career strategy for dancers
an online course & mentoring for dance artists
Define, Create, Sustain.
Navigating a career and an identity as an artist can be beautiful and inspiring—and it can be overwhelming, lonely, and confusing. Getting support to help you build or transition your career can help you make decisions that move you towards the life you want to live.
I’m here to help you define, create, and sustain a life’s work that honors your calling to make work, your needs and values, and your drive to engage in the world as fits you.
Sometimes you need someone who isn’t your teacher, isn’t your spouse, and isn’t your boss to help you discover your possibilities. My first course is designed to help you take the next step or make a change in your career by focusing on your identity as a dancer in alignment with work that can sustain you and give you a sense of purpose as well as stability.
“dance artists don’t find jobs, they create careers”
-Ashley Thorndike
Meet Ashley
I help performing artists grow sustainable careers in and through the arts. I’m a Licensed Graduate Professional Counselor (#LGP13487) in Maryland and an advocate for dance and movement education.
I hold a PhD in Dance Studies from The Ohio State University, an MEd in Counselor Education from the University of Virginia, and a BFA in Modern Dance from the University of Utah.
I have worked at colleges, universities, and K12 independent and international schools as a dance professor and as a learning specialist. For nine years, I directed a psychoeducational-arts nonprofit organization and in that time I created the framework that still guides my work: Action, Support, Curiosity, Challenge, and Resilience. These vectors with thinking, feeling, and moving dimensions can help us shape our way through the world.
I’m now the owner of Small Space Education & Therapy, a somatic psychotherapy, education, and Pilates practice in Maryland.
Photo: Probably 1999 in Southern Utah when I had absolutley no idea that I’d: 1) run a non-profit, 2) become a therapist, or 3) live on the East Coast (that one I still don’t understand…). I did know I’d become a teacher and I knew I’d always love rolling around on the floor.
“Ashley is a true gem—brilliant, empathetic, capable, and creative. Her deep knowledge across multiple fields allows her to offer invaluable guidance and support on a wide range of topics. She’s my go-to for everything, whether it’s having an expert eye review a document, seeking counsel on a tough life decision, or needing encouragement to achieve a goal.”
—Mandy Kirschner Salva, MFA
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This course is designed for early career dance artists who are starting their careers or those who have been working for a while and feel stuck. We are working on a course/community for mid-carer artists. Let us know if that interests you!
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This course is focused on strategy—or the approach to career. We take a pretty practical approach and assume that most people taking the course will have multiple streams of income. We teach ways to balance performing jobs and opportunities with other jobs.
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Great question! This is not for a dancer who has a dance job and wants to stop dancing and figure out what other job whey want to do. This course is for people who maybe want to dance a little more, or a little less, or combine dance with other interests.
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Yes! Each purchase buys one license so please don’t buy the course and share it with your class. DO reach out to me for a class discount code and your students can each buy at a steep discount.