HOME offers DO40 members a new way to creatively survive!

Another opportunity to promote our mission

Dancers Over 40 is promoting a partnership with HOME (a.k.a. Home For Theater Performers) a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting the professional theater community to expand our members’ creative and economic viability.  It’s part of our mission, and when we were approached by HOME, we thought it a win-win situation for all involved.  HOME makes professional dance, theater and acting classes affordable and accessible by providing a risk-free shelter for teachers who are currently producing their own classes.

The idea is that teachers will not have to spend so much money to set up a class and will enjoy a lifestyle where they know how much they will make from week to week regardless of how many people show up. Classes that can handle more people inherently subsidize classes that need more individualized attention. Students get classes taught by real professionals at reasonable prices and teachers actually make a stress-free living. In order to do this effectively,

HOME needs seasoned professionals who are in a teaching phase in their career to share their expertise. This is where Dancers Over 40 comes in – with experience a-plenty to impart!   If there is enough interest, HOME will create a unique set of programming for DO40 members to gain from that experience in the form of round table discussions on auditioning and how it has changed, classes that compare and contrast styles as they have developed over time, and classes that teach original choreography to document and preserve important contributions to the theater dance world.

As in politics and life, performers must learn from our history in order to create new wonders. This is another extension of our popular panel and performance series, and takes us deeper into our mission and gives our members other avenues and opportunities besides the panels. DO40 President John Sefakis has met numerous times with Meredith Kautiz, Director of HOME, to discuss all these possibilities, and they have come away from these conversations revitalized by the prospects.  

HOME also endeavors to create a place where Dancers Over 40 can continue to participate in classes and events with other professionals. Whether you teach, still like to take class but don’t like the crowded pressure-filled major studios, or just like to watch or talk about your experiences, HOME may be for you. Please look at the HOME website to see some of the work they have been doing (www.homenyc.org). 

For those of you with questions and without regular internet access, call 917-208-5096 and leave a message during regular business hours.

Go to homenyc.org

HOME - How it All Began

Meredith Kaunitz came to her idea for this teaching paradigm through real-life experiences we all have as performers.  As a full time performer, she was in her glory working hard, running on too little sleep and not quite enough social life in order to fit in auditioning, mailings, classes, survival jobs, showcases, hopping out of town for gigs, etc.  She had “made it,” and was working in the theater --  and that was all that mattered- until one blustery morning she got up too early and bundled up for a frosty trip to an open call for an emergency replacement in the chorus of a National Tour.

It was a typical scenario with a hundred or more hopefuls crammed into a medium studio and told to “warm up because we’re doing splits”. Most of them made it through unscathed. Meredith was not so lucky.  She tore her hamstring during the first combination. That was the end of her audition season.

As a typical performer, she had no health insurance and was just getting by financially. There was no way to get a free MRI, no Emergency Room, no surgery- no auditioning for a long time. This experience changed how Meredith saw the Industry as a whole, fundamentally. She began to become frustrated that there was no place for a professional to go to do things affordably. It seemed everyone was trying to make a living by providing something to performers- even other performers.

The simple difference between having two good legs and only one made the entire process seem insurmountable. Running across town from dance class to audition to survival job just took too much time.  After discouragement, and then anger, Meredith got inspired.

What if, she thought, there was a place where trained performers could pay one small monthly fee and find all of the things they need during a day of running around in one spot: dance classes, monologue and song coaches, a place to sit and read your sides, a place to change from office clothes to audition clothes, a place to warm food you’ve made at home, a place where everybody is in the same boat and everybody is helping each other be their best? Meredith looked into how much it would cost to build such a haven, and that’s how HOME started.

DO40 Launches a New Job Initiative for Members:

Pictures on Line for Producers/Casting Directors!

Dancers Over 40, in an effort to continue its mission of promoting creative outlets for our members, is instituting a new section on our website dedicated to help get members more visibility in the workplace – the ARTS workplace. 

DO40 ARTSWorkplace is up and running! CLICK HERE to view the gallery.

Due to the tremendous response to our Youtube channel, we have been contacted numerous times by casting directors about our members.  They see them, hear them and in some cases, see them perform on our channel.  And guess what?  They’re getting jobs!  So, in order to link our members – and website --  to this wonderful opportunity, we’ve decided to eliminate our discussion board for now (and let our youtube site emails take its place) and place resume pictures of our members on our site. 

It seems that casting directors, inundated with pictures, must plow through pages and pages of pictures on the SAG website and others to find performers for their needs.  Now that DO40 is getting known, casting directors will have a place to go for niche casting – they don’t have to go through thousands of pictures and untried professionals.  They’re here, they’re clearly mature, get used to it! 

So, MEMBERS, please send your pictures and resumes to dancersover40@aol.com and once we’re all set up, WE will be contacting casting directors and letting them know about this new, unique niche service for them – and our members!

This will be a free service for DO40 members, and eventually we may open it up to non-members for a small fee, but for right now, we’ll institute this feature with the following instructions:

• Only one picture can be posted, b/w or color; the picture can only be changed every 60 days
• DO40 will keep on file the resumes of these members
• No information, including phone numbers will be given out to casting people;
• Our DO40 Hotline will be the only way casting people can contact DO40
• DO40 will contact the DO40 member when casting people contact our hotline
• Please call our hotline if you have any questions about this service

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