For myself, my years of gig hopping are over as I have firmly planted my tutu on the shelf and only work within the Sacramento area.
Sacramento is what you might call a "little-big" town when it comes to dance and theater. We have a professional ballet company, two professional theater companies, and a summer-stock Broadway Musical company. We are privileged to be a stop on the national tour circuit for dance, theater and music. Not bad for what a lot of people consider a cow town. These companies only thrive on the support of the community.
The Sacramento Community Center Theatre
What exists beyond that is a plethora of community theater companies and a few semi-professional dance companies who all try and make a partial living with their passion. This town's theater and dance scene's history is rooted very deeply for some people and everyone knows everyone by association. I have seen (and experienced myself) the failure of many of these artistic dreams for a variety of reasons. The competition can be fierce in a small pond.
As I sit back and view the artistic scenery, I begin to ponder... is it community or competition? And what is the difference? How do we treat each other? How do we support each other? Or do we? How do we talk about each other? And what does this teach the children that aspire to be like us? What type of community do we see ourselves as? How would we like to see ourselves ten years in the future? How do we make that happen?
The truth of the matter is, I am not going anywhere any time soon. That tutu is still on a shelf here in this "little-big" town of Sacramento...and yes, I would still like to work here, as do many others. I do not want to be alone in this endeavor, and I certainly do not consider myself beneath or above the challenge of working with my peers. I enjoy watching my community with its artistic endeavors, and I hope that they will support me in mine. Hopefully my community will grow and mature. More theater and dance is a good thing, and hopefully there will be a little something for everyone. I am curious how others feel in "little-big" towns like mine.
My dear friend Nolan T'Sani perfoming with the Sacramento Ballet.
