Today we’d like to introduce you to Addison Ector.
Addison, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I was born and raised in Los Angeles, California in the early 90s. I discovered my passion for dance around the age of 13. That passion led me to start training at the Debbie Allen Dance Academy. After graduating high school, I was accepted into the scholarship program at The Alvin Ailey School in New York City for three years.
Immediately following my training, I joined Complexions Contemporary Ballet based in NYC under the direction of Dwight Rhoden & Desmond Richardson for five years. We traveled all over the world to places like: South Korea, Israel, Russia, Ukraine, Italy, and all over the USA. In my 4th year, I had a lot of pain in my shin that made dancing very hard. Come to find out, I had obtained a stress fracture that I needed to have surgery on. The average recovery period was 3-6 months and I recovered in 4 months and was back on stage in no time.
During my last year with Complexions Ballet, I felt the need to find my next opportunity. For me, that meant auditioning overseas in Europe. Only one company would allow me the chance to have a private audition due my current companies schedule. So we were performing in Hawaii and we did a connection through Los Angeles. So I booked a flight to London then to Austria to make the audition for the following day. I was hired on the spot and I joined TanzCompany Innsbruck under the direction of Enrique Gasa Valga based in Austria. This was my 1st time living abroad, experiencing story ballets & performing lead roles. Unfortunately, with all of the dancing I was doing my injury returned which caused a lot of pain in my shin. I was stuck in a place where I was pushing through dance but not enjoying the process. My artistic director wanted me to stay but at the time, I could not think of the future at all.
I made the decision to take a year off, move back to America and figure out what I needed to do in order to prolong my dance career. My best friend who danced with Dallas Black Dance Theater for many years, made the suggestion to move to Dallas (affordable lifestyle) instead of me moving back to New York City. So, we arrived in Addison, Texas late July 2019 and I have been working at Lululemon part-time, teaching ballet classes at multiple dance studios and I have made appearances with Ballet Dallas & on WFAA’s Daybreak Commercial.
Throughout all my dance career, I was able to discover another passion for dancing en pointe. Pointe is mainly meant for women in classical ballet but I love to break boundaries and push the limits on what people may think tradition should be. Social is my main outlet for sharing my passion for pointe and dance, feel free to follow me on Instagram: @legs_4_lyfe.
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?
Throughout my training, I have always been a scholarship recipient. I also made the decision to not go to college which would mean I would need to make a career out of my passion. Making sure that I was good at what I did and would be remembered for what I was able to accomplish.
My injury has been my biggest struggle out of all of my story. As dancers, we go onstage with grace and elegance but the audience does not know what issues the individual dancers may be having. My injury stops me from running & jumping over long periods of time. Mind you I’m a natural born runner & jumper so I have to hold back majority of the time until I have to go onstage.
We’d love to hear more about your work and what you are currently focused on. What else should we know?
I specialize in the Contemporary Ballet style of dance. Also, I have learned to dance on pointe which is not expected for male dancers.
I have been able to inspire young black male dancers who are skinny and have long extremities and let them know that they don’t have to change who they are to fit in anywhere. I did not learn that until I found out it was possible.
What were you like growing up?
Growing up, I was an old soul. Meaning I loved listening to old music, hanging around the adults and gaining their knowledge. I wanted to everything: bowling, rock climbing, boy scouts, laser tag, volleyball, everything.
Contact Info:
- Email: ector.addison@gmail.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/legs_4_lyfe
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/Addison.ector
Image Credit:
Steven Trumon Gray, Carlos Quezada, Alex Budin, Vikki Sloviter, Rachel Neville, Alexey Kim.
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