You wrote, “then I started to dance again in NYC, and to teach dance. I taught at two exclusive private schools on the north shore of Long Island, and built a following, and opened a dance school of my own for three years. Then, I produced a video and did a little performing.” Were you going where the opportunities were leading you? Would you recommend for other creative people to move around between careers when they are young, or do you think you could have gone further with one of these fields if you stuck to operating your own school, teaching or one of your other experiments? And why did your school end up closing after three years? Are there pitfalls that others who are starting dance schools should avoid? Also, how did you develop a “following” in the days before the internet? Do you mean that your previous students wanted to continue studying with you, and were willing to leave the schools you were teaching in to join your venture?
Leifert: I did get married and had a son and we moved to Long Island. When my son began preschool, I wanted to work again. I’m an entrepreneur and I love creating. I started going back into NYC to take dance class, just like I had always done. I never went where opportunities led me; I always created my own opportunities. I really enjoyed teaching dance in the private schools but it was a year-long program. I taught everyone, boys, girls first grade through-12th grade. The private schools really saw the value of exposing their students to dance. I taught them basic jazz dance. This was the time when Madonna and Janet Jackson were very hot. The kids were very up for learning this. Many of them were very athletic and rode horses and participated in sports. After the year was up, many of my student wanted to continue the dance classes and I was the only one teaching this cool dance. I created a niche for myself in the community and opened a school. The students came to my studio after school. I brought out teachers from New York City to teach workshops. Michael Blevins taught for me and he was in the movie version of “A Chorus Line”. Frank Hatchett who was the Artistic Director at the Broadway dance center taught jazz and hip hop workshops. I never wanted to spend my life teaching dance in a studio. This was a way to recreate the dance studio experience I had as a young dancer.
Faktorovich: In the same email you detailed your early successes with painting: “When I was nine, my parents sent me to summer camp. I painted in oils there. I sold my first painting for $25 that summer to a parent. It was abstract with black and primary colors. That experience and acknowledgement stuck with me. I’ve sold many paintings since. (I’m experienced in sales and have been doing it most of my life).” Was your first sale an accident or did you knowingly create a mini exhibition to solicit the sale? What are the strategies you utilize to sell your art? I have recently been experimenting with posting my art on t-shirts and the like on Threadless and RedBubble,