Maren interviews Elizabeth Lenhart, the Artistic Director and founder of JAM Academy, a private performing arts school in the Dominican Republic. They discuss success, adversity, and the power of being prepared.
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Transcript
(orchestra tuning)
Hello and welcome to The Bodice Ripper Project, an exploration of sexuality, feminism, and the journey to self-empowerment through the lens of romance novels.
I’m Maren Montalbano, opera singer, coach, and writer.
In this episode, you’ll hear me speak with Elizabeth Lenhart, the Artistic Director and founder of JAM Academy in the Dominican Republic. We talk about success, adversity, and the power of being prepared.
So make yourself comfortable, loosen your bodice, and let’s begin!
(intro music plays)
Welcome, and thank you so much for pressing play. It’s always wonderful to be joining you in whatever it is that you’re doing today. If you’re running or doing the dishes or just sitting on your couch listening, it’s great to be with you.
I’m going to make this short because we have a lot to cover, but I wanted to informally introduce Elizabeth Lenhart before I formally introduce her, because she approached me kind of randomly. I love these serendipitous meetings. Uh, she was curious about online performances. She knew about The Bodice Ripper Project. She had actually purchased tickets to see it. And she wanted to know how I accomplished it because she was interested in helping her students create online performances as well.
Once we got on Zoom, I heard her story. I knew that I wanted to have her on this show. So we made that happen.
I hope that you enjoy this as much as I did. Actually, I know you’re going to, so enjoy.
Interview
Maren: Beth Lenhart is the director of JAM Academy in the Dominican Republic, where she also serves as vocal and acting coach. However, she really is a woman inspired by the arts and the powerful stories and messages that they tell. She teaches about how to be human and uses the performing arts as her vehicle by which students get to explore their creative ideas, express themselves freely, and love and know themselves deeply. Being vulnerable and making connections with people is her real jam, and her connection with her two daughters is her greatest gift. Currently, Beth is working to forge new paths due to the unexpected plot twists of 2020. But regardless of the path, her purpose is always to create connections by guiding students through the process of discovering their own creative voices. The end result may look like a musical, a scene, a dance, or a solo, but it is who we all become in the process that is the ultimate creation.
Beth, thank you so much for joining us today.
Beth: Thank you Maren. I really appreciate the opportunity. This is fun.
Maren: Why don’t you tell us a little bit about your story, how you came to the DR and founded JAM Academy.
Beth: Well, let’s see, I always say that I came to the DR following love and I stayed for other reasons. Um, you know, it feels a little cliché to say that, yeah, I was in love with a Latin who betrayed me. It almost seems cliché. So yeah, yeah.
When I started my path, I’ve always had a passion for music. I was classically trained. But understood that the classical training was like the route that ballet is to dance. It just sets you up for success, you know, knowing how to do it properly, it creates longevity in your voice.
So I never viewed myself as only being a one lane kind of artist. And because I was also passionate in dance and also in acting, you know, musical theater became very doable. And it’s, let’s be honest, way more accessible in the high school arena than opera, for sure.
I did an opera when I was in college, but you know, it was just to have the experience. And I think that’s what I try and give to my students as well: just that opportunity to – you don’t have to be one lane. You can be many things.
So that lane allowed me to just have this vast experience. And I came down to the Dominican Republic. I was supposed to go to law school before making the decision to come down here. And talk about a pivot! I pivoted law school to teacher.
And I started working in a private school. It’s a very funny story, but way too long, but let’s just say it had a good ending. And I was in the private school district and went into an area that, it was a very well-renowned private school here. And there was an opportunity to do the choir program, and I jumped in on that, and I became a choral director.
So that was really my exposure to the talent here. And because I love performing and I love dance and I think music has authentic movement that you can express, not the stupid stuff usually found in choral show choirs where, you know, sometimes you really have really bad choreography that just is to occupy space.
And that’s the point.
Maren: I think that’s called “choralography.”
Beth: Oh, is that what that–? I didn’t even know it had a name. I didn’t even give it the dignity of a name. So it was really my experimentation of trying to give them a challenge way back when I was a choir director and getting them interested in the fullness that music was. And I gave them all kinds of pieces that the choral directors before me never attempted, because they felt it was too big of a challenge or the people couldn’t do it, and the one thing that I always knew is if you don’t give them the challenge, how do you know if they can do it or not?
So I was pulling classical stuff off my shelf. And next thing you know, they were doing Messiah pieces and double choir pieces and orchestra accompanied pieces. And then at the same time we were doing spirituals and gospel music and we had a lot of Hebrew stuff. We just did everything because that’s what I wanted to give them. That is what I appreciated and remembered of my music experience. And that’s what I wanted to give them.
But what I found in the process of the choral teaching is that there was a heck of a lot of talent and no training. And the reason why I wanted to do as much as I could is because I saw there was such a need. When you see such an emptiness in a place that you love and are passionate about, I couldn’t do enough to try and fill their bucket. But I realized that I needed to start at the base. I need to start at a root.
So I got out of the private schools and I ended up — talk about root — I went to Gymboree Play & Music where I own the master franchise here in the Dominican Republic. And I taught babies. Uh, I taught babies, uh, basically birth until five years old. Um, I had a fire there during the worst economic downfall here in the country. And so I had to close my doors.
When I was going to reopen my doors, I got a auto-immune disorder that almost took my life. And I’m like, okay, wait a minute. God is telling me something. Or some higher power is telling me something here, because I am obviously not listening to the messages and the messages are getting tougher and tougher as I go through.
So as much as I loved all that I did, as much as I love the choir and the schools, and I love Gymboree and what it stood for, I’m like, okay, I gotta, I gotta do what I’m really meant to do. And I remember when I was recovering one day, I was watching Oprah. She’s like my savior. She doesn’t know it, but she is. And so Oprah popped up one day and she talked about a simple “what’s your purpose” exercise.
And it was what are the four things that bring you joy? And just write it simply. And I remember I wrote “making people happy.” Like, bringing them joy brings me joy, sharing what I know. I like humor and I love what music can bring to the life of people. And I’m like, I read that list several times. It just went like this for me. And I went, “I have to open up an academy.”
And I ended up getting involved in professional musicals first. And that was kind of by happenstance. My girls were asked to audition in Annie: the Musical here. They were doing a professional version of Annie. And they went into the audition and they did really well and they got to the next round and I thought, “Oh man, I’m going to have to be sitting in this theater every dang day. I might as well audition.”
So the next day without prep or anything, I just walk in, and I sang “Defying Gravity,” and their mouths dropped open. And they’re like, “Where have you been?” And next thing you know, I got involved in professional theater.
Here’s the problem with that. What I saw at the high school age was the exact thing I saw replicated at what they called professional, which really wasn’t professional.
They didn’t have professional habits. They were not go getters in terms of enriching their own education, they weren’t, that was not anywhere a part of it. And what I saw is singers singing and eating right before they sang. I saw singers warming up sitting down or barely even warming up. And I, my, my, my head’s blowing up.
Maren: Mine is blowing up right now, just listening!
Beth: No. I, it’s like, talk about nails on a blackboard and cringe-worthy, that was my equivalent. Seeing who calls themselves professionals in an environment where they didn’t act professionally. And I did one other musical. I did Cats and really got an even bigger taste of what that kind of life is like. And I went, “Nope, this is not where I’m going to do anything either.”
And that’s when I really opened up my academy, and I went, “No, I have to make a difference starting at the root, where habits can be really well formed, and people know better. And we, aren’t going to accept, as an audience, mediocrity. And we’re going to demand more of our artists.”
Maren: So I happen to know it that you, that Fame is one of your favorite musicals. And it sounds a little bit like JAM Academy is, you know, modeled after that. Is that right?
Beth: It absolutely is. When I was growing up, I watched Fame religiously, both the movie and the TV series. And there was an opportunity to go to what they called in Pennsylvania, the Governor’s School of the Arts. And I didn’t get in and I had a rocking audition, and I remember it crushed me.
Crushed me, because I didn’t understand only to later find out that it was need-based, that they gave the positions to. And I hadn’t qualified in that regard. But I walked away with the thought of, “This is what I want. I want a school where I can during lunch, like have a jam party!”
And hence kind of everything unveiled itself in what the name was going to be, because JAM actually stands for Joy And Music. That’s how it started. And it was a simple show choir and it was experimental and the parents loved it so much that they wanted a more, like a full, complete experience. And I dropped the little points from the name and it just became JAM. Because “jam,” in and of itself was really a reminder of the fun, the spontaneity, how, how the passion of music is in us, and that feeling to just want to erupt in song was so powerful for me. That’s what it stood for.
Maren: One of the things that I’m doing with these interviews is, I really want to talk a lot about creating. How different people go through their creative process. Who are your top three favorite creators? And they could be like performance artists. They could be writers, it could be anything.
Beth: I think one of the things that I do is I don’t necessarily just enwrap myself around one particular creator. I think I look at all art form as there is something that I can gain. And then there’s the, what I can’t take in. I kind of go, well, that wasn’t the part for me.
Artistically, as a comedian and as a woman, I could say that Lucille Ball and Carol Burnett are my top female performers that I think gave me the, the understanding that you can be a woman, you can be a leader in your field, you can make people laugh, and you can enrich their lives at the same time.
I have spiritual. I think there are many people that I use for spiritual creation that I get inspiration from because of their way of viewing. I love Elizabeth Gilbert. I love Brené Brown. I love, uh, Martha Beck.
And opera, it has always been a passion of mine. The typical ones I think you would expect me to just because I love their voice. I love what they can do. I was just showing my kids because we’re doing some tune, original creative projects, and I was giving them, uh, an idea of maybe something, how they can start and still feel it’s original.
And so I was looking at The Magic Flute from Mozart, and the one from the Royal Opera House in London blew me away. So it was just amazing. So, I really appreciate creators of all kinds of, I don’t really obsess over one. I think I obsess over all of them.
I don’t really consider myself somebody that goes after one individual in particular. But I do, I do surround myself – I actually used this in a post with one of my kids today – um, that I really do surround myself with the person I want to become in all aspects of my life.
And I definitely don’t want to be the smartest one in the room. I want to learn from everybody. So when I look at creative pieces, I really look at it from that perspective.
Maren: The other thing about the Bodice Ripper Project that I’m really working on this year is delving into the metaphor of the bodice as something that’s repressing us, that we want to rip open, let our true selves out. Um, I know that you use art or you teach art to your kids as like a way for them to work through fears and, you know, uh, isolation from 2020, all of that kind of stuff.
Why don’t you talk a little bit about that? Like, what are the things that are either repressing you or repressing your kids that you want them to rip off and, and let themselves out?
Beth: I think what I try and and do and what I, especially what I’ve been trying to do the last six years, because separation and divorce really throws you for a loop – I had to find my power and I had to learn that what happened to me, and I’ve learned it several times across my lifespan, but, what happened to me is not who I am, but how I react to it is who I am. And I wanted to give hope to my kids that you can, like a phoenix, rise from the ashes. That just because it doesn’t work out the way you wanted it, does not mean that you won’t have a happy ending, and that you can’t have the life that you wanted to live, or that you can’t achieve what you wanted to achieve. And I think what I wanted to do for them is be the example that so many adults hide from.
Adults, parents especially, are the number one culprits of trying to pretend to their kids, that they were never unsuccessful in school or that they never, they don’t share the pain and the moments with their kids.
Instead, many parents put such standards on their kids for success that the, the kid’s actual impression is that I have to live up to their expectation because my parents are perfect.
Maren: Right.
Beth: Oh, and I just wanted to break that mold. The kids need realism. But realism that will help realism that says, ” I don’t have to get an A on every test. Look, my mom got this and look, she she’s okay today.” You know, putting things in perspective for the kids. Um, you know, I remember like there’s, there’s all kinds of issues that the kids will go come up with.
And I even, my daughters would come to me and they’d say something and I would say, ” Oh, my God, that happened to me this many times and oh my God, it was, this is what happened.” They’re like, “That happened to you, mom?” And I’m like, “Yeah. That much more, let me tell you.”
And I think kids need a dose of the truth from their, from the adults in their lives. And why is it that kids are feeling so much pressure? And why is there such depression? And why do they look towards social media for the, the life that they want? Because they don’t have real conversation happening with the people that matter the most.
And I know it’s different when you talk to your parent, but there’s a lot of adults in your life. There’s a lot of adults. And if you don’t have the relationship with your parent that you can really just talk to in the way that you want to talk to without feeling like you’ll be judged, punished, chastised, whatever, then look for the adult that is willing. And I wanted to be that adult for the kids.
There was a, a great example of it was, one day when I was teaching private school, I was in the choir class, a group of girls who I was particularly close with, came up to me and said, “Um,” very embarrassed, but they knew they could ask me. And they’re like, “We, we don’t, we want to know how to use a tampon. Huh?
Maren: What? They didn’t know. Oh my gosh.
Beth: They did not know. And so I just went – and that was a very pivotal moment for me to realize how sheltered they live their lives and how they have to find where you find your source of information. And I mean, um, in our generation, I mean, I found out about sex and sexuality from friends.I didn’t find out from a discussion with my mom.
Maren: That’s it’s so interesting because the more conversations I have about this with different people, the more I realize that I actually was very lucky because my parents were very upfront about sex. Like early on, I started asking questions, I don’t know, when I was like four or five, you know? And it was just like, okay, well, you know, let’s take out the book and this is how the things, you know, what happens. And it wasn’t like, it wasn’t a big deal. Like I just knew, you know?
Beth: Yeah, that’s how I was with my youngest. My oldest was a little too embarrassed about the topic. I, anytime I would bring it up, she, like, ran the other direction. And you know, the thing, you know, as a teacher or as a parent is, when a child is ready for the answer, they will ask the question.
So if they ask a question about sex or sexuality or whatever it is, it’s because they’re ready to receive the answer. And so with my, with my youngest, especially, who was all about getting the information at age four, meanwhile, my eight-year-old was running into her room, slamming the door, going, “No, no! Don’t talk about that! I went, all right. She’s not ready. My four-year-old is on board, though.
So that story about the tampon was really, for me, an indicator that I had somehow found the way to communicate with teens in a way that they felt that they confide in me, that they could ask me hard questions and they knew I would give the right – uh, not right answer, the honest answer as I knew it to be.
And that is really the basis of, I would like to say who I am, what I stand for, and my brand. So if I have kids that ask me difficult questions about their fears, about whatever it is. I mean, it could be about anything: about their sexuality, about their fears because the country is 95% Catholic, and if they have questions about their sexuality, there’s a big backlash that will happen.
Even when you like musical theater, you’re considered a freak. So how is it that I give them a safe space? It’s just, I have to be as vulnerable, as open, as honest, and as willing to share with them what I know from my life, so that they know that I am, I am there for them. I am there for them.
And I think, at least I would like to think, that if you would ask any of my students, if I would ever step up to the plate for them, they know I would. You know. And it doesn’t matter if they’ve already gone, graduated, left before graduating. It doesn’t even matter. We have an expression in JAM that says once in JAM, always part of the family. So it really doesn’t matter if you’re still in the door.
Maren: What it sounds like you created is, is not just like a community and a family, but you’ve, you’ve done it in a way that, um, also brings art into it. And art is this, uh, it’s such an like abstract, medium. You don’t have to use the words that you normally use in everyday life.
You know, you can use the lyrics in a song or no words at all, you know? And have feelings, emotions, things that maybe you can’t process as well in day-to-day life, you can process those feelings and emotions through art and that’s so, so, so important, especially when you’re a teenager and you’ve got like a million feelings going through your body.
Beth: Yeah. I think one of the things of 2020 that has been for me devastating to see, was the reaction of both parents and students that, because it was virtual, they wanted to give up. And so from 140 students, I went down to 39. And I just kept going, thinking to myself, “But this is actually what you need to get there.”
So with the 39 that I had in front of me, we had conversations. They were able to have an outlet for their energy. And dare I say, maybe a distraction from the chaos and being able to immerse themselves in something pleasant for a change. So they had the opportunity for both. And I just kept thinking, I feel bad for the people that don’t realize the gift that they have in front of them and the resource that will actually help them through this difficult time.
And does it look different than being hands-on with me? Yeah. Okay? It does look different, but are there valuable things being taught every single day through a virtual platform? You’re damn straight. Absolutely. Absolutely. We had a conversation, at the beginning of this semester, um, I’m sorry, this school year in, in September when I started. I just did a really quick – what I thought was quick. It was not quick! I did a very simple question just to get them started. It was a theater warmup and I, just to break the ice, get them back to talking and I’m like, okay, tell me your biggest wish and your greatest fear.
So it is requiring some form of vulnerability, right from the start. And, but you could choose how much you wanted to divulge or not.
I was so taken aback by the response, the majority of the responses of young teens and young middle schoolers who said death was their greatest fear. I don’t. And, and at the moment when I heard it, I immediately transported myself to their age. And I’m like searching my memory bank to go, did I ever think about death when I was this age?
And I never ever thought about death. It wasn’t anywhere near me. And what that was telling me is they were so overcome and overwhelmed by too much information about COVID, about death, about the sickness, about quarantine, about don’t get it. Fear-based. Everything was like heightened that it was taking over their consciousness, really.
And then I, what I ended up doing is from that I ended up creating, um, in my Live IGs that I call Theater Thursday, I created a series basically called “Ask Me Anything.” Because I was truly fearful of what they were thinking, and wanting to be able to give them an outlet to express it.
And one of the person he said to me, “I just don’t feel like doing anything. I don’t, what’s the point?” I’m like, my eyes got as big as saucers and I’m like, “What’s the point? You’re 13! What’s the point? You have your whole life.” And so that’s when I thought to myself, “Oh, okay. This is what I have to handle.”
And so was my objective this first semester, what it typically is? That was in, that was in laced in it. But my main objective became to help coach them through the difficulties. And like I said, I use art as the channel. And I feel that the art, what we’re looking at with our projects are ways for kids to then have freedom.
I feel like I’m giving them the permission slip to be creative, to say what they really feel to have fears because I’ve admitted fears myself. So that means I’ve given them permission to have fears and express them. And, and they’re incredible when they’re given the opportunity.
Maren: That is so, so beautiful. And I know that there are plenty of people out there who are not, they’re adults and they are, uh, you know, feeling exactly the same thing. So many musicians that I talk to have said, you know, I’ve, I’ve lost the, the urge to practice because I have nothing to practice for.
And it kind of puts you in this depression. It like creates this downward spiral and, and, uh, you know, it’s, it’s hard. It’s hard to get out of there. Because then once you’re like, well, I have nothing to practice for, then the next step is I can’t be creative. I can’t create anything, you know?
For me, I feel like not only can you, but, but you need to, we all need to, this is, this is what will help us, you know?
Beth: Yeah. I mean, my experience with my divorce and my separation, I, I, it threw me in the, I mean, and I’ve had stuff happen to me before, but by far, this was the worst in how it felt in what it did to me. And I had to pick myself up because I felt that sense of what, why, why bother? I don’t have the, I don’t have it in me. How could I possibly connect with, I feel so raw inside. Like what do I connect with?
And then you’re guarded. When you have big feelings you’re guarded around them. You may not want to tap into them when they’re so fresh and so raw and so forward. You’re actually trying to run away from them, repress them so you can live a life.
And I remember I was trying to reclaim my creative spirit because I felt it go for me. I felt that I needed to work to get it back. But I also understood that it was food for my soul. I needed it as part of my healing, because if I’m not in a place of creation, what am I doing? I feel like I’m even, I’m becoming dead inside, spiritually.
So I actually took, I don’t know whether I got it from Brené Brown, “shitty first drafts,” or Liz Gilbert, and from something from Big Magic. But I took a journal, and every day, for a period of 30 days, I did something that was creative. I wrote a song, I made a poem, I drew something, I, you know, whatever it is, and it could have been the smallest of things to the biggest of things.
And it was having to force that muscle to come back on top. And I’m finding that’s necessary for the kids in my Academy to the point where I just made another huge pivot in the Academy. Typically I have the first semester, which works on skills, the second semester, it’s devoted towards a production. Except I feel it’s irresponsible of me to promise them a production if I can’t guarantee them a production. I’ve already disappointed them once. Why would I set them up for failure again?
So I said to them, you know what we’re doing? And it could risk my Academy even more because there’s a lot of people that only do it for the productions, for the thing, for the final result. Except you and I both know it’s, it’s what happens to you in the whole process that matters and stays with you forever. The applause dies the second you get off the stage, but what stays with you is what you built in the process. And I said to them, okay, I’ve always wanted to create, have JAM, the students, create their own musical. And we’ve never had time. Guess what we have this semester? We have freaking time and so, and so that’s what we’re doing.
In both classes, there’s creation going on. So in my teens they’re creating their own musical. And we just did this great brainstorm yesterday on all the type of topics that it could be on.
Dang, they’re creative. They came up with some great winners. And I don’t know which one will end up going with. I’m really giving them freedom and liberty to make it their project. But if it’s any of the ones on the list from yesterday, it’s going to be really great to work with.
And my little kids, I’m getting them into William Shakespeare. And I’ve never had time to do Shakespeare. And I’m doing with the little ones. And I’m getting them into Romeo and Juliet, and then we’re creating our own composition that is choreographed and with music, with lyrics, to tell a contemporary story based on Romeo and Juliet, but not identical. It’s going to be totally different. But it has messages that are really important for people to hear today about social economic classes and white privilege and things like that are going to be discussed. And why? Because it’s what the kids are thinking anyway. So let’s express it. Let’s teach it. Let’s give it on a platform where people are willing to listen to it.
I used the example the other day with them I, like it’s very different when you turn on the news, your defenses are already up, depending on what channel you’re watching. But when you walk into a theater, you have an opportunity as an artist. You have an opportunity to say your point in a way that their defenses are down, their minds are open, and everyone is under the magic of creation. I said, that’s where you can tell your story.
Maren: Oh, my gosh, this is so beautiful. I’m, I’m really excited for your kids. Talk to me about the Singers Challenge. What is that?
Beth: So the Singers Challenge. Okay. So, because my Academy has actually plummeted from the effects of everybody wanting the real life experience, but we aren’t live yet. I have a hybrid going on, but nothing, everybody altogether yet. And I’m like, well pivot. So for the three years I’ve been playing with the thought of doing a digital class.
And what was the best way to do a digital class? COVID was the best way to figure out, um, how to go digital with performing arts. So I literally, we closed our doors for live classes on a Thursday and on Monday I was on Zoom. Not knowing a darn thing about Zoom. So yeah, I learned how to do performing arts online. And just like everybody else, just totally searched the internet until my eyelids couldn’t stay open anymore to figure it all out, right? And I’ve got more gadgets around me now than I ever knew I needed.
So, what ended up happening is a project that I thought about, but didn’t know the “how,” suddenly the project that I wanted to do had a way. And so then I’m like, you know what? Let me use my summer as a way to develop this course.
So it is going to be a way that JAM Academy can reach out beyond our borders. And I think that’s the gift of 2020. So it is a digital class to teach people that have natural talent. Let’s say the 16-year-old who has a great voice, always is told by their friends, “Oh, sing, this oh sing that!” They sing in the car. They sing in the shower. They sing for their family events, but they’ve never taken formal classes. Or maybe they’ve taken a formal class, but there’s no real music theory that’s being taught. Or maybe the music theory was intimidating. This is the class for this person. I walk them through the steps so that their talent has training attached, and then they can take that to another level so that their passion can really develop.
So that is the first class that we’re developing. I’m developing it, but it will be under the JAM Academy umbrella. It will be our digital class series, hopefully, and I expect it to be out in March. So I’m pretty excited about that. It’s and it’s really how to overcome the fear of music theory, how to use it to take what you already know and take it to the next level.
I want to create creators. The only way you can create is if you have the basic knowledge. So I want to give them the tools so their talent isn’t just copying a cover song from somebody else, but writing their own dang song.
Maren: I am very sure that there are people all over the world who need this, who are looking for exactly this. So I’m, I love that you have it out there now. Right? It’s coming out in March. March.
I want to just, you know, talk about some good things that you’ve seen 2020 bring to your life or to the lives of your kids. You used a phrase make making margaritas out of lemons. Yeah.
Beth: Now you know where my brain goes. Yeah. 2020 really brought me the gift of possibilities. And I think it takes the bottom dropping out, and the bottom has dropped out of my life on more than one occasion. And it was kind of funny to go into watching everybody else handle it. And I almost felt like a bystander in a way, because I’m like, yeah, well, it I’m just going to do this now.
Like, it didn’t hit me as hard as it hit so many. So it, it gave me a frame of reference to know that I’ve lived through things before, that life experience has taught me that I can live through this too. And it gave me the understanding that other things are possible. And maybe it took unraveling the system that I had in place in order to have the courage to move forward. And it’s a shame that that’s like a repeating theme in my life that it has to go down to that before I make the change. But it seems like that’s the way it works with me. But the second that the comfort of that system was no longer there, I didn’t have the excuse of using that to not do the other thing.
And then I, because I was prepared in that way of getting the digital course information, it was just a matter of doing it then. So I always say to my kids that success is a formula. It’s preparedness meets opportunity. I was prepared and then the opportunity arose. And then I had life experience to show me that I could succeed.
And that’s really the gift of 2020. Also, because I had a health scare in my life before, it was a good reminder. Not that I don’t thank God for it every day, but it was a good reminder for me that without your health, you have nothing. Absolutely nothing. And again, it was another reinforcement that I’m on the right path. Because what I saw my need to be during 2020 was really as a resource to kids that needed somebody to talk to.
I’m leaning into that. I’m not resisting it. I’m not trying to only do musical theater, things that are song, dance, and acting, and nothing else. I’m really leaning into what they really need, and what they really need is realness. Truth. Vulnerability. They need to know things go crappy and then turn around. And you can survive and live to tell about it. That’s what they need.
I like that part of 2020 gave me the permission slip to lean more into that. I’ve always done that, but never so publicly. Usually that is something that I leave for in class conversation. And we go really in depth, but nobody, but the class is privy to it. And this is just me showing what really happens in my class on a more external basis. So that’s what 2020 gave me: a bigger voice, no boundaries.
Maren: I think that we should just leave that there. Beth, this has been a wonderful chat. I am just so, so thrilled that you agreed to come on and talk about the stuff that you do because it’s, I feel like we’re kindred spirits. I do like, I, I feel your energy all the way from the DR.
Beth: Good! As I do yours.
Maren: Yeah. So, uh, keep on keeping on. I think that this is wonderful. And for my listeners, check out the JAM Academy. If you go to JamAcademyDR.com, you can find out about the Singers Challenge. And you can also, follow you online, right? On Instagram @jamacademydr. And then if you go to Facebook, just search JAM Academy. And all of that stuff will be in the show notes as well. So thank you again for coming on. I really enjoyed this.
And I will leave it there.
Join me next episode, in which I finish A Flemish Flame, the story of Marguerite and Julian versus the Spanish Inquisition.
She watched him drink from the canteen, admiring the way the water dripped from the side of his mouth, running down his cheek in rivulets. He was as sweaty and dusty as she was, and she loved it.
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The Bodice Ripper Project is a production of Compassionate Creative, and was conceived, written, and edited by me, Maren Montalbano. The theme music was written by yours truly. If you liked what you heard, I invite you to give this podcast a 5-star rating – it’ll bring a smile to my face and a blush to my cheeks – and I’ll see you next time.