Joel Hathaway
So here I am, learning how to dance even better...
Inspiration:
Basically, I'm really at Cornish for the performance exposure and picking up new ways of using my body and expressing it through movement, and picking up a few choreography learning devices along the way. I'm mostly into Ballet for the most part, the idea of lengthening your body and gaining so much height is so ridiculously hard to do, and that inspires me to keep pushing myself to go further.
Influence:
My mother took me to go see a local production of The Nutcracker when I was 5 years old, I was totally hooked after that. Around the time when I was in the 2nd grade I wanted to take ballet lessons, hated it at first, but I wanted to be in Nutcracker so badly that I stuck with it, and then it had its benefits. I also grew up doing Jazz and Tap, which will always be a part of me whatever direction I decide to go in. In High School I did a lot of Musicals; for a while I thought I wanted to be on Broadway, but then I just got over it, and then that was when I realized that I just wanted to do ballet and that nothing else in the whole world makes me happier. So here I am, learning how to dance even better.
Current Projects:
I'm working with Courtney Harris and Wade Madsen for Spring Cornish Dance Theater 2007. I am also working with the Evergreen City Ballet in their upcoming production of Duets which will showcase a bunch of work done by Wade Walthall, Artistic Director.
Hometown:
I'm from Seaside, Oregon. Seaside is a small beach town on the Oregon Coast. Seaside is Tragic... end of the story. Seattle is different, I feel at home here right now, I feel that I have really established myself here in this city and a lot of people know who I am now, and it kind of rocks.
Why Cornish?
Cornish was the only school that I applied to. I didn't have anyone to prepare me to audition and expect to make it in to another private arts school, and Seattle I always thought was a neat city.
Experience:
It's been rough, trying to define who I am has been a challenge, thank god I'm on a good path now though. It's been challenging as well because I'm seeing such a huge dramatic change in the way I use my body, it's such an incredible feeling, but it wasn't easy, it took a lot of time. Still continuing to perfect the things that are holding me back from being ultimately fabulous though.
Hobbies:
I have a Black Belt in Shopping... Dolce & Gabbana specially made.
In 5 Years:
Hopefully an apprentice or a full company member with a ballet company.
Advice:
Save Money. Make sure you have at least one day off a week to rest your body. Go see live performances all the time, that is definitely one of the biggest ways to get inspired and know potential companies that you may want to look further into.
Process:
I'm very musically inspired, so there are a lot of sections in music where I can see specific choreography being put to use. I'm playing with a lot of different ideas right now, currently I'm really curious about sadness, it seems so incomplete and I want to explore that more. There are a lot of images that I like to imitate as well and incorporate that into my dances.