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Meet Michèle Ceballos Michot of OpendanceAZ in Central

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Michèle Ceballos Michot.

Michèle, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I started ballet training at 6 in Bogota, Colombia and continued in NYC from 11-14 at Thalia Mara’s National Academy of Ballet & Theatre Arts, the Professional Children’s School, and the American Ballet Theatre school. At 16 I was accepted to the Royal Ballet School in London. I became a professional ballerina where from 18-29 I danced apprentice, corps de ballet to principal roles with the American Ballet Theatre, Sadlers Wells Royal Ballet, Deutsch Oper Am Rhine Dusseldorf, Germany, Ballet Hispanico of New York, Chicago Ballet, Ballet Mississippi, El Ballet Nacional de Colombia and competed in the 1983 International Ballet Competition in Varna, Bulgaria representing Colombia. Although I learned a lot and had many wonderful moments. I also saw how elitist and separatist it was. It was expensive, so not everyone could take classes, and only if you were slender, flexible, turned out, had a long neck, sloping shoulders, long legs and arched feet, did you have a chance to pursue it professionally. There also was not much cultural diversity.

I arrived in Phoenix in 1985 when I was 29. I was invited to assist a guest choreographer from the Bolshoi, and his manager, whom I had worked with previously. I also came to the Valley of the Sun to meet with the director of Ballet Arizona to discuss a company contract. At 32, once I couldn’t continue to dance ballet because of a lingering back issue, I decided to leave the Ballet world and start my own dance company, Opendance. Classes would be reasonably priced, discounted or free. It would include trained and non-trained dancers, all ages, shapes, sizes, and races. I wanted to “open up a dance to all forms of expression to all people”. The first members were adult students from my classes at the Dancesation Dance Center and the Phoenix Center for the Arts. I choreographed and performed with Opendance throughout the State and in Sonora, MX. In 1994 Opendance became a non-profit 501©3. and Roster Artists with the Arizona Commission on the Arts.

Our focus became arts & education. For 2o years I developed after-school dance-based programs for schools and community centers in Maricopa County and Tucson, AZ. This led to receiving the Creighton School District Partner Awards and a nomination for the Governors Arts Awards. In 2013 Opendance disbanded as a 501 c(3) after budget cuts to the arts and became a collective OpendanceAZ. Currently, I teach Ballet, Pointe, Creative Movement, Arts & Educational programs and organize summer arts camps in collaboration with organizations such as the Phoenix Conservatory of Music, The Phoenix Center for the Arts, the Osborn School District and the Cannedy Performing Arts Centre. Body Work I offer at the Spa at Camelback where I am a Fitness Specialist. I work privates with clients and small groups. Classes incorporate Ballet, Yoga, Pilates, aromatherapy, nutrition, and massage.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
The struggles as a dance company and school were always funding the projects and paying for space. We didn’t want to have our own space because the objective of Opendance was to take dance to areas that dance would otherwise not be as accessible. We were very fortunate to fund the majority of our A.I.E. programs through grants from the local arts commissions, and we created collaborations with community centers, libraries, schools, private dance studios and other arts organizations, exchanging programming for class and rehearsal space.

Personally, my first struggle was being born with my legs turned in and 2 slipped disks, called spondylolisthesis, and wanting to be a Ballerina. After corrective shoes didn’t help, ballet was recommended. It works the rotators, balance, and strengthens. Although at one time I was told I would not be able to dance ballet or have children, I became a professional ballerina and had 2 children, (and am still kickin’ it at 61!)

My second struggle. I was one of the few brown Ballerinas in the 60’s, 70’s. I also had large breasts, for a ballerina. While all the ballets were tutu ballets, there wasn’t much of an issue. They designed the tutus with darker colors on the outside of the bodice and a lighter color in the center to make me look smaller. But when Modern ballets were included in the repertoire, which was usually in unitards, I was not cast. I had special bras made to flatten my chest and considered having them surgically altered, minimizing the size, per the advice of George Balanchine, when I was in his office after auditioning for his company NYC ballet. ” Darling, I want the audience to see my choreography, the lines, and angles, not shaking hips and breasts”, if you have a breast reduction I will consider you for a contract”.

My third struggle. Because of my Latin American look, (ahh the stereotype of “the hot Latina” ), I was only given roles that were fiery, energetic, seductive, enticing, playful, teasing, defiant. I wanted to dance many different types of roles but didn’t understand why I was not cast, I didn’t understand what racism or stereotyping was,
I just felt something wasn’t right either with them or with me.

We’d love to hear more about your business.
Although Opendance was a company, it was truthfully run by me bringing in collaborators for specific projects. Ego was not the reason I did most of the grant writing, programming, choreographing and teaching. Money was sparse and grants only covered paying the artists, sometimes props and costumes, sometimes travel/gas. Any money that came in went primarily to pay teaching artists, and match grants. It was very difficult to get money for creating new work or bringing in a guest teacher or choreographer, or for managing the company on a day to day basis. No extra money for the behind the scenes work, so I did it, no pay. I also wanted to keep it simple, grassroots. No office, no building, no overhead. We all worked out of our homes and in the community.

From 1987-1996-Opendance was known as a neo-classical theatrical dance company.
Open dance performed locally, throughout the State and in Sonora, MX. And was one of the co-founders of the Arizona Dance festival.

From 1996-2012-Opendance was primarily an Arts & Educational 501 c(3) company.
I developed after-school dance-based programs for schools and community centers in Maricopa County and Tucson, AZ. which led to receiving the Creighton School District Partner Award and a nomination for the Governors Arts Awards.

2012-Present- OpendanceAZ is a collective. We have an FB page which offers news, tips, and information on local dance classes, performances, collaborations, and events.

We are most proud of the number of children we have reached, from all economic levels, and instilled a love and appreciation for dance and the arts in both youth and adults.

What sets me apart from a traditional(Ballet) teacher is that I am all inclusive. I am more a facilitator than a teacher. I don’t give them the information and ask them to regurgitate it back.Their opinions, ideas are just as valid. They are encouraged to talk back, question, challenge, offer exercises and choreography. They know that we are all responsible for holding up the universe. My students feel empowered and confident to be and express who they are, to take anything they learn and make it their own. To love who they are.

What were you like growing up?
I would have been drugged up, labeled ADHD. I was energetic, creative, curious, adventurous, daring, funny and moody. I talked a lot, and could not sit still or quiet in class. I loved animals, nature, dance, music, drawing, painting, the spiritual and magical world and asked a lot of questions. As a child in Bogota, Colombia, I wondered about the poverty around me, why while I had everything they had nothing. I was drawn to help those that were the outcasts, though my father’s advice was “don’t give them anything, don’t help them, if I did it, they can too”.

Later I understood he was born on a dirt floor, in poverty, shared a pair of shoes with his brother and sold rice pudding his mother made on the streets to survive. Sadly though once he made his fortune he didn’t have compassion for those less fortunate, and later lost it all. Happily, I didn’t listen and my path has been hand in hand with what our society has labeled the outcasts, those not worth caring for. Balance is being able to look into everyone’s eyes, hear their stories. You will see your eyes in theirs, and your stories as well. Though my father was hard on humanity, I do thank him for the support he gave me as a child and young adult, which made it easier to follow my dream.

Pricing:

  • Adult Ballet classes $10 drop in fee ( local community classes)
  • Privates in studio $60hr / In your home travel fee added based on distance
  • Workshops $120 hr
  • Private dance studios- Ballet, Pointe, Choreography,Creative Movement – $40 hr
  • Schools – After School Dance – $50 hr (14 students max )
  • Dance and Arts Camps – 1/2 of camp fee per student.
  • Spas – FISICO Body Work, Barre & Total Fitness, Yogabase – $40 hr
  • Travel fee’s, housing and food added if travel out of Phoenix & surrounding areas.

Contact Info:







Image Credit:
Herani Hache, Pat Bailey

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