On Being a Dancer with a Full-Time Day Job
Brice LaGrand
by Brice LaGrand
4y ago
There’s this persistent struggle I think a lot of artists face. For a very fortunate few, art can pay the bills. For most of us, though, there isn’t much money to be made in the arts, so we seemingly live two simultaneous lives in parallel: one that pays the bills and one that keeps us sane. I have found over the years that most artists keep these two identities compartmentalized. It’s almost like two different people. One of my teachers, for instance, works as an assistant all day, then clocks out only to head to the studio to teach a few hours of classes, rehearse with her troupe, write chor ..read more
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Improvisational Transnational Style: What’s in a name?
Brice LaGrand
by Brice LaGrand
4y ago
The belly dance community as a whole doesn’t get a lot of tea. I mean, troupes have their own share of internal drama, there’s always that one girl who stands directly in between you and your mirror in class, and people have opinions about… well, everything when it comes to culture, identity, performance styles, costume choices, appropriation, trademarking, and so on. But sometimes new ideas take hold of a community of people who are dancing in a way that has existed for at least decades – if not centuries – and the community then has to decide whether it will respond in kind or with aggressio ..read more
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Some Goals for 2020 (and beyond)
Brice LaGrand
by Brice LaGrand
4y ago
Now that I’ve talked about where 2019 has brought me, I wanted to take a moment to talk about where I plan to head in the next year (and in the next few years). Note that I’ve always been a great planner, but not the best when it comes to following that plan, so I’ll ask for forgiveness now knowing that things will definitely change. Dance Goals Over the last couple months, I’ve been working on a handful of skills that are still very much works in progress. For example, I have finally started to get the hang of a belly flutter (I have my teacher’s choreography to thank for this – 12 seconds o ..read more
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2019: A Year In Review
Brice LaGrand
by Brice LaGrand
4y ago
So, in my effort to start blogging here more often, I figured I should treat this as an unofficial launch of my website. ‘Tis the season for self-review, so hey, what better way to establish a jumping-off point than to talk about where I’ve been over the past year? Also, I may have totally gotten a little inspiration from reading Blogger on Pole today (10/10 would recommend, for the record). I can neither confirm nor deny. So where are we beginning? Some fast facts: I recently wrapped up my master’s degree, which is like 90% of the reason why I have like zero social media presence and don’t p ..read more
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Work Out With Me: Beginner Aerial Silks Conditioning Routine
Brice LaGrand
by Brice LaGrand
4y ago
Hello humans! In the interest of using this blog for something useful (and not, like, ignoring it forever like my previous strategy had me doing), I decided to give y’all the opportunity to gain some insight into what it takes to be an aerialist and to try and work out with me. This is not an instructional work out video by any means (I don’t feel super comfortable trying to teach aerial anything over the internet), but there are a lot of floor work core exercises and some pull-up and grip strength exercises that could be done pretty easily on a pull-up bar (or some playground equipment) if y ..read more
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Arting: Isolation, Pulse Nightclub, and LED Staff Flow
Brice LaGrand
by Brice LaGrand
4y ago
I have chosen to give vulnerability a shot again. Three years ago, one of the worst attacks on the LGBTQ+ community – the shootings at Pulse Nightclub in Orlando – seriously fucked my shit up, to say the least. With any traumatic event, it is important for us to reach out to people, find comfort in solidarity, seek refuge by opening up and allowing people to love us, and otherwise embracing our vulnerability. So says the venerable Brene Brown. So says the universe. I’m not good at that. I never have been. I have my doubts that I ever will be. I isolate in times of trauma and sorrow. I want to ..read more
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Performance: “When the Party’s Over” by Billie Eilish on Aerial Silks
Brice LaGrand
by Brice LaGrand
4y ago
So, I went a little outside my comfort zone. Historically, I haven’t been that much of a performer. Don’t get me wrong; I’ve been performing since I was old enough to walk and talk. The first time I can remember going on stage was in a community production of Guys and Dolls. I had a walk-on role as a small child visiting New York City and pointing at a landmark that wasn’t actually present. (This was also the first time I’d ever understood that acting means being somebody you’re not and also being okay with other people pretending to also be other people that they aren’t. I had to walk-o ..read more
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Brice LaGrand: Pole dancer and belly dancer in Albuquerque
Brice LaGrand
by Brice LaGrand
4y ago
This post could also be titled “Hi. I’m Brice. I don’t know what I’m doing, but I needed to publish something on this site so I decided to make a fool out of myself instead of forming a legitimate plan.” But that was too wordy. My name is Brice LaGrand and I’m a pole dancer and belly dancer in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The location and vocation may change at some point, and maybe that’s why I’m writing this: to talk about me on some other level. This is me in my natural state: Klutzily clinging to a pole in an attempt to woo you. Not pictured: a stack of accounting, finance, and economics textb ..read more
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On Being a Dancer with a Full-Time Day Job
Brice LaGrand
by Brice LaGrand
4y ago
There’s this persistent struggle I think a lot of artists face. For a very fortunate few, art can pay the bills. For most of us, though, there isn’t much money to be made in the arts, so we seemingly live two simultaneous lives in parallel: one that pays the bills and one that keeps us sane. I have found over the years that most artists keep these two identities compartmentalized. It’s almost like two different people. One of my teachers, for instance, works as an assistant all day, then clocks out only to head to the studio to teach a few hours of classes, rehearse with her troupe, write cho ..read more
Visit website
Arting: Isolation, Pulse Nightclub, and LED Staff Flow
Brice LaGrand
by Brice LaGrand
4y ago
I have chosen to give vulnerability a shot again. Three years ago, one of the worst attacks on the LGBTQ+ community – the shootings at Pulse Nightclub in Orlando – seriously fucked my shit up, to say the least. With any traumatic event, it is important for us to reach out to people, find comfort in solidarity, seek refuge by opening up and allowing people to love us, and otherwise embracing our vulnerability. So says the venerable Brene Brown. So says the universe. I’m not good at that. I never have been. I have my doubts that I ever will be. I isolate in times of trauma and sorrow. I want t ..read more
Visit website

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