Meet Emma Dalenberg

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Emma Dalenberg. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Emma, so many exciting things to discuss, we can’t wait. Thanks for joining us and we appreciate you sharing your wisdom with our readers. So, maybe we can start by discussing optimism and where your optimism comes from?
No matter how down bad I feel sometimes, I always end up finding my way back to a sense of equilibrium and calm, a state of chilling, so to speak. Ups and downs in life seem to be inevitable, and I find optimism in the fact that if everything up must come down, everything down must come up. Maybe even not in this lifetime, but eventually.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
Tomorrow, I am headlining a show in Dickinson, North Dakota. Population of 25,000, practically on the border of Montana. My goal will be to tell jokes about my experiences being a trailer park born, young, queer, woman, who now lives in a city and has travelled the world, in a way that anyone can understand. No matter where I go, I want people, who might have drastically different beliefs and life experiences than me, to laugh with me and the whole room, because if I can tell my story and be myself, and we can all laugh together, then maybe we all aren’t so different. After my run of road shows, I will be collaborating with Decarlo Jackson, the cool as hell trumpet from Hippocampus, to start Riffs: a Jazz and Stand Up Comedy show in Minneapolis. Every first Monday in October at 8PM, we will be hosting process nights that are open to the public at Jazz Central. In December, we will be taking the worked out show to Thursdays at the Green Room in Minneapolis! Our goal with Riffs is to combine two performance mediums and communities of artists, that have so much in common, but never seem to cross paths in Minneapolis. Jokes and jazz baby.

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?
I played team sports all the way up until I blew out my knee for the second time. Playing with a team taught me that every failure is an opportunity to get better, and you can always redeem yourself, unless you tear your ACL. Lol.

Jokes aside, even though I can’t play basketball anymore, the lessons I learned stick with me as an artist. Even though stand up comedy is a fairly independent act, sports taught me that every win feels better when you do it with a team, so I always try to make sure I have a team of people around me that I can support, they support me, and we can share wins with each other.

So I think my advice here is, always engage with the community around you, even if it’s a solo art. You always can help others, and in return, they will probably help you too, and you’ll have people to celebrate the wins with that really get the effort you’ve put in. And don’t be afraid to fail, just make sure you work as hard as you can to not make the same mistake.

What do you do when you feel overwhelmed? Any advice or strategies?
I talk to my overwhelmed self like I’m a child. I straight up will mentally say, “hey buddy, what’s wrong?” and then genuinely try to fix whatever is wrong, as I would for a child. Sometimes my answer is as simple as “I don’t like the shirt I’m wearing,” or “I want to hang out with a friend,” and I can change my shirt, call a homie and quit being stressed out if I take the time to listen.

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