Meet Madelyn Dundon

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Madelyn Dundon a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Madelyn, appreciate you making time for us and sharing your wisdom with the community. So many of us go through similar pain points throughout our journeys and so hearing about how others overcame obstacles can be helpful. One of those struggles is keeping creativity alive despite all the stresses, challenges and problems we might be dealing with. How do you keep your creativity alive?

As a singer, actress, and dancer, I keep my creativity the main focus of each and every day in a variety of ways, but I have found that the source of my creativity is oftentimes nature. I prioritize long walks and hikes in forests, time in gardens. There is an open corn field next to my house, and I spend some time walking through it everyday.

When I spend time in nature, that’s when I practice visualization. That’s when most ideas come to me – ideas for movement, a song, a monologue, whatever. When I am out in the open air that’s when I feel the most outside of myself and within myself at the same time. Creativity flows, inspiration strikes, I feel completely loose and fluid.

If it’s pouring rain outside, I take time to pour over a book. Reading short stories in particular sparks creativity for me- every time, without fail. I lean on the short stories of Ludwig Bemelmans when I am feeling perhaps “uninspired”. He wrote the beloved “Madeline” childrens book series. His stories are accompanied by these whimsical illustrations that just open up some sort of door in my brain. Luckily for me that uninspired or stale feeling is a rarity. But drawings, art, a great quick read, that is another way I keep the creativity flowing.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

I’m an actress, jazz singer, dancer, and writer. I also work for an archives/libraries/museums services company. I teach ballet, I dabble in film work, and am a recording and giggin’ jazz singer!

I trained in classical ballet and classical music, opera, growing up. I’m an old soul, and my home is the Great American Songbook, and William Shakespeare’s plays. I am traditionalist, what can I say! Nowadays I gig at hotels, restaurants, cocktail hours, and piano lounges as a jazz singer. I am with Satsuma Collective, a record label out of NYC, and have an album coming out this spring!

Over the past several years I have starred in a few independent films you can check out- “Getting Grace” (Grace), “Lucky Louie” (Alex) and this year two films – “Hazel” (Hazel) which comes out this fall, and “The Ruse” (Dale) which comes out in theaters on May 16th!

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

I was raised in this wonderful school and church that taught us to share our gifts. So it was instilled in me very early on (and I’m talking at the age of 3) to share these gifts God gave me, these things I was born with. In my case it was my singing voice, my expression, my ability to tell stories and connect with people. Acting, remembering lines, learning music, all of these things just came very easily to me. But I think that discipline is something I learned from classical ballet, which I have trained in since I was a toddler.

You can be naturally gifted, but if you don’t approach those talents with discipline, they can just fade away and get lost. I think my advice would be, discipline your body so that your mind, your voice, your talents, can reach across that great divide and GET OUT. Take care of yourself, create a routine. If you’re an actor, read all the plays, learn monologues, rehearse them, train as if you were in a program, or preparing for a show, even if you’re not. Keep it all sharp and alive.

To close, maybe we can chat about your parents and what they did that was particularly impactful for you?

My parents are fascinating people. My mom is a professional costume designer- for the ballet, stage work, and film. My father, a Lieutenant Colonel, served in the US Army for just shy of 30 years. He’s a hero. She’s a creative genius. They are very different, but very similar. My dad has a quiet way of encouraging me; he leads by example. He taught me how to work HARD. That army grit, you know. I learned work ethic from watching his consistency and commitment. And bravery. He taught me bravery. You need to be brave to be an artist.

Anyway, they believed in me right away. My mom always has acted like I was just predestined to do these things I have done with my life. My mom said to me when I was, like, in first grade, when they ask you what you want to be when you grow up? And I said, “An actress!”, and my mom said, “You don’t WANT to be an actress, you ARE an actress.” I have never forgotten that. You know what that taught me, that I understand now as an adult….what that did for me was it told me I was ALREADY ENOUGH. I didn’t need to try to be something else to be what I was meant to be, if that makes any sense. I was already enough, I was BORN an actress, I was already there. Now, this “life thing”, is just a matter of finding out ways to get to do what I do.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.madelyndundon.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/madeydundon/?hl=en