Melody Rose

Interview Highlights
Q: What inspires you and drives you forward as an artist?
I like to consider dance to be my therapy. Whenever I perform, it releases any problems that I have. I think just showing up everyday and seeing how you can improve day by day, especially doing the same show everyday (can be inspirational). It is easy for it to get redundant and stale and if you can find one thing you can improve everyday, that drives me forward because it’s like how well can I perform by the end of the week or month. It doesn’t have to be technical things, it can be how you feel when you perform or positive self talk.

Q: How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected you as a performing artist?
We were in Ottawa, Canada when we found out our tour may be postponed or cancelled. It started around March when it became a big topic for the tour and a lot of people started getting really nervous about it. They thought it would shut things down in NYC, but not our tour —  then we found out we were going to be laid off and then postponed for a week, which turned into a month and then 2 months. The tour is actually being extended rather than closed. It is exciting because hopefully we will resume June 1st and go through the summer until mid August for the cities we canceled and postponed.
Read full interview here
Biography

Melody is a native of Maryland, has been dancing since the age of three. She grew up studying with master choreographer and teacher, Ashley Canterna-Hardy at the Edna Lee Dance Studio. Melody went on to become one of twelve women accepted into The Juilliard School's Dance Division and graduated in 2017 with a BFA in Dance. She recently had her theater debut in the National Tour of Finding Neverland as Peter Pan. She is a past company member of Dance Lab New York under the direction of Josh Prince, where she worked with choreographers such as Robbie Fairchild and Loni Landon. She is thrilled to join the National Tour of Cats! Special thanks to family, friends, and CESD for their love and support and thanks to Andy and Kim for this incredible opportunity to perform in her dream show. Melody hopes to inspire the community to know that with hard work and a positive mindset, anything is possible.