Dance/USA talks to Katherine Brown, Executive Director of the largest non-profit dance organisation in America, about fundraising, embracing new media and the relationship between artistic and management teams.
Dance/USA: Did you have early dance experiences? Were you a “ballet girl”?
Katherine Brown: I took ballet as a very young girl just for a brief period of time. Then I got into other pursuits that are related in an athletic way, but not dance. I was a competitive gymnast and a competitive diver in my teens and early twenties.
I got interested in dance again when I went to college where there was a really good dance department. I didn’t get into it seriously, but took a few dance classes with Helen McGehee, former Martha Graham dancer, who was head of the dance department at the time, and I learned a lot. That was it until I kind of fell into it professionally.
D/USA: Thinking back on your physical activities in your youth, are there any ideas or elements from your training in gymnastics and diving that you bring into your work today as leader of a major ballet company?
KB: I think the discipline and control involved in any endeavor like that is great training that you can draw on in professional situations for the rest of your life.
D/USA: You manage the largest non-profit dance organization in the country. What is it that gets you up in the morning, gets you going and gets you into your day? Professionally and personally, if you want to share... Keep reading on Dance/USA
Dance/USA: Did you have early dance experiences? Were you a “ballet girl”?
Katherine Brown: I took ballet as a very young girl just for a brief period of time. Then I got into other pursuits that are related in an athletic way, but not dance. I was a competitive gymnast and a competitive diver in my teens and early twenties.
I got interested in dance again when I went to college where there was a really good dance department. I didn’t get into it seriously, but took a few dance classes with Helen McGehee, former Martha Graham dancer, who was head of the dance department at the time, and I learned a lot. That was it until I kind of fell into it professionally.
D/USA: Thinking back on your physical activities in your youth, are there any ideas or elements from your training in gymnastics and diving that you bring into your work today as leader of a major ballet company?
KB: I think the discipline and control involved in any endeavor like that is great training that you can draw on in professional situations for the rest of your life.
D/USA: You manage the largest non-profit dance organization in the country. What is it that gets you up in the morning, gets you going and gets you into your day? Professionally and personally, if you want to share... Keep reading on Dance/USA