We recently connected with Ashley Menestrina and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Ashley, really happy you were able to join us today and we’re looking forward to sharing your story and insights with our readers. Let’s start with the heart of it all – purpose. How did you find your purpose?
Dance has been a part of my life since the age of 4. There is not an alternate universe that I can imagine me pursuing anything more fulfilling than dance. Around the age of 16, I knew there was more to this art form that I wanted to explore. Coming from a very small recreational dance studio in Knoxville, TN, I knew I wasn’t going to get that exposure if I stayed local. So, that is when I made my first trip to NYC. At that point if I had told my younger self that I would go to college for dance, move to NYC and live there for almost 10 years, travel internationally for dance, and still be doing it all these years later, I am not sure I would have believed myself. But here I am, and I am so proud of what I have accomplished. I am also incredibly eager to open many more doors. When beginning my professional career in 2013, purpose meant my life’s calling. Now, in 2024, purpose means how I show up in the way I want to see positive growth and change in the field I have given my life to.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
First and foremost I identify as a movement artist, with an intensified love for improvisational movement. The surprises that can be felt when achieving a flow state are truly next level, and are often the basis for all my new works. I have mostly considered myself a freelance artist throughout my career. One element of being a freelance artist that has been most exciting is getting to perform self-choreographed solos in international festivals that have spanned eight countries. In March of 2020, I was about to perform a new work at the International Solo Tanz Theatre Festival in Stuttgart, Germany. One day before my performance, international flights were shut down due to Covid and I was on my way back to NYC. The hardest part about this field was felt in that moment, where it took three years of applying and momentum building to finally get accepted, and then just like that it was all gone.
However, something beautiful came out of that momentum shift. I met my wife just a few short months after returning. I also realized that life was bigger than just dance. I am more than just a dancer, I am an artist. My grandma would be so proud. I began a small business for myself called Human Scribble where I make collections of art. I also went back to school to pursue a degree in Interior Design. And guess what I discovered? Art fuels art. When I began to unlock and explore my shelved interests, dance began to take off again.
One phrase of self-affirmation I started honing in on was ‘This me deserves to be seen’. I feel seasoned in my craft. I feel continually humbled by my craft, and I feel eternally grateful to know I have a landing place whenever life gets too crazy. At 33, I can say I have a lot of future goals, and every one of them stems from the old growth of my artistic roots.
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?
Looking back I think having a strong sense of self, knowing your worth, and learning when to say no were the most impactful in my journey.
Don’t let anyone define who you are or what you should be doing. In art, we want to hear those beautiful individual voices, so please be proud of being different or unconventional. Money is taboo in the world of freelance dance. My advice to young artists is that you deserve to be paid for your professional contributions. Practice asking how much you will be paid ahead of agreeing to be a part of something. Lastly, there is no need to suffer for your art. That narrative is outdated and sadly hard to get rid of for good. Saying ‘no’ will not make you difficult to work with. Instead, saying ‘no’ will show people that you know what conditions you want to work in.
What is the number one obstacle or challenge you are currently facing and what are you doing to try to resolve or overcome this challenge?
What do you do in the face of rejection?
Rejection is a steady constant in the field of dance and art. Resolving rejection will never get you anywhere because if you are putting yourself out there, rejection will always be a part of it. Therefore, I can talk about some of the ways I am trying to overcome its impact on me.
In the past, rejection has stopped me from trying. Currently, I am trying to retrain my relationship to rejection by learning how to say ‘thank you’ to it. I have a folder in my email, and every time I receive a rejection email, I say ‘thank you’ and I put it in the folder. To try for anything is to accept the risk of failure. And I always feel better when I try for the things I want in life.
Another obstacle I currently face around rejection is feeling like relationships I want to build can’t be furthered if someone rejects me. The communities I exist in for dance are small. The encounters I have with these people on a daily basis far outweigh the one application I sent in that didn’t get accepted. Additionally, it helps to trust the weight you hold as an artist. It can be easy to put curators on a pedestal and feel like you are constantly under them. That is not the case. I try to remind myself that I am just as worthy and capable as any other person trying for the same opportunity. And the effort that went in to it will not go unnoticed.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.ashleymenestrina.com and www.humanscribble.com
- Instagram: @ashleymenestrina and @humanscribble.art
Image Credits
Photo Credits: Allina Yang (@allinadayswork_photo)
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