Today we’d like to introduce you to Kate Flowers. Them and their team share their story with us below:
Kate Flowers and Martin Roosaare are the co-founders and directors of Azara Ballet, a professional dance company that was founded in May of 2022. They are focused on bringing emotionally vibrant classical and contemporary works of art to the gulf coast of Florida. What makes them different is that their approach is rooted in an aim to change ballet culture for the better, promoting mental wellness and body positivity for all dancers. They also want to be at the forefront of revolutionizing old paradigms of ballet by showcasing LGBTQ representation and celebrating unique individuality. Their community outreach also includes an emphasis on bringing the art of dance to neurodivergent and autistic communities. They bravely started this organization with the ultimate goal being too uplift people through dance.
KATE FLOWERS: After spending her adolescent years deeply in love with and dedicated to ballet, Kate was tragically unable to pursue her dream career as a professional dancer. The unhealthy aspects that sometimes exist within ballet culture led her to suffer from eating disorders that turned into drug abuse by the young age of 16. After over a decade without dance, she focused on recovery and used her newfound passion for wellness to build an incredibly successful health-based business that gained an online following of over 400,000. She recently retired from her online business to dedicate herself fully to Azara Ballet. The creation of this company fulfills her lifelong desire to dance professionally, to be a proud queer female leader in an industry where that is extremely rare, to have the opportunity to change ballet culture for the better, and to inspire others to never give up on their dreams.
MARTIN ROOSAARE: Martin has danced nearly every day of his life for the last 20+ years with over a decade of accomplishment in his professional career. After being diagnosed with autism at age 28, he was able to reflect back on the many struggles he had faced as a young, undiagnosed child. He now attributes much of his success and happiness to the structure and discipline of ballet and its ability to be a non-verbal form of expression. Creating Azara Ballet is a way for him to continue dancing professionally while also being able to use his story to help other neurodivergent individuals thrive through the art of dance.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
Fundraising is certainly what we have found to be the biggest obstacle, especially as a new organization. We don’t yet qualify for government grants and such so we’ve had to rely solely on individual donors as a start-up company. The support has been overwhelmingly positive but in order to accomplish the bigger goals that we hope to, like having the funding to pay our professional dancers and carve out a small but well-staffed diverse team of artists, choreographers, executive staff, etc, it’s going to take some angel donors to get us there!
Kate: Generally speaking, it was a HUGE undertaking starting this. Even for myself as someone who’s previously created and run an entire brand/company, starting a non-profit organization is an entirely different ball game! We don’t have any regrets but being able to employ a few more people who could help us out and support us in getting to the next level would be absolutely incredible. We know that we have the heart, passion, talent, and determination when it comes to our dancing and performing. That part has not been a challenge at all. It’s mostly the “wow, we’re developing an entire arts organization from the ground up and there’s pretty much just two of us” part that’s been overwhelming at times. But we just keep going!
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
As an arts organization, we are determined to touch people’s hearts and uplift their spirits through dance. We want to share works of art that are relevant to our modern world. Ballet can often feel really dated and while some of its classical beauty is timeless and we plan on incorporating that, we mainly want to create performances that excite and move audiences even if they weren’t previously fans of watching dance.
OUR PROGRESS
Since the start of our organization in May of 2022 we have:
– Provided open community ballet classes to local dancers in the Sarasota/Manatee areas of FL.
– Created three local productions that featured both classical and contemporary dance performances which touched the hearts of our audience members.
– Launched our Atypical Dance Initiative program teaching neurodivergent children ballet classes in partnership with The Haven, another non-profit that was established in 1954, providing housing and education for individuals with disabilities.
– Launched our Brains, Balance & Ballet program in partnership with Parkinson Place to teach ballet to people who are struggling with movement disorders, which has been shown to be extremely beneficial.
– Gained traction and interest online with over a million views on our social media content across all platforms.
We’d be interested to hear your thoughts on luck and what role, if any, you feel it’s played for you.
Kate: I don’t know how much I believe in luck, good or bad. I’ve worked extremely hard to create and manifest the life that I have created. I didn’t come from a wealthy family, I grew up with very little as a kid. And after my young struggles with addiction, I am the one who pulled myself out of that and decided to create a new life. It took a long time, but I feel very proud of myself in many ways.
But if I had to answer I’d say, I suppose I got lucky in the sense that I was born with some natural ability as a creative person and dancer. I don’t think I could’ve taken 12+ years off of such a regimented athletic art form like ballet and been able to get back into it later in life had it not been for the fact that dancing was just a part of me. And bad luck? I was in the wrong place, at the wrong time, with the wrong people, and influenced by the wrong environment where being a good dancer was synonymous with being “skinny” so when I got introduced to drugs at way too young of an age, it was a cocktail for failure.
Pricing:
- $10 Community Ballet Class (Advanced Levels Only)
Contact Info:
- Website: azaraballet.org
- Instagram: @azaraballet
- Facebook: @azaraballet
- Youtube: @azaraballet
- TikTok: @azaraballet
