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| Lees as Cassie in "A Chorus Line" |
Lees Hummel is a mother, dancer, teacher and choreographer currently based in New Brunswick, New Jersey.
For a complete bio, as well as additional photos and videos of Lees' work, please visit http://www.leeshummel.com/
How many
children do you have? Boys? Girls? I am blessed
with one girl, whom I had late in life and is a high energy child.
Her name is Nyssa Shoshanna Harris, half Greek, German and Scottish and half
Jewish.
How old are
your children? She is 9
going on 19
Where were
you in your career when your daughter was born?
I was at the
height of my teaching and choreographic career when my daughter was born having
already had a good 20 years of performing behind me. I was an Assistant
Professor of Dance at Western Kentucky University when I became pregnant.
It was the first decent paying full
time "real
job" with benefits and insurance and I had ever had and one I spent 5
years trying teaching adjunct at various universities to attain. I had
just choreographed Frankenstein,
a full length ballet, for Fort Wayne Ballet with my colleague Stephen K. Stone
and I felt I was in the prime of both teaching and presenting
choreography. I was a bit devastated to have to give up my tenure track
position, due to finances and relocating for my husband's job, which was
not something the University wanted me to do. They were perfectly happy to allow me a
semester's leave before I returned to teaching.
In the
end, it worked out for the best. I didn't think I could juggle the full university
teaching schedule of six classes per semester, choreographing for the dance
company and completing all the professional development required for tenure
while trying to be a Mom. It took me a long time to adjust to being a
"full time mom" and not having a "real job" teaching and
choreographing, but when I think of all the valuable time I had with my
daughter, I am grateful for that decision. It has been worth every moment
of motherhood - even the vomiting all over the car, me, and the house
moments.
Thankfully, I
was beyond my premiere performing career, as I have never felt like I have
gotten back to performance shape since the pregnancy. I was lucky enough
to continue occasionally performing the first few years after she was born, but
now that kind of body capacity seems beyond me.
How did you
plan to fit motherhood into your artistic life? How much did your plans
evolve into reality?
Sadly, I had
no "plan" on how to fit motherhood into anything, let alone my
artistic life. I was so surprised I was even having a child, after
assuming I never would, that I didn't plan for anything. I was pretty
clueless going into it and at six months pregnant I moved from Kentucky to
North Carolina. I wanted to connect with the dance scene there and find
ways to teach part-time in NC.
Really, I was
in survival mode, as looking for dance work teaching and choreographing was
what I knew. This pregnancy thing was foreign and something I kept
thinking I would figure out as I went along. I was lucky enough to
make great friends and contacts, allowing me to continue teaching at the
college level as an adjunct and the occasional local Simonson class for adults.
I guess my accidental plans evolved into reality.
Right now,
what is your goal creatively and artistically? How are you making it all
work?
Hahahaha...I
am laughing because my goals, of any sort, are usually just to make it through
the day. My real goal is to return to a full-time university teaching
position so I can have summers with Nyssa before she gets to the age where she
hates me.
The issue with
me now, regarding finding a full-time teaching position, is my age and the techniques
that I want to teach. I find myself getting age discriminated out of
jobs, which as a dancer is really not that surprising, but I feel if they would
take the chance to see me in action, I would have a better chance at another
teaching position. A creative goal would be to get back into
choreographing for more professional companies rather than just university
dance programs. Still, I do have opportunities to guest teach and
choreograph, which keeps me going.
The issue is
making my making sure my opportunities work for my family. My husband and
I discuss our schedules daily, and it's always a juggle to make sure one of us
is available to take, pick up, or stay with Nyssa. It requires a great
deal of communication and organization, and sometimes, she just has to
accompany us to our work.
You are
teaching again in New York City, at the renowned Dance New Amsterdam.
What are your childcare/travel arrangements for this?
One of the
reasons I am on the steady substitute list to teach Simonson technique at Dance
New Amsterdam (DNA) and not trying to get a regular class on the roster is that
the commute is too far for me to do on a daily basis with a child in school and
I have a full time administrative job with lustigdancetheatre. We only
live 35 miles from NYC, but like any large metropolitan area, it can take an
hour or more to travel that distance. If I teach during the week I take
the train from New Brunswick, (where I currently work) which is an hour commute
and if it's a weekend, we all drive in as a family. My husband will truck
around NYC with Nyssa and go see the sights. On Sundays we usually make
it into the city in about 45 minutes, but leaving can be difficult and take
much longer. During the weeknights, I literally travel in, teach,
and hightail it out of there because I need to catch a train home. The
nice thing is that the students are always asking me when I will teach again
because they like my class, so that is satisfying. I never say
"yes" to taking a substitute class until I have confirmed with my
husband that he can take care of Nyssa. The lines of communication have
to stay open all the time.
Any
I-can't-believe-this-really-happened dancing/choreographing/teaching mommy
moments you'd love to share?
Oh yes, one of
my most vivid memories is when Nyssa was two years old and I had to take her
with me to teach at Central Piedmont Community College. The woman who was
in charge of the dance program for over 25 years had basically raised her two
daughters in the dance studio at the college and encouraged me to bring Nyssa
when my husband was out of town, (which at the time was every week). I
was teaching a two hour Simonson technique class on Tues/Thurs evenings with a
composition/choreography class afterwards. I would always bring plenty of
toys, snacks and supplies for Nyssa to the class.
As I was
teaching the developé
series (45 minutes into class), Nyssa had diarrhea which began to soak through
her clothes and of course she was walking around. I grabbed her and
proceeded to finish teaching the exercise while holding her, put the music
on and called out the series while the dancers were doing it and gave
corrections, while changing her diaper, clothes and cleaning up diarrhea off of
her and myself. Once the developés were over, I kept on teaching like normal. Not one
student said a word. I remember thinking at the time that if I could do
that, I could probably do anything.
Please enjoy a moderate intermission before Act II.
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