We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Tiffany Spataro. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Tiffany below.
Tiffany , we’re so excited for our community to get to know you and learn from your journey and the wisdom you’ve acquired over time. Let’s kick things off with a discussion on self-confidence and self-esteem. How did you develop yours?
This is quite the question. I believe it is more, how do I continue the growth of developing confidence and self esteem. This area has always been a struggle for me. The constant feeling of not being good enough, creative enough, brave enough, innovative enough to name a few, is certainly a driving force. But also not necessarily a healthy one. When you are an artist of any type, in my situation a choreographer, the goal is to put real authentic work, feelings, stories emotions out there. Help the audience feel the place of where you are coming from even if they don’t know the actual story. The issue becomes, if they have a negative response to your work what does that mean for you if that is your authentic self? It becomes more personal and as artists we tend to take that on. I feel it is important to remember the idea that what other people feel is none of your business. We all come from a place of our own hurt and perspective. Therefore you, as the artist have nothing to do with it. However, the fact that you provoked an emotion of any type means your job was well done. And, there certainly will be people out there that you did emotionally touch in a very powerful way. A way we might never know. The other concept I try to live by is, don’t compare yourself to others. That is a waste of your time and growth. If you try to be anything or anyone else you will always be second best because it’s not you. It’s an imitation of something else. You just focus on finding yourself in your journey and be your best you. When people are authentic they shine.
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
Like many young girls I was put into dance at a very young age. At the age of 8 I started dancing competitively. During that time dance classes, training, rehearsals, performances took up most of my time. I wasn’t like most of the girls I went to school with. However, I found community of people who I understood and who understood me. Athletic artists who found common ground with the blood, sweat, tears, passion, emotion as well as highs and lows that come with dancing at this level. I always felt such passion grabbing on to a concept and delving deep to make it come to life. Almost using each story as my therapy as I felt all the emotion that came with it. Connecting each story to my life. Unfortunately the pressures did affect my self esteem, self worth and self confidence. As I entered my teen years I started struggling with eating disorders and depression. The pressure to look a certain way, or move a certain way, or bring home the win made me pull away from performing. It is a very hard feeling knowing the thing you love also can cause you so much pain. To this day I wish I had the strength I do today and I gave myself more of a chance to live a dream, However, it did bring me to my main passion which is working with dancers to develop a passion for dance, choreography and finding their true self through movement and community. Developing a love for who they are and what they have to say. I do appreciate those hard time as a teen and young adult. Through that experience I developed a sense of empathy towards others as well as the structure, environment and overall tone of my dance space. If nothing else, I hope each and every dancer who enters the room feels free to be. I am super excited to be working on some upcoming creative projects with my students of Dance Theater Of New Jersey and am hoping to continue to reach people through choreography and motivational speaking with dancers and performers.
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?
Authenticity is number 1! It takes a lot of growing to get to a place of authentic self. And it’s always evolving because we are always evolving. Never stop seeking your truth, purpose and voice. When you present with honesty in performance or real life people feel it and respond.
Of course this can only happen with having the confidence to be yourself. We are always seeking to be stronger, better, healthier, or what ever it may be. However our self confidence doesn’t have to start once we get to a certain place. We can have confidence with who we are while we are making those changes. Otherwise we live a life where we are never happy since we are ever evolving. You can love yourself and your life while you are on the chase for greatness!
Lastly it is very important let other feel however they want to feel about you and not let it affect you or shift your views, morals or ethics in any way. We are not for everyone just like everyone is not for us. As long as you’re coming from a place of pure intent stay strong with who you are. And also have the grace to know the difference when your’e the one who has to make the shift and change.
One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?
I always look forward to meeting innovative people who love to collaborate. Some of my goals are to create a multimedia presentation potentially speaking on some important topics or areas that need a voice. I would also love to speak to people specifically teens on my story and how I found the strength moving through many topics such as high level competition, coming from a divorced home, eating disorders, mental illness, coming out and all the fears parents and children have with that. I currently am married to my wife and we have a son who is amazing. Reaching people and making a positive impact is the goal!
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tsdancenj/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063930638087
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhBfHM09We0
Image Credits
Photography By SKY
