Meet Milta Ortiz

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

Hi Milta, thank you so much for opening up with us about some important, but sometimes personal topics. One that really matters to us is overcoming Imposter Syndrome because we’ve seen how so many people are held back in life because of this and so we’d really appreciate hearing about how you overcame Imposter Syndrome.

I’m a dark presenting immigrant. Imposter syndrome is real. I’m the first in my family and my family’s circle of immigrant families to accomplish the things I have set out to do. I’m the only professional artist, the only one with an advanced degree, an MFA at that. It’s a privilege to be an artist. I didn’t grow up knowing anyone who made a living out of writing, performing, or running a theatre. It wasn’t something that seemed possible as I experienced my parents grappling with a new culture, a new language, a new way of being.

This is going to sound crazy but lucky for me I got into a horrendous car accident at 20 years old. I was depressed and hopeless because of generational trauma, because I wasn’t living my authentic life, because I thought partying was the only way to deal with my reality. After a year recovering at home, I healed my soul through dance and writing classes at Laney Community College.

I had always wanted to dance. I’d done it here and there as a girl, in high school whenever it was accessible. After a semester of walking half an hour each way to a ballet class at 10 years old, I thought it was impossible. I loved cheerleading in middle school and dance at the first high school I went to. Then it wasn’t offered at the next high school, and I thought it was impossible to be a dancer.

When I first arrived, I wrote in a diary to deal with being in a new country, having to learn a new language, and not fitting in. Being out of place created an observer within. A superpower I developed like being a chameleon. Back then I didn’t know people could be writers or theatre makers.

But that near death experience made me go for broke, for the impossible. It was at that crossroad (literally the freeway) where I chose life over death, hope over fear, joy over despair.

I finally had the courage to choose dance and writing. Writing made me feel comforted and mighty, the pen as my sword, my offering; dance made me feel like I was flying, alive, fully in my being. I write this in past tense, but I still feel this. Once you tap into that, there’s no going back.

Writing seemed most attainable, so I focused on that. I felt so behind in dance. Other dancers had more training. If I could go back, I wouldn’t have let that stop me. It’s not giving up, focusing on it, studying it, practicing it that has helped me claim writing. I got an MFA to legitimize my practice, to have something to back me up to the academy, and really, it’s the practice, that has helped me shake off imposter syndrome. Don’t get me wrong doubt does plague me now and then, but I remind myself of that girl that really needed to see herself reflected, so I keep creating for the next generation of Latinas who feel like I felt.

When you follow your dreams, the universe conspires to help you, Me paraphrasing Louise L. Hay. As a performer and as a theatre maker I incorporate bits of dance in what I create. I have kept up my dance practice. Sometimes taking years off like when I was in grad school, the first few years of running Borderlands Theater, but I always come back to it. Currently in the form of a dancy Zumba class, and in theatre pieces.

I think it was that near death experience that pushes me outside of my comfort zone and helps me thrive against all odds. My experience is worth sharing. It can help others reach their highest potential. I realized at that crossroad (the freeway) that I’m here to live my best life. It’s possible!

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

I’m associate artistic director at Borderlands Theater in Tucson Arizona, where a few of my plays have word premiered. Borderlands Theater was founded by Barclay Goldsmith in 1986, my partner and I have been running in since 2015. We built on the theater’s root and shifted the mission slightly to focus on local stories of national relevance. Borderlands theater strives to build equitable, joyful, and meaningful collaborations with the local community through innovative theatre and responsive cultural programs ingrained in the heritage, narratives, and lived experiences of peoples rooted across the Sonoran Desert.

We shifted the running of the theatre to collective decision making. We created a core ensemble and sometimes devise work. We are very proud of the impact we have on our community. We create work with, by and for our community. We have some very exciting things in the works that I can’t say yet. We are building on Borderlands Theater’s legacy and ensuring that legacy for generations to come.

I can share that our devised play “Borderline Theatre Cordially Invites You to An In Process Showing of Antigona 3.0 Made Possible by a Very Important Grant” 9 (a dark comedy with a dance number ) will be at the Los Angeles Theatre Center (LATC) in downtown LA October 27 4pm & 7pm, October 31 & November 1 8pm and November 9 2pm & 5pm as part of Latino Theater Company’s Encuentro 2024.

We’re also looking forward to producing the world premiere of “Anita” my musical in colloboration with QVLN next season.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

Keep going. Keep striving. Practice, practice, practice. Whatever your medium is, the more you do it the better you are at doing it.

My Resilience, my determination and my capacity for joy are the three qualities that have been most impactful in my journey.

It’s hard to hear the beat with a lot of clutter in the mind. Some of us have to overcome trauma to truly be present. Sometimes we’re not great at the things that bring us present but the more we do it, the more the clutter fades and we hear the beat loud and clear!

I went through a lot. Someday I’ll write a book. I think I kept going because I heard the beat and it brought me back to me, like a heartbeat. For me, it was the music, the sun shining, the flowers, the vines that reminded me of the good things about life. Find the thing(s) that brings you back and keeps you going.

It’s okay to be an expert at failing. It’s how we grow. I used to be afraid of success, afraid of failing. Go for it in a safe place. It’ll get easier to do your thing. Keep trying. Don’t give up. Try. If that one thing doesn’t work out, I bet that by trying something else will.

It’s not always easy but once you start it gets easier. So don’t take it too hard. I find it’s better to laugh. I mean sometimes you have to cry. And then laugh. I think it’s more fun to laugh when you mess up, the less intense I am about things the easier they are to achieve. I used to think I had to be intense but really, it’s double the work for the same result. Now laughing is my go-to and then I try again until I get it. Sometimes we get it on the first try. Yay and that becomes the norm. I’m a writer so I’m used to rewriting. That’s basically what writing is rewriting. Even if we get that play done in one draft, we still go back and rewrite, it’s how it works. Might as well enjoy the process.

Thanks so much for sharing all these insights with us today. Before we go, is there a book that’s played in important role in your development?

Two books that made a huge difference in my life are all about love by Bell Hooks and The Power of Now Eckhart Tolle. I can’t tell you specific quotes from them. They feel ephemeral and part of my being now. I know that all about love taught me much about self-love and acceptance, what true love is, and the idea of love. I had it all wrong. Some of my instincts where good but media made a mess of my idea of love. all about love really put into context what compassion is, the kind of love i deserve.

The Power of Now was the first book that brought me present. I read it twenty years ago and I still remember drifting off as I was reading it. Taking it in on some other level, the same thing happened with all about love but The Power of Now was the first time I was conscious to that happening. (It had happened before on an intellectual level with other books but this felt deeper). It was like receiving a download. I don’t think I was really present in my body outside of dancing; or when I was writing and connected to the source. I had no control of doing those things. Those things happened because of the activity I was engaged in. I experienced being present briefly when I went for walks, or hikes but I was unable to make it happen. It just happened. I am now much more present, much more of the time. It’s something that I really value. I wasn’t aware of being present or in the moment until I read The Power of Now. I practiced yoga as a workout not as a meditation. I mean it would occasionally happen, but it wasn’t intentional. I didn’t know being in the moment was a thing 20 years ago. I had had glimpses which was the feeling I enjoyed about dance but wasn’t aware that it’s something we can practice all the time. That was my biggest take away from the book. This is of course more common now, but I don’t remember people talking about it this much back then.

On another note: I’m a collaborative person and open to collaboration [email protected]

Contact Info:

• Website: https://miltaortiz.com
• Instagram: @miltaortiz
• Facebook: @miltaortiz
• Youtube: @miltaortiz

Image Credits

Anita Finale by James Tokishi

Antigona3, Musical and MyltaCoyolhuaqui by Manuel Ruiz

the rest are by Kathleen Drerier