Today we’d like to introduce you to Hannah Baumgarten.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Hannah. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
My story as an artist, a community leader and an educator winds through many years from California to Jerusalem, from Salt Lake City to New York City and Juilliard, and finally to Miami, where I found my personal, artistic, and permanent home.
In retrospect, many people lit the candles on my path to this moment. Each incredibly, special–each themselves driven by a deep connection to the art of dance- but in fact, I ended up in South Florida to get away from another winter of blizzards in Manhattan!! I had suffered more than 13 in 1993 and as the winter of 1994 began with a white slam, I quit my waitress job and apprenticeship at Jennifer Muller, my then-boyfriend and I packed up a u-haul with our possessions and our four cats and we hit I95 South for the warmth of a new adventure.
We knew about the recently designated “Art Deco District” which meant that there was some beautiful architecture, the exodus of many of the NY Gay community, fleeing the turbulence of the AIDS crisis for the peaceful waves on the South Beach shores, which meant there was some culture seekers, and I knew of at least one modern dance company run by a former teacher (Geri Houlihan) where I could ask for a job.
I arrived to the balmy 69 degree temperatures of winter, and gave myself the holiday break to adjust to the wonderland of Miami Beach. Being the urbanites we were, we looked into renting a house in an undeveloped neighborhood near downtown, but deemed it too dangerous. Now that area is smack in the middle of the hottest spots, between the Miami Design District and Wynwood. We Knew it!
Back on Miami Beach, where we planted ourselves with a seventh floor balcony view of the intense Holocaust Memorial and the TOPA (The Jackie Gleason Theater of the Performing Arts- now the Fillmore). The place was amazing, the architecture reminded me of my home in Santa Cruz, where a 1930’s casino had driven a boom in development, and the years in Jerusalem, where English was definitively NOT the first language. There was sun, sand and lots of partying.
But soon I began to itch to return to my lifelong passion in dance, and basically busted my way into the Colony Theater on Lincoln Road. Mind you, Lincoln Road at the time was all but abandoned, with one restaurant (Pacific Time), one bar (821) and some geriatric shoe stores for my Jewish grandma. But the Miami City Ballet had its studios there, the Colony was operating, and Eric Fliss, the Technical Director (Now the Director of the South Miami Dade Cultural Arts Center) literally climbed out of a crawl-space office to graciously give me the run-down of the dance community.
I was stunned with the amount of dance. Geri Houlihan was on tour in Brazil. New World School of the Arts Dance Dept. was run by Daniel Lewis, after 21 years at Juilliard. Beyond those, I heard about several others; one company that worked with mixed ability dancers (Karen Peterson & Dancers), another that presented historic reconstructions of modern dance masters (Momentum) and PAN, Performing Arts Network, a collaborative studio run by three women (Ilisa Rosal, Brigid Baker and Michelle Kadison) and I had all the info I needed to start.
I quickly leapt into the community, gaining work with Karen Peterson and Delma Isles of Momentum. Ilisa Rosal offered me a teaching position at PAN and my first professional choreographic commission to work with her company, Ballet Flamenco La Rosa, on an incredible project called the Mask and the Mirror, about the Convivencia, a period of diversity and integration in Spain prior to the Inquisition, not dissimilar to the South Florida of today!
Teaching at PAN led to the coincidental meeting of a dancer from Italy. He was the boyfriend of one of my students, and when I met him, my life changed forever.
Indeed, he was tall and handsome. Our meeting was like love at first sight, with flashing lights and sounds– but a different kind of love. It didn’t take us long to understand that we were a natural partners. We quickly became collaborators, trusted friends, and within a year, Dance NOW! Miami was founded.
Since then, 20 years ago, Diego Salterini and I have grown together creating our reality as Directors of a professional dance company from our imaginations, ingenuity, sweat and elbow grease, and with the gracious support of this Incredible place we both call home. Dance NOW! has represented Miami from Europe to South America. We have presented master works in ballet and modern dance from the 20th and 21st centuries, (Doris Humphrey, Jose Limon, Joffrey Ballet, Tandy Beal, Carolyn Dorman…), we have performed for over 20,000 children, and probably taught almost that many! Our company is nine members strong and we continue to be inspired by the world around us, creating work that speaks to the political, the personal and the ephemeral, the best we can.
When I looked into what this community had to offer, I didn’t know about the geniuses running the Cultural Affairs Department, Michael Spring and Deborah Margol. They, over 35 years have set a precedent nationally and internationally for growing a world-class city through the development of Arts and Culture. They have a fierce army of a staff, and over the years, I have learned that We, and Dance NOW! owe so much of what we have to their vision and commitment. They led the way for the other municipalities to boost the arts with real working dollars and have made it possible for most of what you experience artistically in this world class city.
I didn’t know that so many would be so generous to us; Ilisa Rosal and Delma Iles, helping us to get off the ground; Anita Hope opening a facility like the Little Haiti Cultural Complex to become our base—since then we have tried to pay it forward–have tried to make the Complex a welcoming center for everyone in the dance community – in fact, just last night we hosted the newest cultural initiative launch from there—the Miami Dance Hub—a website for all things dance, founded by Cameron Basden.
For Diego and I, the journey IS the destination. And in this rich fertile cultural soil, we don’t see any end in sight!!!!!!
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
There are always challenges. Deaths of colleagues, catastrophic ticket sales, disastrously bad work. But it is all part of the journey– and considering everyone’s life is full of challenge– I am just happy to be doing what a love on a daily basis. Who could ask for more?
Please tell us about Dance NOW! Miami.
I think I explained about Dance NOW! Miami and its accomplishments. The only other thing I can mention is my true love of teaching. Each class is like a mini-performance, and I love to see the impact of teaching on the students. I have no children of my own, but the relationships I have forged with many of my “kids” as I call them, enrich not only their life, but mine as well, as I watch them grow and succeed, stumble and recover, and share a joy of dance.
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
Don’t rush. Being done first is not necessarily being done best. And don’t be ashamed. We all make mistakes, and we all come from a place of growth. Live without fear.
Contact Info:
- Address: 212 NE 59th Terrace Miami, FL 33137
- Website: www.dancenowmiami.org
- Phone: 305-975-8489
- Email: info@dancenowmiami.org
- Instagram: @dancenowmiami
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dancenowmiami/
- Twitter: @dancenowmiami
- Other: vimeo.com/dancenowmiami
Image Credit:
Jenny Abreu
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