What role does dance play in your day-to-day life? How about in your culture, community, family or background?
For me dance is not only my career path; it’s my lifestyle and my heart. The daily ritual of dance class makes me feel connected to the world and myself. I feel brighter and clearer with every step after class. Spending most of my life learning and teaching dance, I have found my creativity and physicality has served me deeply in a performance setting. As for community, my community is the contemporary dance community. I am so lucky to be inspired by so many brilliant minds and driven hearts of the dancers that I work with directly and indirectly every day. In this culture, even within my family, I think dance is an amazing idea but not always given the attention it deserves. I am interested in being the person that I am, doing what I love and being a part of projects where the process includes asking; who are we speaking to and why? I am working toward a better understanding of what is true to me, balanced with the intention to constantly evolve with our culture and community, so that what I share alone or in a group is relevant and tangible to the audience.
How has your relationship with dance evolved through time?
My relationship with dance has evolved by default and by great effort. I started with the specific goal of achieving the highest level of technique and performance skill. I believed that I could be a pop star, a company’s dancer, a musical theatre performer … I would have been anything anyone who would hire me would want me to be … I believed that dance was a destination.
Thank god now I can say that dance is a practice, a journey and a choice. I still think dance probably defines me more than may be healthy … but I’ve got time.
What are your plans for the near future?
I continue to love GMD, and working with the most amazing dancers and teachers. CCDT’s Solar Dance Project has been the heart and soul of reminding me the real purpose of dance. I am currently developing dance workshops that will travel to Hawaii and Nova Scotia this year.
Pamela Shoebottom is a graduate of York University with BFA in Dance. She has performed in Hong Kong with Teresa Carpio for the past 10 years and has danced with Tilt Sound and Motion, Parahumans, Amy Hampton and Jesse Dell over the past 6 years in Toronto. As Associate Director of the Solar Dance Project, Pamela has been inspired by the amazing work accomplished with this outreach program for school children. Pamela continues to play a large role in working with GMD to provide high quality professional open dance classes to the dance community of Toronto.