Meet Brigette Cormier | Dance Artist & Educator

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

Hi Brigette, what led you to pursuing a creative path professionally?
It feels like I’ve had a road map to this life path of being an artist in my heart since childhood. I decided to pursue a career in the arts at around 10-years old. I knew I wanted to be an artist and was sure that if I got good at every possible kind of art form, that would increase my chances to be one. I didn’t need to do that, I ended up falling in love with dance art, and knew in my heart that I was meant to have a dance company when I grew up. While I love to express myself through other art forms too, there’s something about making dances and movement programming that makes me feel the most powerful to this day, so I keep doing it.

What is success to you?
I want to facilitate increased wellbeing for others with my work. Wellbeing for the body through mindful practice, and wellbeing for the mind and emotions, through somatic healing.

What a gift it is, to be able to do what I love to do, and witness the wellbeing improve in the people that interact with my work – this to me, is success, and feedback from the universe for me to keep going.

What makes you happy, why?
Happiness is a peaceful state of balanced wellbeing of mind, body, and emotions, so in order to create my own happiness I’ve learned to live my life in a way that prioritizes that balance. The mind and body facilitate the emotion of happiness. I block out time in my schedule for body recovery, for emotional wellness, and for my mental health, daily; and these constant check-ins with myself allow me to stay balanced. This daily practice makes room within me for happiness. I’ve learned it’s nobody’s responsibility to monitor or maintain my happiness, and that it’s completely up to me if I want to feel it. My happiness is independent from the outside world because I create it for myself, and so no external experiences can take it away from me. I can create opportunities for myself by myself, to balance, to make room for happiness, and this feels powerful for me. At 32 years old, I’m grateful to be a happy person, and that I’ve figured out how to find the balance in my life to allow that emotion to thrive within me without messing with it. Since I was a kid, I spoke about the importance of following your heart, and now I can take it further and say, follow your happiness, because happiness can lead you to greater confidence, on adventures, into new realms of creative thought, and into moments of profound joy.

Social Impact, How does Your class help the community and the world?
It’s an honor for me to connect with the community and create opportunities for people to feel better, inside, and out – we all deserve joy and I hope my work can continue to provide more opportunities for others to experience it. I am grateful to be able to witness the people that I teach increase their wellbeing, get stronger, and happier in my classes. The art of dance is a joy for me to share and teach about, and I love to share in this joy with fellow dance-loving artists. As well, I hope my dance art can create a space where the audience feels seen and appreciated on a soul-level, and my choreography and productions can facilitate feelings of wellness and creativity in the audience.

I’ve been teaching my classes and sharing art in Miami for over 10 years, creating a space of somatic healing, physical healing, and dance art. In July I’ll begin a new class series, and I hope these new offerings can create opportunity for personal somatic healing in the community while also assisting people with advancing their physical fitness, and dancers in advancing their contemporary technique and artistry.

This new class series is on Thursdays and starts July 1st – The classes are, Pilates Mat at 5:15pm and Contemporary Ballet Technique class at 6:15. Both classes are in The SandBox at Miami Theater Center on Thursdays. The Pilates class is created for dancers, non-dancers, and the non-coordinated alike! The ballet class is intermediate level and is intended for people with prior dance experience. Space is limited, so those interested can sign up now. More info can be found on brigettecormier.com or you can sign up directly at openballet.as.me. I’m going to offer the classes on Zoom as well, so if a person can’t make it in-person but wants to train to with us, they can still participate.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
For nighttime live music, good vibes, and inspiring atmosphere, I’d recommend visiting Heartland, Oak Garden, and Palapa Miami. Each spot has it’s own personality & quirk, has lots of fresh air or natural elements, and there is a down-to-earth, soothing quality about each one. During the day I’d recommend getting your farmer’s market on, I love my local Legion Park farmer’s market and also the huge market that’s in Coconut Grove. There’s an antique & arts market on Lincoln Road every couple weeks that is also great for unique shopping finds and people-watching. I love vegan and gluten-free food, and lately I’ve been kind of obsessed with Full Bloom on South Beach and my next spot to try is Dora’s Gluten Free Bakery & Bistro in Coral Gables.

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?
When I do my work, I do not expect positive feedback or for people to let me know that my work helped them. But if it wasn’t for the positive feedback and support of my clients, I would not have the confidence to continue to pursue this career so vehemently. I’m grateful that the people I work with are willing to open up to me and share how my work impacts their life in a positive way. Everyone has days where they feel more tired, and if the tiredness continues they may feel like giving up. I’m grateful this doesn’t happen to me because every time I’m tired, there’s a person who pops up and reminds me of why I do this work, wellbeing and joy for all, and that my work, works. This kind of validation and confirmation keeps me going. Thank you, you know who you are. I appreciate you so much.

Website: main website- www.BrigetteCormier.com, class sign up- www.openballet.as.me

Instagram: instagram.com/bcdanceco (dance company page), instagram.com/ettegirb (personal page), instagram.com/lovesteadylife (spirituality)

Other: https://www.lovesteadylife.com/2020/09/30/oracle-brigette-artist-feature-in-voyage-mia/

Sign up for the new class series with Brigette, in-person or zoom, at openballet.as.me. Preorder pricing is available until July 1st,