Bio from 2014
Allison the Beautiful Tango Fairy from Narnia
Rose Photo Photo by Jamie Street on Unsplash
Allison has danced her entire life. She started tango completely by chance:
Missing dance one day, completely broke, she remembered how yoga studios had work exchange programs, she thought, maybe dance studios do too. So she emailed all the dance studios in her area. Triangulo tango studio in Chelsea was the only one that replied. So she thought to herself, I guess I'll become a tango dancer. A little over a year later, she was dancing in Buenos Aires.
Allison considers herself a milonguera, someone who learns tango solely through milongas (parties where you ). A life long fan of hip hop, she enjoys listening and dancing to hip hop and pop, and incorporating the edgy, earthy, sexy style into the tango.
Before tango, Allison focused on Middle Eastern dance, bellydance. She is intrigued by how two dances, very different visually, have similar principles. She loves fusion music and dance, as a reflection of an evolving multi-cultural world. She disagrees with the purists who think there is a traditional way to do anything: the tango has constantly been evolving, as does any other art form. However, she thinks one has to learn as much of the 'rules' as possible before breaking them. She is a big proponent of traveling, to get an authentic, in-depth perspective on an art form. She can't wait to do this with her bellydance and martial arts, (more global trips!) and she offers any support she can (logistical, advice, experience, help with marketing) to other artists on similar adventures!
Dance for Parkinson's
2014
Allison is a weekly volunteer at the Dance for Parkinson's class at the Mark Morris center in Brooklyn. Stay tuned for updates in the program!
What Dance for Parkinson's program means to me:
"I enjoy having a space where I practice grace and kindness each week. New York gets to you. Ever since I got back from Argentina, I feel the city pressure creeping up on me. In the subways, on the sidewalks. This rushing around implies an egotism. 'Excuse me, get out of my way, I am in a rush,' Me, my, I.
As I go deeper and deeper into dance, it becomes clear to me that practicing the steps will only get me so far. Body is made up of thoughts; to become a better dancer I need to have grace ingrained so deeply in me, that it becomes the fountain of all my movement. You can't decide to just point your toes one day, on stage. You have to be kind to everyone on the way to the gig, on the way to the practice, always.
It starts with posture. Posture is related to attitude. Besides, what would be the point of wowing people on stage, and then brushing by people rudely on the street? They are all your audience. Why did you want to become a dancer anyways?
Grace is something you can't fake. Now I have a place to practice this.
What I love about Dance for PD is that everyone can be a dancer. That is world I always believed in. Dancers find that extra little room to create something beautiful, in the range of motion you can do. "
Bellydance for girls in the Villa 15
2013
Allison taught Bellydance to middle school girls in Mataderos, Buenos Aires. For the 2013 Argentine School year, she taught beginning English to children 5-13, twice weekly.
"In class, we would translate pop songs, I was always dancing around the room. Its so funny, I remember junior year English, twirling around in clas before the teacher got there, because I couldn't contain myself, and my teachers always complaining about my handwriting. Well, now I'm the teacher, and here I am dancing in English class, and the kids are complaining about my handwriting."
Out of these classes, came the requests for bellydance.
"I find bellydance so empowering for girls and women. It uses our natural movements, it can be both sexy and elegant, and powerful too. The dancer can improvise, be creative, it has a strong percussive base to it, yet the arms can be lyrical. Given these movements, the girls can then take them and create whatever they would like with it. I wanted to give them that box of tools, just like what was given to me, when I was just a few years older then them. I was so inspired by the women teaching me bellydance in California. There was such a camaraderie there. I wanted to give back the amazing gift of dance that was given to me."
"Each day we would end with doing the gratitude excercise I learned from a yoga video, saying thank you for our legs, heart, head, going down. I wanted to create a nice environment for them. I know I'm just beginning teaching, but I hope some of the passion and inspiration stuck with them. Las extranio chicas!"
Tango for Tigers
2012
Allison organized and hosted a fundraiser for endangered tigers at Triangulo Dance Studio, in February 2012. She collaborated with
- Dance teachers who donated lesson time to the cause, as prizes for top donors
- Panthera, the leading organization on big cat conservation, who helped educate the tango staff on the global tiger situation
- Trader Joe's, who donated food to the event so all profits could go to Tigers!
- Triangulo Dance Studio, who donated their studio space to the event
Allison and staff raised over $700 that night! The money went to Panthera, who used the money to buy camera traps (which take pictures of tigers to document for research purposes) and outfit rangers with supplies. Please check out these two amazing organizations!
