First of all, Happy Women\u2019s History Month! Tell us about starting BalletX.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n
The initial impetus was a bit selfish, because I was still dancing with the then Pennsylvania Ballet. My colleague, Matthew Neenan, and I wanted to get together and make new works that were a bit different, more exploratory, working on curiosity and inventing new ways to use the language and technique of ballet. So we had the entire summer off of 2005 and thought \u201cLet\u2019s put a show together.\u201d\u00a0 And the beautiful thing is that there was a community hungry for this type of work. They loved ballet, but wanted it to be a bit more experimental and daring and adventurous. And so that seed was planted, and then over the years we figured out ways to grow and fertilize the company.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n What does Women\u2019s History Month mean to you?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n It\u2019s necessary to reflect on how far women have come in society. When I think about the suffrage movement and the women who fought for that fundamental right to vote, it reminds me that understanding the history of challenges women have repeatedly faced over generations is an integral part of creating change and space for women at the table.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n As a female leader, what has been the most significant barrier in your career? Have you been confronted with gender-related roadblocks in your career?<\/b><\/p>\n With starting something new that\u2019s never been done before, I had to give myself permission to experiment, and in the entrepreneurial spirit, allow myself to make mistakes. While I didn\u2019t experience roadblocks, I did have to manage my expectations of myself so that I didn\u2019t stop reaching for the sky. I also was not formally trained in being a leader or an entrepreneur, so it\u2019s something I\u2019ve been learning as I continue on this path. I think it took time for people to recognize BalletX, but fortunately slow and steady wins the race. It wasn\u2019t a sprint; it\u2019s a marathon. One advantage I have as a human is that I can multitask and problem solve. I must problem solve between 20 and 50 things a day, in the sense that where there’s a will, there’s a way. I love problem solving. That\u2019s fun for me. A challenge was having a baby in 2008. How do I build a company while building a life? It takes a community. Friends and colleagues of mine would babysit the boys, and I\u2019d bring them into the studio. I want my kids to be part of my life in every way possible.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Tell us about the women of BalletX. How does the company celebrate its female employees?<\/b><\/p>\n I love working with women. The women that I\u2019ve surrounded myself with are all can-do, positive, and energetic women in the world. Women who exhibit curiosity, interest, and an investment in themselves, and therefore investing in what they\u2019re doing in the company. I would hope to empower women. I mean, that is my goal – to empower women by trusting that they want the same outcome as I do, which is success for everybody. Success for a dance company is discovering joy, love, and creativity through making the art, sharing the art, and producing the art. So the staff is helping produce the art with me, the dancers are part of making the art, the choreographers are developing the art. The ultimate goal is an exchange between the community and the company. We\u2019re about building relationships, about bringing art that expands our humanity, compassion, empathy, and our understanding of one another. That\u2019s what I think artists ultimately want to do. That\u2019s what I want to do as an artist.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n What advice would you give to the next generation of female leaders?<\/b><\/p>\n It\u2019s all in the details. Work hard. Find joy in what you do. Try to make yourself laugh in the process. Never stop yourself from dreaming. Anything is possible. I never could have dreamed this up. Ever. I\u2019m telling you! I was not sitting there at 30 years old thinking \u201cin 25 years I\u2019ll be here.\u201d\u00a0 Also, acceptance! I accept my flaws, weaknesses, strengths, oddities. I wake up each day and try to work on all those differences in myself. I also think about the ability to be objective and subjective with yourself. The ability to look at what you\u2019re doing, how you are doing it, and how it is impacting everybody. And sometimes you\u2019re going so fast that you can\u2019t have that perspective, so you\u2019ve got to figure out how to slow down and take a breath. I think \u201cwhy am I doing this\u201d and \u201chow can I do it better so it\u2019s a positive experience for all involved.\u201d And that goes from communicating in a meeting, to articulating changes to a dancer, to my feedback to a choreographer. How can I do that in a way that inspires and that doesn\u2019t build resistance, but builds trust? Ultimately I want the best for everyone involved.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Are there women who have served as mentors and inspired you throughout your journey?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n Yes. I have very strong female friends that I can call at any hour that would give me the space to share and get advice. They range from my best friend since I was 5 to a colleague that is in the field. I don\u2019t have one specific woman that is my mentor – women are my mentors. When I see something in someone that I admire, I take note. What did I admire about that person? Is it their calmness, is it the way they use their voice with their children, the way they inspire dancers in the studio? What inspires people? Because a lot of what I\u2019m doing in my role is inspiring people. I try to inspire people to donate to the company, I try to inspire choreographers to find their driving inspiration, I try to inspire dancers to get to the deep core of their motivation, because dancing as a career is really hard. You have to find your motivation each and every day. I try to work with my staff to feel inspired by their work, through their creativity. To not be overbearing, but give them space to create on their own.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n Being the well-respected (and busy) leader of BalletX, how do you balance your career and personal life?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n My priorities are my family and BalletX. I feel so fulfilled with those worlds. I\u2019m so grateful to be able to get to do what I do each day. I love getting to bring my kids to work, and watch them see dances being made. I make time where I rely on my team. I\u2019m making time this weekend, I won\u2019t go on every single tour all the time. I have a great Associate Artistic Director in Tara Keating. I rely on the team around me when I need to take time and prioritize, because what I don’t want is for my family to feel like they are not as important as my company. That is where my conundrum is in that balance. What I do is trust in my team to take over in places where I don\u2019t need to be making those decisions. That\u2019s a hard place because you have to let go to make time. And sometimes I do get into the nitty gritty of stuff, because I do care about the words we\u2019re choosing, the images we\u2019re picking, the design element of the company. But I do try to float in and out of being too close to the operations of it all. I\u2019m also a soccer mom! I love it! I love being able to cheer on the sidelines, I have a big loud voice. I love watching my kids read with excitement. I love watching them grow up. We slip away to the mountains as a family for some nature retreats that give me perspective and balance.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n What are some ways you support other women in your work? How can women support other women in their organizations?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n I\u2019m making a concerted effort to really support female choreography. I\u2019ve worked with my board to put in our strategic plan that we will commission over 50% of new works by women each season. I want to be honest with women who have families in our field, to show them it is possible. I also think you can be supportive in a nonverbal way, by showing your team that you can have a family. But you also don\u2019t need to have a family to be a successful woman. It\u2019s not just about a family. I trust and believe in women. I support women by bringing them into this world of BalletX in any and every way I can. I really try to empower all people. Growing up and dancing in the ballet world, I did not have a lot of female leadership to look up to. One year I worked for 2 female directors, but other than that most of my 20 year career it was all male directors and mostly male choreographers. When I was still dancing, I may have been in 30 world premieres, where 2 were by women.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n What\u2019s the biggest factor that has helped you be successful?<\/b><\/p>\n That I care a lot about all aspects of the organization, from the postcards that arrive at someone’s home, to the way we develop dancers at the barre. It\u2019s like fruits to nuts; I care about all of it and I want everyone who engages with the company to feel like they\u2019ve been given something that enhances their life and world in some small way.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n What mistakes have you made along the way? How did they hinder or help your success? What did you learn from them?<\/b><\/p>\n Getting too emotional can be a mistake. I don\u2019t really want to be taking things personally. I can get really protective. I try to take space before responding to something, trying to give my sensitive personality time to process. I don\u2019t want to react, I want to be thoughtful in my response. Thinking through emails, it\u2019s just important to take the time to respond. Often, when you give yourself that extra 12 hours before responding you feel differently the next day. You maybe aren\u2019t as upset, maybe you want to completely change how you respond. And that\u2019s really eye opening that you can change so much in that time.<\/span><\/p>\n Why do we need more women in leadership roles?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n I think women have a different perspective that can provide balance, rather than being overshadowed by dominant male voices. Women often come across in negative ways when they are strong and opinionated, which isn\u2019t the same treatment men receive. It\u2019s important to have different perspectives at the table where decisions are being made.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Successful business leader, dancer, and mother, BalletX\u2019s very own Christine Cox shares her insight and experiences as a woman in business, dance, and how she continues to pave the way for women in the industry.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":41761,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[255,217],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41760","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-interview"],"acf":[],"cp_meta_data":{"_edit_lock":["1650979488:5"],"_edit_last":["5"],"_thumbnail_id":["41761"],"_wp_page_template":["default"],"_mepr_unauthorized_message_type":["default"],"_mepr_unauthorized_message":[""],"_mepr_unauth_login":["default"],"_mepr_unauth_excerpt_type":["default"],"_mepr_unauth_excerpt_size":["100"],"_yoast_wpseo_content_score":["30"],"_yoast_wpseo_estimated-reading-time-minutes":["8"],"filter_category":[""],"_filter_category":["field_575000bf40f4b"],"show_donate_baletx_banner":["0"],"_show_donate_baletx_banner":["field_573341c2d686c"],"top_show_dates":[""],"_top_show_dates":["field_576bb0c8af8e4"],"show_dates_period":[""],"_show_dates_period":["field_576bb0c8afcb8"],"numbers_of_premiers":[""],"_numbers_of_premiers":["field_576bb0c8b00d5"],"show_choreographers":[""],"_show_choreographers":["field_576bb0c8b0475"],"page_show_dancers_all":[""],"_page_show_dancers_all":["field_576bb0c8b0848"],"show_schedule_title":[""],"_show_schedule_title":["field_576bb0c8b0fe4"],"show_sidebar_rows":[""],"_show_sidebar_rows":["field_576bb0c8b1375"],"show_sidebar_tickets_title":[""],"_show_sidebar_tickets_title":["field_576bb0c8b1745"],"show_sidebar_tickets_description":[""],"_show_sidebar_tickets_description":["field_576bb0c8b1b34"],"show_sidebar_tickets_link":[""],"_show_sidebar_tickets_link":["field_576bb0c8b1ee1"],"show_sidebar_video_title":[""],"_show_sidebar_video_title":["field_576bb0c8b22b7"],"show_sidebar_video_link":[""],"_show_sidebar_video_link":["field_576bb0c8b2684"],"show_colaborators_section_title":[""],"_show_colaborators_section_title":["field_57767382e42fa"],"show_colaborators_cart":[""],"_show_colaborators_cart":["field_576bb0c8b2e6f"],"show_sponsors_section_title":[""],"_show_sponsors_section_title":["field_57767127e4dee"],"show_mobile_sponsors_carousel":[""],"_show_mobile_sponsors_carousel":["field_576bb0c8b35ed"],"_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":["255"],"_eael_post_view_count":["1230"],"_elementor_page_assets":["a:0:{}"]},"yoast_head":"\n