Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Alyssa Mitchel. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Hi Alyssa, thanks for sharing your insights with our community today. Part of your success, no doubt, is due to your work ethic and so we’d love if you could open up about where you got your work ethic from?
I’ve always been extremely organized. Maybe that comes from being a dancer my whole life and developing time management skills at a young age, since I was always having to balance school with dance and music (piano and choir). I think I also developed my strong work ethic at a young age because in third grade I was diagnosed with learning differences including ADHD. Completing homework and reading in general always took me twice as long as my fellow classmates. Because it took me longer to absorb concepts and since I was also super detail-oriented and always made sure that I understood every single concept before moving on, having a strong work ethic was my only option. I also have super supportive parents. I’m so grateful that they helped me develop key habits that allowed me to thrive in school and dance. I was also lucky to have had a math tutor who guided me throughout my school years and inspired me to become a math tutor, too! In high school, I had the necessary support that helped me manage my learning differences and develop the confidence and independence I needed for college and beyond. In addition to all of that great support, I’ve always been naturally motivated and determined to conquer whatever challenge comes my way.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
My name is Alyssa Eve Mitchel and I am a San Francisco based choreographer where I’ve been creating and producing work since 2014. I partnered with the North Carolina Museum of Art (NCMA) and Carolina Ballet for the Southeastern USA premiere of Regard (2023) at the NCMA in November 2024. My work, Regard (2023), in partnership with The Contemporary Jewish Museum won the 2024 Inspired Dance Film Festival’s “Best Live Performance Capture” award in Sydney, Australia. In partnership with San Francisco’s Exploratorium, I received an arts grant for the premiere of my outdoor production, Here. Now. (2021). I was the winner of the 2019 Choreography Competition of the International Dance Festival of Silicon Valley for my duet, Close, Far and Somewhere in Between (2016) and have received several grant awards including the SFAC San Francisco Artist Grant, the Yerba Buena Community Benefit District Mini Grant, Joe Goode Performance Group’s COVID Relief Space Grant, Dancers’ Group Lighting Artists in Dance Grant and the Classical Girl Giving Grant. I’ve been an Artist in Residence at Zaccho Dance Theatre, Mannakin Dance Theatre/iMPACt Center, Berkeley Ballet Theatre and Studio 210/Deborah Slater Dance Theater. I’ve also been granted residencies and commissions at ODC Pilot 70 & 71, Bay Pointe Ballet, Moving Arts, LEVYdance, SAFEhouse Arts and Marin Dance Theatre. I recently premiered my newest production, Endure, at Dance Mission Theater in October 2025 which was a multimedia dance work that integrated six dancers, the recorded interviews of six marathon runners and visual art and animations by Zach Litoff. I also co-choreographed SOL The Musical premiering at the Mira Theatre Guild in Vallejo in October 2025. I hold a Bachelor of Arts in Education and a minor in mathematics from the Dominican University of California and am also a passionate Bay Area math tutor. I have tutored and mentored hundreds of students over the past decade. For more information on my work and upcoming projects, visit: https://www.alyssaevemitchel.com or follow @alymitchel on Instagram. If you’d like to help support our upcoming projects, you can make a tax-deductable donation at: https://www.flipcause.com/secure/cause_pdetails/MjM2MjY=.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
First, I would say that there’s no one-size-fits-all path. When I was a serious ballet dancer in my teens, I thought that after high school and college I would audition for and then dance with a classical ballet company. But given my overpronating ankles and body type, I realized that pointe shoes were not right for me. In college, I trained at Marin Dance Theatre and was lucky to have a contemporary teacher that showed me a new side of the dance world. I became super passionate about modern/contemporary dance and choreography, which led me to dance in several contemporary dance companies after college while simultaneously choreographing. So, my first piece of advice would be to not limit yourself because sometimes a new path opens doors to more opportunities than you could ever imagine. I cannot imagine my life right now if I tried to “make it” as a classical ballet dancer and had never entered the contemporary dance world.
Next, I would say that the only way to begin as a choreographer is to just start creating work wherever and whenever you can–even if that means creating work on your friends in small studio spaces. Early in my career, I did two residencies at Safehouse Arts, an organization that provides free studio space and performance space to emerging artists through a residency program (in exchange for volunteering at other Safehouse shows and taking on other opportunities such as cleaning and bookkeeping to keep Safehouse up and running.) My dancers basically danced for me for free because they enjoyed working with me and saw the potential for something bigger. Project by project, my work continued to grow as I developed my resume, created my connections and expanded my network. From the small Safehouse studio, I went onto choreograph at bigger residencies, partnered with three museums, set work on several professional dance companies and wound up winning a film festival–but none of this happened overnight. It took years and consistent hard work, dedication and also a lot of “no’s” before receiving any “yes’s.” Remember that it’s okay to start out small. Choreography has always been my calling and I’ve always felt at home, alive and thriving when I am in a studio with my dancers.
Lastly, I would say that it’s really important to get to know the people you are collaborating with. I’ve had experiences where my dancers didn’t fully communicate with me (or I didn’t fully communicate with them) or there was missing information which made the process tricky because conflicts arose during the process. My most recent project was successful because I had many in-person and telephone conversations with each of the artists and collaborators. This helped us to always be on the same page and directly address any problems that were coming up. With such a heavy technology-based and social media world, it’s easy for artists to lose sight of in-person communication. I know that one of the best decisions I made this past year was to have hour-long conversations with each of my artists before committing/signing contracts. I’m not saying that every conversation needs to be this long, but I do believe in the importance of talking face-to-face rather than relying solely on the internet to communicate.
Alright so to wrap up, who deserves credit for helping you overcome challenges or build some of the essential skills you’ve needed?
Without a doubt, my mentor Lizz Roman (artistic director of Lizz Roman & Dancers) has helped me grow and mature as a choreographer, artist and human being. I don’t know where I’d be without her! I first met Lizz when I was a young choreographer in my early twenties and participated in both the Mark Foehringer Young Choreographers Forum (2017) as well as ODC’s Pilot 70 & 71 (2018 and 2019). Lizz was the choreographic mentor during all three of these residencies. At that time, I was intent on creating every single dance step and piece of movement for every one of my pieces before even starting the rehearsal process with my dancers. Looking back, the process was a lot more rigid with less flexibility for dancers to experiment. Lizz helped me grow as an artist and helped me refine my choreographic process. Because of her, I learned to find a balance between my own phrasework as well as the tasks and prompts that I give to my dancers. Through Lizz’s mentorship, I developed the tools to give my dancers specific tasks, prompts and the freedom to come up with their own material while also having high expectations for my artists to pick up the original choreography that I teach them.
Beyond the choreography aspect of Lizz’s mentorship, she’s been tremendously supportive of me emotionally, particularly when I’ve had to make tough decisions about my work. Being an artist, particularly an independent, self-producing choreographer, I often feel isolated or unsure which direction to go. There have been other times where I’ve been in situations with artists or collaborators who have been difficult to work with. Lizz has been by my side through each of these experiences and she has helped me reflect on each of my choreographic projects so that I can use what I learned in the previous project to make the next project go even smoother. Lizz has been creating work in the Bay Area for over forty years. She is honest and truthful and someone who I can lean on or talk to anytime. She is my inspiration and I am so lucky to have her in my life. I think that it’s super important for every artist to have someone like Lizz who they can have as a mentor and guide while navigating this tricky, challenging world.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.alyssaevemitchel.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alymitchel/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alymitchel1493/
- Other: https://vimeo.com/alyssaevemitchel
Image Credits
Pic 1 and Pic 2: Genevieve Parker, Pic 3 and Pic 7: Sean Anomie, Pic 4: Frank Navas, Pic 5: Eric Raeber, Pic 6: Kyle Adler
