Today we’d like to introduce you to Evie Borden.
Hi Evie, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I started dancing at age two, and what began as something my mom thought would be cute quickly became a huge part of my life. By middle school, I was seriously pursuing ballet, eventually transitioning to homeschooling so I could balance academics with an increasingly demanding training schedule.
Throughout high school, I had the opportunity to train at a high level in South Florida, studying ballet, contemporary dance, choreography, and performance. I chose to continue dancing in college at Palm Beach Atlantic University, where I expanded my experience as both a performer and teacher.
Since graduating, I’ve built a career that combines my professional experience with my continued connection to dance. I work in operations for a major retailer and teach dance throughout the Palm Beach County community.
Today, I also work alongside my mom and sister to support dancers and their families. Together, we bring perspectives from professional dance, teaching, business, and years of navigating the dance world as a family. We now use those experiences to help dancers and parents set meaningful goals, communicate more effectively, make thoughtful training decisions, and navigate the bigger picture of a dancer’s journey. For me, it’s been a natural evolution from growing up in dance to helping other families find greater clarity and purpose in their own experience.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I definitely wouldn’t call it a smooth road. Training seriously in ballet or any performing art requires an enormous commitment—not only from the dancer, but often from the entire family. There are financial sacrifices, demanding schedules, physical expectations, and the mental pressure that can come from pursuing something where talent and hard work don’t always determine the outcome.
As a tall dancer at 5’11”, I also learned early that factors outside of my control could influence which professional opportunities were available to me. Dance can be incredibly subjective. Casting and hiring can depend on height, body proportions, artistic preferences, company needs, timing, and many other factors beyond how hard someone works or how talented they are.
That realization ultimately helped me broaden my definition of success. Choosing college opened doors to performing, teaching, choreography, professional development, and eventually helping other dancers and families navigate their own paths.
I think that experience is a big part of why I’m passionate about the work we do now. Dancers need goals, but they also need perspective, flexibility, and people around them who can help them recognize that there can be many successful outcomes from years of serious training.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I’m a dancer, choreographer, and dance teacher, and my work has evolved to include supporting dancers beyond what happens in the studio. I bring years of intensive training, performance experience, teaching, and choreography into the way I work with young dancers. I’m especially interested in helping dancers develop in an environment that values both high-level training and their overall well-being.
As a choreographer and teacher, I draw from the knowledge passed down to me by the many influential teachers and mentors throughout my own training. I want my choreography to connect with people while creating an environment where dancers feel challenged, inspired, and supported.
I’m especially proud that my mom, sister, and I are now taking our collective experiences and using them to positively influence the dance community in a new way. One of our upcoming projects is a goal-setting workshop specifically for dancers and their parents, designed to help families identify what they want from dance, communicate about those goals, and make more intentional decisions about the dancer’s path.
What sets our work apart is that we understand this journey from multiple perspectives as professional dancers, teachers, and a parent who has navigated years of serious training with two daughters. We understand both how rewarding dance can be and how complicated the journey can become for dancers and their families.
Risk taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
One of the biggest risks I’ve taken has actually been choosing to continue working in the dance world. Dance can be an incredibly rewarding environment, but it isn’t always an easy one to manage professionally. Over time, I’ve learned that I truly love this community and that it’s where I belong, but I also want to be part of making it better for the dancers and families coming up behind me. That has given my relationship with dance a new sense of purpose.
On a completely different scale, one of the most memorable risks I took was traveling to Japan to work on a photography project. It pushed me far outside my comfort zone. It was exciting, stressful, and a huge learning experience, but it reinforced for me that some of the experiences that make you the most nervous are also the ones that help you grow the most.
Pricing:
- Bring “Dance with Direction” to your dance studio!
- -setting workshops for dancers and their parents designed to create clarity, communication, and purpose for the year ahead.
- Available for dance studios, programs, intensives, and organizations throughout South Florida.
- Contact us to discuss your dancers and families and schedule a workshop.
- Flexible workshop options designed around your studio and families. Contact us for details and scheduling.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.ourgreatinvestment.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dancerevie1?igsh=Y20zN3Y2N3BxNGlj
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@our.great.investment
