Joe Lott Dance – dance – marketing

Award-winning Choreographer
Arts Marketing
Wellbeing in Dance for Every Body

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I CAN MOVE AGAIN 🥳🥳🥳 Well, I can move a b

I CAN MOVE AGAIN 🥳🥳🥳
Well, I can move a bit again.
Soooo happy ☀️☀️☀️
My body has changed after 2.5 months of total rest.
In some ways, I feel I have a long way to go ahead of me, to get my body ‘back’ to where it was before the illness.
But, I remember the thing I love most about movement is the process. When I’m only focused on results, the joy is taken out of movement for me.
Sure, I’ve lost A LOT of strength & some mobility, but this time round, I’ve decided to enjoy the process of rebuilding my strength. Today I choose to meet my body exactly where it is, without expectations or judgements 💚💚💚
Yay me. Growing and healing.

In other news, I handed in my notice at my marketing job. I’ve been there 8 years in various different roles. I used to love many things about my job - I loved working with academics, I loved learning about their teaching & research, I loved meeting students, I loved the combination of creativity, logic & empathy that marketing requires (yes empathy - I stand by that as an ethical marketer), & I got to work in an incredibly supportive and positive team. But in the last few years, budget cuts and staff cuts made my job increasingly stressful. My health suffered, & I had less time, energy & headspace for my own work as an artist. With this recent flare-up of my heart condition, The Husband and I decided health is more important than a job you used to love! So I quit.

Argh. It’s a very ‘not me’ thing to do.
But sometimes you just know it’s time. You know?

What comes next? I’m not entirely sure. And for someone who loves a plan, this is a lesson in patience and sitting with uncertainty and big scary feelings.

I still love arts & education marketing. I love helping artists to find and connect with their audiences. And I intend to do more of this work.

I’ve also been mentoring & coaching informally in recent years, with a focus on well-being & defining success for yourself. I want to do more of this, to support artists & aspiring artists to live well and thrive, not just survive, in the arts. I don’t know if I can make a career doing these things… I guess the only way to find out is to try 💚

First bit of gentle movement in about a month I th

First bit of gentle movement in about a month I think ☺️
Thanks to Josie @baseflowyoga for sharing her lovely yin yoga vid with me, which I modified considerably!

Having to be still the past few weeks has been challenging. Recovery has been slow, & I’ve had weepy times when I had setbacks and felt I wasn’t recovering. But slowly, slowly, thanks to a lot of meds, and a lot of love and support from lots of people, and in particular The Husband and The Cat, I’m able to move a little again.

Definitely not out of the woods yet. I can still only walk a few steps at a time. But I’m certainly on the right path.
A couple of thoughts have been helpful the past few days; “How I feel is more important than how Im perceived.” and “What I want is more real than what I think I should want”. These have been comforting.

So happy to be stretching out these very stiff achey legs.

May you be healthy
May you be joyful
May you feel safe

I hope you have the day you need today 💚 #yinyoga #pericarditis #sickdancer #happyartists #calm
#restandrestore

My heart condition flared up this week. Don’t w

My heart condition flared up this week.
Don’t worry, I’m fine, I just have to take meds and rest until it settles down.(Which is a challenge for someone who loves to move!) I haven’t had a flare up for over 2 years though, which I’m really grateful for.

I used to push through when I was tired or sick. That’s what dance training teaches you, right?! Push through. But I’ve learned (the hard way) that when the body says “stop” you had better listen.

And now I heed the stop signs. And I stop.

And if I’m honest with myself, maybe I put one too many things on my plate recently. This is a helpful sign to curate my commitments with care and love.

So I’m resting, mostly in bed, for a while. Got my oil burner, fave tee, herbal tea and snacks 👌 Computer games, K dramas and podcast recommendations - please send them my way. 💚💚💚

Remember to listen to your body. It’s pretty awesome and wise. Don’t ‘push through’.

Oh I’ve also been doing some work on the upcoming Creative Confidence Instagram series 🥳- or I was until this week. I’m feeling a little more ambitious with this one … there might even be some guests…

What’s the Tshirt you ask? It’s @cloudandvictory of course!

Ps. Has anyone told you recently that you are doing great?
Really. You are. Just think of everything you’ve overcome. And here you are getting up every day, and being you. Wow. 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

💚💚💚
#dancersneedrest #restingartist #listentoyourbody #invisibleillness #invisibleillnessawareness #invisibledisability #tireddancerclub

Update: I found a dancer booked in for Monday. But

What does a good funding rejection look like? 🧐

What does a good funding rejection look like? 🧐
I thought this one was pretty good.
I’ve decided to start sharing my rejection letters. 😬 When all we see on social media is the successes - the ‘we got the funding!’ posts - It can be disheartening. I know I find it disheartening. But the truth is that all artists get rejection letters. Lots.
And I think it can feel lonely. It does for me sometimes.

This rejection letter was great, for a few reasons, but mainly the tone was respectful and supportive. This type of rejection is much easier to bounce back from than one of those blanket “no’s” from a junior administrator or a nameless info@email address.

I liked that it was transparent, specific, reassuring and encouraging, and from a named senior person. As a funding Organisation, I think it can help to remember; you have no idea what frame of mind or situation the artist might be in when they receive your rejection. They could be dealing with their toddler’s tantrum, just been evicted, just broke up with a partner, lost a loved one, this could be their 5th rejection letter this month.

I think the way funding rejection is communicated can make a big difference to artists’ health and well-being. It takes a lot of guts, and emotional investment (not to mention a lot of time) to submit an arts funding pitch. When a rejection acknowledges and values that effort and investment, I think it can make a big difference to the artist’s well-being. Lots of organisations do this well. Some not so well.

Do you have a rejection letter horror story? Or a great one?

#artsfunding #dancefunding #artistssupportingartists #choreographerlife #dancerlife #artistlife #outdoorarts #rejectionletter #eitherwayimok

This is the first weekend since December that I’

This is the first weekend since December that I’m not writing a funding application, doing my accounts, filling in my tax return, updating my website, or any of the other time-consuming unpaid work that artists do in their ‘spare’ time.

I’ve even got Monday off too 🥳🥳🥳

Overwork can be normalised in the arts. I certainly normalised it to myself. Sometimes I would kinda get in this mindset where I didn’t even want to stop working in my spare time. I guess that’s workaholism right? If I stopped I’d have had to notice how exhausted and miserable I felt. Been there done that bought the tee shirt not doing it anymore.

This weekend I’m doing some of my fave things. Lounging in coffee shops with friends ✅ Maybe some gentle barre or yoga. Working on a little redecorating project I’ve been eyeing up for a while. Fussing the cat. Rummaging in charity shops. And who knows what else! Brighton and Hove are my oyster! 😂

Being an artist is a pleasure and a privilege. Resting and unwinding are a necessity.

Happy weekend to you. Hope you are doing something nice too. 💚💚💚

#happyartist #happyartistmovement #happyartistshere #restandunwind #choreographerlife #dancerlife #artistssupportingartists

This is apt as my last week or two have felt very

This is apt as my last week or two have felt very off balance! Too much screens & typing, & not enough reality.
I’m slowing down again, putting more time & effort into friends, dancing, climbing, creating, & most importantly rest.

There’s an idea I like a lot - that we must stop exploiting ourselves first, in order to stop exploiting nature.

Resting, meeting your needs and rejecting ‘productivity’ are radically ecological actions.

We can value nature for itself, not how much it produces. Just as we can value ourselves for our selves, not how much we produce.

#artistssupportingartists #artistwellbeing #dancerwellbeing #dancerhealth #balanceinlife #dancerlife❤️ #mentalwellness

Week 4 of the #dancehappyproject I don’t know

Week 4 of the #dancehappyproject

I don’t know about you but I’ve had some wild advice about how to ‘make it’ as an artist. Much of it, with the best will in the world, I wish I hadn’t followed.

Trusting my gut and doing what feels good to me - well it seems to work best! 🥰

#happyartistmovement #happydancer #artistssupportingartists #healthydancerslastlonger #dancefunding #artsfunding #danceforlife

We’ve already covered lots of different themes i

We’ve already covered lots of different themes in the #dancehappyproject & rather than throw more ideas at you, today is a gentle check in. A reminder to listen to yourself.

Even though we called it the #dancehappyproject it doesn’t mean happiness is the only valid feeling. All feelings are important, the good, the bad, the messy, all of them.

How am I? I just had my booster shot and feeling crumby. I’m a bit nervous cause after the last jab I had flu-like symptoms for a few weeks after - so I’m cuddling the cat and watching climbing films - my fave 💚

#mentalwellness #happyartist #happyartistmovement #healthydancer #healthydancerslastlonger #choreographerlife #artsmarketing #dancemarketing

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