Meet Cynthia Dragoni | The Dance Lens | Creative Director

We had the good fortune of connecting with Cynthia Dragoni and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Cynthia, is your business focused on helping the community? If so, how?
If you observe, and I do, that the arts lift both an entire society and an individual to a higher, more inspired, compassionate, tolerant version of themselves, then by that measure arts access is as important as potable water. For example having arts organizations in neighborhoods makes them safer. Children with access to arts education and experiences are afforded a space to develop their skills; to imagine their futures outside of the assigned socio economic class they were born into. Particularly digital public arts access, because it’s so affordable and truly easy to partake of, is powerful and necessary.

I am also working with a terrific school in Uganda, supporting them in setting up their syllabus. The literal and immediate connection between cultures, borders, oceans that art and the internet allow, is a thrill to be a part of.

Ballet, (dance works in general) is amazing for many reasons but in this case because it is where so many mediums: visual art, music, design, fashion and costume design collide. So if you are to deeply understand ballet, you must also enter into all these other spheres.

We are living in a time of tremendous upheaval and where so much of life is lived through a screen. What better time to offer this entry point publicly and digitally?

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I am a dance media journalist and creative director. My work exists at the intersection of dance, politics, history, social evolutions and arts education.

Having gone through the full life cycle of the dancer: student, professional, teacher, director the path was always a more or less prescribed one that had been well trod by many others. To be honest I never thought I would leave it, but when the pandemic happened, I was years into teaching and running a school and dance collective in Brooklyn NY. When all of our lives were disrupted I started doing a lot more work online for obvious reasons and I realized that being able to share ballet, other forms of dance, knowledge of the arts in general, lit my soul up in a way that I couldn’t *not* respond to.

So I started doing dance education videos on social media for fun, and it really took on a life of its own and showed me that there is a hunger for access into what for many people feels like either a secret society or an elitist club or just something that is for one reason or another “not for them”.

The Dance Lens started taking off and it was such a fascinating way to make a living, and perhaps more importantly to contribute to the society and the art form. Suddenly my classroom was the world and the potential of that I still find quite thrilling.

This most recent chapter has not been difficult, but the lifetime of work and devotion leading up to it certainly was. Like the adage: “It takes 10 years to make an overnight success” feels pretty relevant right now. Although the decision to take the risk and close the door to what had been, in service of what could be was not an easy one.

What I’m most excited about now is I’m beginning to work with AllArts (under the same umbrella as PBS) and Marquee TV, the arts streaming platform.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I’m pretty new to LA, it hasn’t even been a year yet so I’m still getting the hang of everything, but I would make sure we went to the museums LACMA and Getty Center are favorites. Their stunning views of the city and the mountains combined with the exhibitions make for a profoundly uplifting experience.

We’d go to the Studio City famers market and dinners at Cafe Gratitude and Sun Cafe. Visit the Griffith Observatory and nightly visits to Chateau Marmont for drinks and people watching.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
My deepest thanks to the dancers and the teachers that held the door open for me, and my mother for showing me that fear should have no place in my decision making.

Instagram: @thedancelens

Youtube: @thedancelens

Other: Tiktok: @thedancelens

Image Credits
1) Jason Moran

2) Sarah Dawson McClean

3) Kamel Bentot

4) N/A