Jan 5, 2024
Jess Grippo is a force ofnature:author,a TEDxspeaker and founder of Dance Again, a New York Citydance studio that offers a welcoming space for rusty dancers andnewbies alike. One of her most popular offerings is Rusty Balletwhere, she says, “creaky joints and cranky people are welcome.” Wetalk about how she came up with the idea of Rusty Ballet, whyrekindling creativity saves us and the one thing we can all do nowto start (or start again) dancing.
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Transcript:
Debra Hotaling (00:04):
Hello and welcome to the Dareful Project. I'm Debra Hotaling. JessGrippo is a lot of things. She's an entrepreneur, a TEDx speaker, adancer and founder of Dance Again, a New York City and online dancespace that offers dance classes for rusty dancers and newbies. Infact, she offers classes called Rusty Ballet, where “creaky jointsand cranky people are welcome.” Jess, welcome!
Jess Grippo (00:38):
Thank you so much, Debra. Thanks for having me on.
Debra (00:41):
So ground us on Dance Again. Where did that start?
Jess (00:47):
Sure. Well, it started with my own personal journey back into danceafter having quit when I was about 19 years old. I was very seriousabout ballet when I was younger, but decided to go to regularcollege and study and do other things through my twenties. And Ifound myself in my late twenties with that inner dancer calling tome being like, don't forget about me. But yet I personally was waytoo intimidated to just step foot into a random dance class. Ilived in New York City. A lot of the classes, even if they'relabeled as a beginner class, they just seem fast and advanced andjust, I was not in practice at the time. And so for me at the time,I just was like, well, I'm going to figure out my own way to dothis. And it started out with dancing alone in my room a lot andkind of making quirky dance videos. This was way before TikTokexisted, and I just started to find my own expression and my ownmovement through dance. And as time went on, I was like, all right,well, I think I've nailed the alone part of dancing, so let me seeif other people want to join.
Jess (02:02):
And I started to kind of put word out there, and that was theorigins of Dance Again. And the intention was that while it'sreally easy to find at least New York, LA, the major cities, youcan probably find a professional-ish adult dance class in otherplaces. Maybe you can't even find that. You can probably find aZumba class or something, dance cardio based. But it seems like thecardio workout focused dance classes are the more accessiblethings. But I was really, I didn't want to just go in and work outand sweat. I wanted to feel like a dancer again. I wanted to learnchoreography and express myself and all those things. And so thatwas really the intention of filling in that gap of let's create aclass and a studio eventually that was that middle ground. That wassomething where could feel like a dancer again, have a class thatwasn't so technical or fast paced that they felt like, ah, I don'tknow how to keep up, but also not just a cardio class. And that wasthe birth of Dance Again. And here we are many yearslater.
Debra (03:21):
Love that so much. You were speaking to me because I took dance,like parks and rec dance when I was little and just loved love,loved it. And then in college I took ballet and jazz, and I lovedit. Super passionate, but not great. I was a grownup person, but itwas still, you were learning choreography, you were learning thecorrect technique. And so one year my wonderful husband gave meballet slippers. I'm like, I'm going to go back and take a balletclass. So I called this local ballet studio, and they're like, ohyes, did you ever take classes? You should come. Okay, Jess. I gotthere and everyone was in the biz and just keeping in shape beforetheir next dance video. I was so out of everybody's league that Ijust was like that five-year-old kid just twirling around in thecorner when everybody else was doing stuff. It was so awful that itwas actually really fun and hilarious. But I wish I would've knownyou then.
Jess (04:30):
Yeah, I wish you did too. And so wait, did you ever go back or didyou take that class and you were like, I don't know.
Debra (04:36):
No, that was it. That was it. So now I sort of satisfy myself withtaking Zuma classes at the gym and stuff like that. So it feelslike there's a big need. So tell me who shows up for yourclasses?
Jess (04:52):
We have a range of people I put on the website for rusty dancersand newbies who are maybe always had the dream to dance or lightlydance in the past, but are wanting to really start as an adult. Andrusty dancers, meaning those who did dance actively, notnecessarily professionally, but just took classes all through highschool or maybe even into college. But then when adulting gets thebest of us and we have a lot of other responsibilities and we kindof phase that part of our lives out. Yeah, and I mean it's a prettywide age range. My oldest student is 72 years old. I think theyoungest probably in their twenties. I think there's still evenpeople in their twenties who are freshly out of college but arestill missing it, are still craving that space that they can belongin a dance environment and not feel like an outsider.
Debra (05:57):
I want to talk about, you talk about your Aunt Maryanne and whatyou learned from her about creativity, which comes into what we'retalking about here of even if you have an older body or you've beenaway from an art that it can always welcome you back. Can you talka little bit more about creativity and what you learned fromher?
Jess (06:23):
Yeah. Well, my great aunt Marianne, she was incredible. And she wasa visual artist, a painter, which she only started in her fortiesin her life. The big takeaway that I learned from her wasself-preservation. Life is tough. Let's face it. Art can be thething that grounds you, that saves you, that keeps you connected tosomething rather than getting swept up and all the things that canhappen. And she was an influence on me when I was a teenager, Istarted to get introduced to her and she was my grandfather'ssister and my grandfather was an incredible man as well. He was,after he retired, he worked for Nabisco for a long time in theirNew Jersey Patterson factory.
Jess (07:34):
And he decided to take up a hobby of taking railroad spikes andturning them into these statues. And the artistic spark was therein our family, but it would come out later. And my aunt was, atthis point, she was actively painting and making art. And I met herat a couple of times when she came down to New Jersey from Vermont,and we became pen pals throughout my high school experience andwould write each other. And I still have these letters from herthat were just as someone young who was pursuing a career in danceat the time. And it was really cool to hear from someone who waslike, yeah, wow, your dance is your art and that's valid and that'ssomething that you should and can pursue. Whereas I don't think atleast I didn't have a lot of that influence, even though mygrandfather, like I said, was making things and doing his thingthere. I don't think many people are overtly become an artist, goto college and make a lot of money doing something. So, so herinfluence was pretty profound on me. And as I got older, me and mymom, my mom's cousin and her daughter, we would take these trips upto Vermont to visit her, and it always just left this mark on mysoul and inspired me to keep following whatever weird and wonderfulpath that I was on.
Debra (09:09):
But your story also brings up how we can have an effect on someoneand not even realize it. Her living that way, continuing to becurious about her art that I can tell really affected the way thatyou now live your life. And I wonder, I'm sure she did it for herown love and because she loved you, but also art can extend beyondour immediate perimeters, right?
Jess (09:36):
Yes, exactly. And I think even talking about self-preservation, andI think there's a stigma around artists in general that it is aselfish, you have to be selfish, you need to dedicate all this timeto the art. And it's like while yes, that can be true, it's likeyou said, the impact that your self-expression is making on otherpeople or the world, that can be huge and it can actually reallyhelp other people.
Debra (10:07):
So those of us who sort of dance in the kitchen or we're in thecar, going back to a dance class can still be super intimidating.You got to have the right look the right way, at least you feellike you do, and you got to walk in, you got to have a littleattitude, and it could be scary. How can someone getstarted?
Jess (10:35):
Well, what I recommend is what I did way back in the day, which isstart alone in your room. Don't put that pressure on yourself rightaway, especially if you're not familiar yet with what kind ofenvironment you're stepping into. Because with your experience,Debra, you step into the class and you're like, oh my God, I feellike such an outsider here. And then you didn't go back. It's like,that's what we want to avoid. It's like scarring ourselves, butsometimes we can't help it. But I would say depending on yourcomfort level, and that's why at Dance Again, we offer Dance AloneTogether. It's a series that you can do at home where every daythere's a different theme. The themes are lined up with my book,and it takes you on a journey of both and getting back in your bodyand moving.
Jess (11:35):
You can also take classes on Zoom with us, you can access the classlibrary. It's nice to have that option and to be like, okay, yeah,let me get comfortable. Let me start to really feel out what mybody is right now, how these movements are fitting in, and whatstyle might I like and what do I want to try and how do I feel as adancer Now to have time to explore that and then step into aclassroom, I think you can feel a lot more confident and it canmake it easier. And of course, having a buddy with you is always agood thing if you can rally someone else to join you to take thatdance class.
Debra (12:33):
Is there stuff that you need to do if you have an older body andyou're coming back just in preparation for thatmovement?
Jess (12:41):
Yeah, that's a great question. I think you strengthening havingpractices, and I'm not an expert. I actually brought in otherexperts on injury prevention who have taught classes with us atdance. Again, in particular Wendy Reinert and Dana De Francesco,and working in a way where you're feeling comfortable. With us, you're not doing triplepirouettes and high kicks and splits on the floor. There's no extrafancy technical moves on purpose because, and all of our teachersknow that we're making everything adaptable. If you can't stretchdown this far, you're going to do this instead. There's alwaysmodifications. Every dancer should be responsible for themselvesand their own body. And so things like Pilates strength trainingare helpful. I had a pretty intense hip injury last year and wentto physical therapy and worked with Wendy and did all this stuff totry to rehabilitate myself.
Jess (14:02):
And what I learned was like, okay, before I take a ballet class,which requires turn out in your feet, that's going to affect myhip. So I need to actually do some parallel squats and leg liftsbefore I take or teach ballet. And it actually really helps mebecause it repositions my hip, it activates other muscles. So Ilearned that for myself, unfortunately, based on an injury. But Ithink that taking it easy is always good. And then in doubt, ifyou're feeling any aches and pains to consult with someone or totake our injury prevention class and to just learn some techniquesthat are going to help you ease into it and warm up before class,what has
Debra (14:47):
What’s been the reception of Rusty Ballet?
Jess (15:00):
I would love to expand to LA for sure. I’m working on ways to dothat. Our classes are filling up. Whatever we're doing seems to beworking. I started a teacher training. So the idea is that I amworking on people who feel called to this mission and would love tonot only dance again, but teach Dance Again and create these kindsof spaces. You can work with me in a training and offer your ownclasses, similar to how Zumba works. So part of what I do too,outside of teaching and running the studio is guiding other peopleinto their own teaching and then also the business and creativeside of how to get that up and running in differentplaces.
Debra (15:55):
That is super, super cool. You talked about your great auntMaryanne, and I take from you that your family is really importantto you. You have another video that you shared in your TEDx aboutyour dad. Can you talk with us about that video?
Jess (16:30):
Yeah, sure. At the time, my dad suffered a stroke at a very youngage. He was 55. It caused him to be disabled, physically, mentally,and there was a time where he was just in and out of nursing homes.He broke his hip twice. It was a very intense, condensed time of alot of just hospital nursing homes, that kind of thing. I'm theonly child. I was there a lot helping my mom out with my dad. Andwe were at this nursing home and it was a rough patch wheresomething emotionally was going on where he was like, get me out.He was screaming, he wanted to get out of this nursing home. He wasjust not having it. And I was the only one there with him. And Iwas like, all right, let's go for a walk.
Jess (17:21):
And he was in the wheelchair and I was just wheeling around thisnursing home trying to find something to do, and we found an artroom first and did a little bit of art. And then I found this, thebig dining room had a CD player, and I was like, let's play a songhere, dad, take my camera. And I was like, I'm going to make adance video. That was back when I was pretty actively making dancevideos wherever I could. They had a Swan Lake cd, we put it in.Swan Lake was the first dance that I did when I was 11 years old atmy studio in New Jersey. It was very sentimental.
Jess (17:59):
So yeah, part of what I show in the video is the video that we madetogether with him taking my phone and filming the dance that I wasdoing with his, I love that video, his commentary of like, you gogirl. And he became a director, a videographer. He was involved inthe process in the ways that he could and it shifted his mood andit made the whole evening so much easier.
Debra (18:40):
No, it is an amazing moment in so many ways that it's first of all,visually raw. It's clearly in a nursing home you can see that it'sthe dining room and you're dancing around the empty tables. Butwhat I love and what's lovely and heartbreaking is your dad talkingbehind the camera because it's like he finds his voice watching youand having that moment of creating this video with you. And it isabsolutely extraordinary. And you talk about the power of art, whatthat meant for him to make something again, to have some control,to be able to create.
Jess (19:22):
Yeah. Yeah. It's huge. Something so small can be soprofound,
Debra (19:30):
And I think that that's probably what you find every day in smallways with your own studio.
Jess (19:36):
Yeah, absolutely. I think there's like every day when you're,that's the thing too with bigger dance classes is you don't evenknow who is stepping into your class and what they're going throughin their life. But you can feel the energy shift and you can feelthe joy that comes through in the expression and all that. Andthere's this one story that stands out to me. I had a student, thiswas many years ago, and she was part of this longer program I didat the time, and she didn't really talk much in class. She kind ofkept to herself, but she was there every week and seemed to enjoyit. And when I did the feedback forms at the end, one of the thingsshe wrote was that she was like, my husband's been very ill. It'sbeen really hard as a caretaker being so young. She was probably inher early thirties and she was like, this dance class has been sohealing to me, just having a space to come and move my body. And Iwould've never known. I really would've never known. But yeah, Ithink that's the power of dance and of creating, of expressing, ofbeing able to do that wherever you are.
Debra (21:04):
And it's easy to forget about our bodies. Maybe not you becauseyou're a dancer, but if you've got your job that you go do everyday and you got the brain going and doing all that stuff, and it'seasy to forget that you need to be moving and you can feel that waytoo.
Jess (21:21):
Yeah, it's easy to forget, even as a trained dancer, I thinksometimes even more so because with dance training comes this verydisciplined way of controlling what your body's doing. So it'slike, yes, there's more of a desire to move, but there's also moreof an ability to tame my body in a way. All those ballet trainingyears where it's almost like with that kind of dance when I was soserious and so technical, I was a robot at the time, being so in myhead, it's easy to carry that over and get stuck in my head too. SoI have to constantly remind myself and create spaces and structureswhere I'm regularly getting in my body in differentways.
Debra (22:18):
So what is the one step that we could take on today? And I meanlazy, tiny, small step that wouldn't feel like turning our lifeupside down where we could start nudging ourselves into dance or toa creative adventure.
Jess (22:39):
Okay, so I have this, I don't know what to call it, a technique ora step or a thing. You could do a thingy. I got a thingy, I call itthe Dance Shuffle or the Dance Shuffle solution. And all you do isyou take whatever music source you have, don't overthink it,iTunes, Spotify, whatever. Open up your full library. You're goingto hit shuffle and you're going to commit to dancing to whateversong comes on first. Maybe if you have more time, the first threesongs, that'll be maybe 10 minutes. But if it's the smallest stepyou could take, and it's one song, let the song come on and besurprised by what song it is. And maybe there's even something inthe lyrics that speaks to you, but give yourself that song tocommit to. I'm going to move my body to the song. Don't even haveto call it dancing, but see what it evokes in you. And it can startto open up your body and your movement, but also that mystery oflike, oh, what song is it going to be? Right? Which I think themystery and the magic is so much a part of the creative processtoo.
Debra (23:47):
I love that. As you were saying that, I was thinking, we don't getenough surprise in our life. Not good surprise, not surprise,surprise. But that’s what you’re describing: I have no idea what'sgoing to happen next, but I'm in.
Jess (24:00):
Yeah.
Debra (24:02):
So if we're in the New York area, we will find you because you haveyour studio and we will make sure that all of the links are thereand folks can sign up for classes, not just ballet either, right?You have other kinds of classes?
Jess (24:19):
Yes, we have other classes. We have have an amazing hip hop teacherdoing some hip hop. We have contemporary-ish, I call itcontemporary-ish because contemporary is very, I don't know, opento interpret interpretation as is modern, but we do our own flairof a learning choreography in that style. More styles might beadded, but those are the three right now that we focuson.
Debra (24:48):
And if we're not in the New York area, you have online classes.Describe what we might see there.
Jess (24:54):
So as of now, we we're streaming most if not all of our liveclasses, so you can sign up on Zoom and take class with us live.And then we also have the Dance Again digital studio, which you canjoin. And we have an archive of class recordings, so you can, onyour own time, take any class that's in there. And not onlyclasses, there's things like injury prevention, like I mentioned.There's more creativity focused courses that guide you on more of agetting in touch with your own creative self, not just dance moves.And there’s the 13 Day Dance Alone together series that you canjust kind of go through daily on your own time.
Debra (25:48):
I love this. And you have a book, right?
Jess (25:51):
I do.
Debra (25:54):
What's that about?
Jess (25:56):
It's called Dance With this Book, and the subtitle is Start aRevolution with Your Body Alone in Your Room. And really it trackssome personal stories just for inspiration around how I got backinto it, starting alone in my room, but it turns it back to you.The reader with every chapter ends with a prompt to get you movingin your own way. And again, you can bring that to life with that 13day digital series as well. That's all kind of in theme with thebook. So yeah, get us moving.
Debra (26:35):
That is a lot. And okay, we're ready to do this. I think soeverybody, we're going to have links for all of her stuff. Pleasetake one of her classes and report back. It sounds amazing and Iwant to hear about everything that goes on. And Jess best wishes,please expand. I'm ready for you out here.
Jess (26:56):
Okay, definitely. I would love that.
Debra (26:58):
Thanks again.
Jess (27:00):
Yeah, thank you for having me. This is great.
Debra (27:02):
Thanks for listening to the Dareful Project. Please follow, likeand leave a review. It really helps. We're on all your favoriteplatforms, Spotify, apple Podcasts, Google Podcast, iHeartRadio,Audible. Tune in Amazon Music, Stitcher, SoundCloud, and YouTube.And to connect, you can email me at debra@darefulone.com. That'sDebra, D-E-B-R-A at Dareful one. That's with the number one.com.Thanks for listening.
