the WERKing dancer: BUSTIN OUT SERIES: BOSs Kalyn Hardman

Kalyn Margaret Hardman

Hometown

Watkinsville, GA (near Athens)

Age

When did you start dancing?

I started dancing at age 3, but I don’t think I started training until age 19 when I came to Atlanta and realized that my passion for dance could actually become a career.

What/who made you want to become a professional dancer?

I don’t think there was a single person that made me want to become a professional dancer. I always had a love for dance (infatuation really), but it took a long time for me to be confident in knowing that I could make a career out of it. I remember every summer renowned choreographers Missy Lay Zimmer and Andrew Hubbard would teach an intensive at my hometown studio (Oconee Youth School of Performance) and ask us to raise our hands if wanted to be professional dancers when we grew up. Some years I would shakily raise my hand and some years I would just sit there. I knew that dancing was something I wanted to do for the rest of my life, but I planned on taking the safe route with my career: I wanted to get my Ph.D in Creative Writing and teach Creative Writing at a university. I’m currently working on my Bachelors degree

in English- Creative writing, and although the Ph.D is still part of the plans, I want to dance first. All I needed was someone who could convince me that I was good enough, someone who believed in me when I couldn’t believe in myself. There are a plethora of people to whom I owe a great amount of gratitude for this reason: Daryl L. Foster, Cherrise Wakeham, Jae Scott, Stephan Reynolds, Monica Wilson… and many more. They all encouraged me to keep training and pursue my dreams with everything that I had. So with that, I started soaking up knowledge about dance from every possible source in Atlanta.

What is your dream job?

You mean dream jobs?? I can’t pick just one because I have too many interests. I want to be part of the commercial world, concert world, and musical theater world. I’d love to go on tour with Lady Gaga, Iggy Azalea, Beyonce, etc. I want to be a member of a contemporary company such as that the one I’m currently working with: Project 7 Contemporary Dance Company directed by Cherrise Wakeham. And I’d love to work shows that include my talents for dancing, singing, and acting whether that means being in musicals or a new and interesting production that seeks to interpret life from all artistic angles.

What is your best dance memory?

For six months I drove an hour and a half from Athens to Atlanta and another hour and a half back so that I could train at Gotta Dance Atlanta four days per week. So, when I moved to Atlanta in January my favorite dance memory was when it only took me SIX MINUTES to get to the studio. I was so incredibly excited! Lame but true…

What does dance and creativity mean to you?

Dance creativity for me encompasses everything I’ve learned whether that’s elements of creative writing, psychology, singing, acting, musical theater, and maybe even a little martial arts. Collaboration of knowledge from different fields is absolutely beautiful to me, and I believe intelligent dancers are the most successful. I want to be the Renaissance [Wo]Man of dance.

What do you appreciate most about the dance scene in Atlanta?

There is so much to learn in Atlanta! And I don’t think people fully appreciate it, but moving from a small town where there are only one or two competition studios, I see Atlanta as the city of opportunity. I can go right up the street to Gotta Dance Atlanta (where I am a scholarship student) and get a well rounded education

in jazz, contemporary, ballet, hip hop, stiletto, etc. I can go around the corner to Atlanta Ballet and hone my ballet foundation. Or to Dance 411 which offers great training for the commercial hip hop dancer. Or drive just 30 minutes to train with the incredible girls of Project 7 and our director Cherrise Wakeham. I get to work personally with renowned choreographers like CiCi Kelley, Jeremy Greene, and Victor Jackson. I can take lessons in acting, singing, and aerial silks. Everything is right here at your finger tips if you’re willing to reach out and get it.

What advice can you give dancers who are looking to BUST OUT?

Dream big, be yourself, and live your passion. This industry is hard, but you can make it if you have passion and confidence.

FUN STUFF

What's your slogan or something you always say?

My slogan is “Dance Heals.” I know from experience that dance can heal the deepest wounds. Whether you’re a dancer who just needs to improv and let out your emotions or you’re a viewer who is able to have an emotional connection to a performance, perhaps to know that there are others going through the same things you’re going through, dance can heal these emotional wounds.

What's your favorite food?

Sweet potatoes! In any way, shape, or form. Or chocolate. But I’m not sure I should be publicly admitting my addiction to chocolate…

Is there something a particular type of clothing you have to wear while dancing?

I’m almost always wearing my high waisted black leggings. That and bright red lip stick. There’s just some kind of confidence that comes with wearing flashy red lipstick.

What can you not live without?

Dance and chocolate. But I think we already established this.

What super power would you have & why?

I want to be able to fly. Think of the sick choreography I could make in the air!