Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Brittany Gaither. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Brittany, we’re thrilled to have you on our platform and we think there is so much folks can learn from you and your story. Something that matters deeply to us is living a life and leading a career filled with purpose and so let’s start by chatting about how you found your purpose.
I found my purpose by unabashedly following my interests. I have always loved to dance. From a young age, I was always finding an excuse to put on a show. As the oldest sibling and cousin in my family, I many times forced my younger relatives to participate in these productions. What I loved about dance was that I could communicate thoughts and ideas way better through movement than I could with words. As I got older, I realized I could harness that to share bigger thoughts and ideas that would make people think about or learn something new that they might not have an interest in otherwise, namely history or current events. I started to take deep dives into a historical or current event. I then take what I learn and create dances that make the audience think about a topic that might be hard to otherwise talk about. For example, this past January I premiered work about the Supreme Court. I wanted to take something that can be polarizing in our society and find a way to take the combative talking out of it and find a way to make everyone in the conversation think. In doing so, I was able to reach many audience members and fulfill the purpose of using dance to push people’s thinking.
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?
I am the Artistic Director of Crossroads Dance Indy (CDI) a nonprofit in Indianapolis. Our mission at CDI is to establish community connections and impact local society through evolving artistic collaborations and works. What I love the most about our work is that we bring modern dance to those who might not otherwise seek it out by performing in many different venues throughout the greater Indy area. It is so exciting to talk to an audience member who has never been to a dance performance before and talk to them afterwards about their experience and what it pushed them to think about. Another aspect I love about CDI is that has become an outlet for adult dancers who chose to pursue other careers/day jobs, but still want to be connected to their art. So many people lose their passions, their arts, their sports or hobbies as they become adults and CDI is a place that allows us to keep that part of ourselves. I am excited for our next show Newsworthy to premier at this year’s Indy Fringe Festival in August.
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?
My journey has been most impacted by my optimism, follow through and dedication. My biggest piece of advice for those early in their journeys is look at the jar as half full. Dwelling on the negative only brings you down. People want to be happy. That doesn’t mean to fake happiness or even to not take time to reflect on hard times, however, don’t forget to celebrate the good and dwell on it as much as you can! People also want to be around others who follow through on their word. Don’t over commit and when you say you are going to do something, do it.
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?
CDI is always looking to collaborate with other creatives. We love making new work alongside artists of other fields such as musicians, visual artists, etc. I am also always looking for collaborators who want to bring our work to venues that might not typically have dance, but are related to a topic that we have created work about. For instance, we have a full length number about WWII that could be presented at a museum or a school. We are always willing to make new work as well. My email is [email protected]
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.crossroadsdanceindy.com/
- Instagram: crossroads_dance_indy
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/crossroadsdanceindy
Image Credits
David Van Deman; Amanda Renzulli
