Meet Corinne Hidar

We were lucky to catch up with Corinne Hidar recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Corinne, 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 grew up watching my two parents work multiple jobs to keep a roof over our heads and food on the table, while never letting myself and my sister know how tired they were, which is where my drive to keep pushing came from. I also started dancing on a competitive team when I was younger, which taught me the discipline I needed to pursue the career path I am on.

I have always strived to keep moving forward and keep learning. I started Break The Mould at a time when I felt burnt out, but knew I wanted to continue pushing forward and create new pathways for myself to discover. I am now balancing a successful dance company, my full-time job as a middle school dance teacher, and graduate school. The force that drives my work ethic now is knowing that I am shaping my future and making new opportunities for dancers that I meet along the 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?

I am on my fifth year as the director of a middle school dance program in Florida and I am the Artistic Director of Break The Mould Dance, which I founded in January of 2024. My middle school program has an average of 140 students each year that I do two full productions with and teach multiple styles of dance to.

Break The Mould started as a passion project to create performance opportunities for dancers that did not fit the traditional “dancer” stereotype. Through this company I have had incredible experiences with dancers in the Tampa area and have created a welcoming space for the dreamers and creative doers to expand on their art.

We are currently working on Our Stories: A Choreography Collection, which invited choreographers from around the states to set pieces and put them in a one-night-only show in St. Petersburg this Fall.

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?

I absolutely would not have been able to do my job without the dance education I received at the University of Tampa. I will admit that I did fight the pedagogy concepts they were teaching us at UT, but once I opened my mind to it I realized it was some of the most important pieces of knowledge I could learn.

I also think that being a competitive dancer and having a packed schedule as a kid makes it easy for me to be able to multitask and have a packed schedule. I love to keep organized, so my planner and my digital calendar are all color coded to keep myself on task.

My biggest piece of advice is to allow yourself to find inspiration and knowledge everywhere. Never shy away from something because you think it has “nothing to do with you” because it can, in some way, have an impact on you.

What was the most impactful thing your parents did for you?

The most impactful thing my parents did for me was to let me explore my art and make it into my career. Unfortunately, there are so many young artists that don’t get the opportunity to go to college and study what they want to because they are told they will never make a living out of their art. My parents understood that my resilience and work ethic would always force me to pivot and find different ways to make dance and dance education my main sources of income. I am so grateful that they never once stifled my creativity or told me to get a “real job”.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.breakthemoulddancecompany.com/
• Instagram: btmdancecompany
• Facebook: Break The Mould Dance Company

Image Credits

Addy Green, Ricardo A. Romero