Society) Director/Choreographer and the owner of Dramatic Movement, a company that provides dance classes for adults a professional level with non-professional stress. As a director/choreographer I spearhead regional musical theatre and dramatic productions, music videos, concerts… all manner of live and taped entertainment. As a dance teacher, I provide drop-in classes at multiple levels (advanced to beginner, professional to amateur.)
As a working choreographer and dance teacher, I was frustrated seeing the same people in different rooms with positions of power. I was frustrated with the trauma cycles attached to directors and dance masters. I wanted to contribute to a better working environment for performers and creatives, so I decided I would educate myself, develop the skillset, and then step up and become the person in charge. I wanted that position not to feel personally powerful, but to be of service to everyone else in a real and meaningful way.
The thing I think I bring to the room is care and preparation for the creatives and performers I work with, while also giving the producers (my clients) a fabulous product. You don’t have to go through a traumatic experience during rehearsals to put on a good show. You don’t have to be verbally attacked by dance teachers and choreographers to become a compelling and competitive dancer. There is a different way, and I strive every day to be a bit better at that different way for the many people I work with.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
The most rewarding aspect of being a creative is compelling audiences ask big questions about their own experience in the world. I’m not in the business of putting on a piece of theatre, a music video, or staged dance concert to answer big questions for anyone. I’m interested in holding up a mirror to the audience and then hearing what they think and see as a result of the piece. Dance is a nonliteral art form. It’s an art form where I can, literally, create my own language that is incredibly specific and means something very definite… but when another person views that piece and that movement in space and time, they will walk away with an entirely different story or meaning or question or lesson. It’s an absolutely incredible exchange of community. It’s also a vital exchange for society. Art is the rock that society stands on. Art is the stone that breaks chains. Art is the flint that sparks our communal imagination, connecting us to each other and the divine.
What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?
Society needs to pay us. Citizens need to support or time. There is a lack of understanding that we need fallow periods that are just as important as fruitful ones, and we need to be financially and societally supported through those recuperative stages of the process. If you imagine a world without your podcasts, your television shows, your paintings on the wall of your home, the songs you listen to while running, the books you read on a Sunday afternoon while it’s raining… that sounds like a very bleak world. We help you recalibrate during your off-times. Don’t you think artists should be supported in the same way by the people who benefit from our work? The first step is to not ask artists to work for free.
Support your creative friends. Pay them! If you want a dance for your wedding, or a painting for your mother-in-law, or a beautiful song written as a Valentine’s present for your significant other… don’t ask your artist friend to do it for free. And don’t ask for a discount. Support them!
Contact Info:
- Website: whitneybranan.com
- Instagram: @whitneyfbranan
Image Credits
Bill Simmers