Post by Madeline J. Claibourne on Jun 26, 2012 21:33:19 GMT -5
madeline claibourne
| [style=width: 200px; padding: 0px;][style=width:198px; font-family:arial; font-size:9px; color:white; text-transform:lowercase; text-align:left; border-bottom:1px dotted white; padding-bottom:1.5px;]full name |
MADELINE JADE CLAIBOURNE
known as
MADELINE, MADDIE, MAD
age
THIRTY-THREE
hometown
QUEENS, NY
[td]
[style=width:198px; font-family:arial; font-size:9px; color:white; text-transform:lowercase; text-align:left; border-bottom:1px dotted white; padding-bottom:1.5px;]sexuality
STRAIGHT
major
DANCE
member group
STAFF
play by
HILARIE BURTON
[/td][/tr][/table]so tell us about yourself
My name is Madeline Claibourne and I was born in Queens on April 17th, 1979. My mother is a dancer and introduced me to it early on in life. I took dance lessons from the time I was three years old and loved every minute of it. Some might think that I would resent my mother for “forcing” me to dance as a child, but it never felt that way and I thank her every day for giving that to me. My parents divorced when I was young but I remained close with both of them, and split time between living with my mom in Queens and my dad in Manhattan. I am an only child and neither of my parents ever remarried following their divorce. As long as I can remember, I’ve been dancing. I’ve never wanted to do anything else. After graduating from MCOA, I was cast in the chorus of several Broadway and Off-Broadway productions. Four years ago I performed in the touring company of a Broadway show, which led to much introspection and my eventual decision to teach.
Why teach instead of performing?
While fulfilling, I wasn’t experiencing everything I felt I wanted to when I was strictly a performer. My thoughts kept coming back to a dance instructor who not only taught me to dance, but to find myself as a person and to live life to the fullest. She was one of the only reasons I kept going even when I felt like quitting, and there is no doubt in my mind I wouldn’t be who I am today if it weren’t for her. If only one of my students can say that I gave them something like that, I’ve done something I can be proud of. In addition to that, I had personal reasons for making the decision to leave the stage behind for a while.
Why choose to teach at MCOA?
There are a couple of reasons. The first is that it’s my alma mater. This is the place where I learned my craft, and so much more. It’s important to me and what better place to give back than the place where it all began? The other reason is my boyfriend of six years, Rob Parker. We were both at a crossroads in our lives and needed something new and different. We had our own reasons, but we both made the decision to go into teaching at the conservatory for a change of pace. That was three years ago, and we’re still together and going strong both in our careers and our personal life.
How long are you planning to teach? Do you want to return to the stage someday?
When I first started, I thought this would be temporary. Something for me to do to complete myself and to ensure that I would have time to devote to my personal life. It was never in the plans to teach for very long, but now that I’ve been doing this for three years, I feel like I would be unable to drop everything and walk away. This job and these kids have become such a major part of my life and I’m starting to feel like my true calling was to be here, training the stars of tomorrow, instead of being out there on the stage myself.
Would you take a role, Broadway or Off-Broadway, if it was offered to you?
That’s hard to say. I’m not going to go out looking to get back onstage anytime soon, but if I got an offer to return, I would have to seriously consider it. It is my first love and I don’t know if I would be able to turn it down. I’m not getting any younger, after all, and there is a certain shelf life for dancers, much more than actors. But there are a lot of things to consider and it wouldn’t be a decision I would ever take lightly.
tricia | a while | pacific | pm |
