Today we’d like to introduce you to Tiffany-Marie Austin.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
Since I was a small child, I have always had a great love for all things artistic. Drawing, painting, singing, dancing – anything that allowed me to fully immerse myself in creativity and expression. Looking back, I realize how these things were not only fun and enjoyable, but they helped me to connect to a sense of positivity and possibility – a deeper feeling of something greater, an invisible magick.
Growing up I was lucky enough to get to do a little bit of everything that I enjoyed doing. I was involved in as much community and school theatre, music and arts programs as I think could be humanly possible. I am grateful to have had a supportive mother who helped to provide me with as many opportunities doing what I loved as she could. I went on to study theatre and music at USC in Los Angeles and after graduating, continued studies at UC Berkeley and SF State University while pursuing a career in musical theatre in the Northern California Bay Area. During this time, I worked teaching acting to kids and had a side hobby making costumes, directing and performing in a J-pop cover band. My hands were stirring many pots and, again, I felt fortunate to be able to do a little bit of everything I loved, as crazy and chaotic as my schedule might have been. (Ah to be young and have boundless amounts of energy!)
I moved back to Los Angeles in the late 2000’s, was reintroduced to Bellydance and began my professional journey as a Bellydancer. This was an amazing experience. I received the majority of my training as a working member of one of LA’s most well-known international dance troupes of the time, Layla & the Lotus Dancers, performing many shows several days a week in a variety of settings all across the greater Los Angeles area. It was fun, exciting and an incredible amount of hard work. I learned so much about the art of Middle Eastern dance as well as working in a troupe with dozens of different amazing women over the course of more than a decade, as not only a dancer but trainer, teacher and, later, manager of the troupe. At the same time, I continued with occasional musical theatre work around LA and was also the manager of Swerve Studio, a yoga, dance & fitness studio famous for the creation of Yoga Booty Ballet. At Swerve, I found a home with a wonderfully supportive community and learned an immense amount about health and fitness for both body & mind.
It was during these years that I really “found myself” as a dancer, something I had never dared to consider myself in the past. Up until this point, I could dance, but I wouldn’t call myself a “dancer.” Dance had always felt way too competitive and scary for me. As a musical theatre performer, I relied heavily on my singing and acting because dance auditions were absolutely terrifying. I wasn’t ever one of those dancers who had trained and practiced consistently in a particular style of dance (eg. prima ballerina) or put in the hours of lessons to become skilled at many styles of dance. I was too busy playing around with a variety of interests and didn’t have the focused technical training that the professional dancers that I faced at auditions had. My own self-doubt and lack of confidence in my abilities held me back more than anything (regardless of the fact that I was a fine dancer with excellent rhythm). My fear of failure made it so that I couldn’t access my skills and anything I did just wasn’t good enough for me.
I really had to work through my fear in order to open up and learn something new. Bellydance was so foreign to me, that it felt ok to be “bad” at it at first. I allowed myself to throw myself into it and try my best even if it felt super scary to do so. I won’t lie, it was hard to do and I probably wanted to give up many times, but I kept at it. Eventually, I built more and more confidence and more and more skill. Meanwhile, I joined a tribe of non-competitive dancers at Swerve – dancers for fitness and mental well-being, for health, joy & celebration! Immersed in Bellydance and dance fitness, I fell back in love with dance and ended up making it my career. I wanted to help others to discover their own inner dancer and be free of the self-criticism and judgement that can often come up for people in a traditional dance class setting, especially for adults. I started teaching dance classes for fitness and providing private coaching for performers to hone their skills, build confidence and find their authentic selves.
When the pandemic hit, live performances and classes stopped and I transitioned all of my teaching to online. Although this was challenging at first, I grew to actually really enjoy teaching via zoom, especially because of the accessibility it afforded. Students from any location could (and can) connect with me and take my dance, workout and meditation classes or do private coaching without having to leave their homes. I continue to offer classes and coaching via zoom today! With all of the challenges that came during that time, I learned a lot about how to shift and adapt to circumstances, as well as gained valuable lessons about slowing down and prioritizing, that I continue to practice now. I hope to share all of the lessons I learn with my students as well. Latest wisdom: That you are enough just as you are. Everything else is extra.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
I don’t think the road is smooth for anyone in any walk of life. We all have our assigned struggles and challenges, whether they be obvious conditions of our environment or less so obvious, such as mental health or physical wellness. Being human in itself is a challenge! For me, I think some of my greatest struggles have been mental and oftentimes probably even self-imposed. Of course, “trying to make it” in any big city, in any competitive career, has a high level of challenge to it, especially in the arts field. Getting the jobs and being able to make a living is incredibly difficult. But I do think that the mental & psychological challenge of a career where you, yourself are seen as the “product” makes for a special type of challenge, where your self-esteem and ego are continually being played tricks on. Throw in a dash of perfectionism and overachieving and you’re giving yourself a recipe for struggle right there.
My biggest mental struggle has been recognizing my own self-worth and success. Perfectionist tendencies and overachieving (which a lot of performers have) make it so that you’re always trying to do more and thinking that what you have done isn’t ever good enough. Chasing after some idealized version of “success” can make it so that we forget to look at the successes that we already have all around us, the ones that truly feed us and give us purpose beyond any idea of who or how we “should” be. If this sounds like you, I invite you to take a look at how you think of “success” as a concept. What is ‘being successful” for you? Are you asking too much of yourself to be able to acknowledge all of the success you’ve had just living your life and being you? If you’re doing your best, why do you think you need to be something more? Acknowledge yourself. Take time to enjoy and appreciate where you are right now and worry less about your goals. If you are especially driven, like me, you will always keep reaching and it’s helpful to find balance by realizing that you are already an amazing being just as you are, you are where you are meant to be and there is so much to be grateful for right now.
I’ve learned a great deal through my spiritual practices, from teachers, relationships with others, and just through the act of living itself, about how to navigate through these types of mental struggles. It continues to be an everyday challenge and I know I’m not alone. It helps to have people around you who can help encourage you, guide you and most importantly help you remember who you are and celebrate that. This is what I hope to do for my students, above all else.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
My current focus is primarily on teaching dance, fitness & meditation classes and offering coaching for performing artists. As an artist in a variety of arenas myself, I use my personal experience and all of my training to help empower artists to stay true to themselves while honing their crafts. I offer classes in Bellydance technique for beginner and intermediate students as well as Bellydance fitness classes for all levels of dance experience. My classes are available live online via zoom and as recordings, in an effort to make them the most accessible for anyone who wants to learn Middle Eastern dance skills OR just have a fun time, get their body moving and possibly try something new and expand their comfort zone.
I specialize in helping those who are scared of dance to find their own authentic connection to movement and to remove the obstacles of self-doubt and fear. I love working with people to help them realize their own inner gifts and recognize their already existing beauty. Dance is a form of freedom and Self-expression and I work hard to keep my classes positive, supportive and non-competitive, no matter where you are in your dance journey. For those looking to perfect and uplevel their skills in performance, I aim to offer both practical exercises and guidance towards goals and improvement as well as bring in an important balance of focus on self-confidence and recognizing strengths right now.
As a side hobby, I also lead meditation and spiritual Goddess ritual groups with women to help them get in touch with their intuition and inner magick. I’m on a break right now from most live performing to focus on teaching and other personal pursuits, but I expect to return to it in the future.
Do you have any memories from childhood that you can share with us?
I think that most of my favorite childhood memories are of hanging out in the garden and playing with my cats (not much has changed here, since that’s still one of my favorite things to do nowadays, too). But I also have countless memories of making home videos with my best friends (back in the days before youtube or tiktok), which are absolutely some of the most hilarious creations I’ve ever seen and I remember the immense amounts of fun we had making them. I do have one childhood memory, though, that sticks with me because it reminds me of how sometimes your dreams can come true without even realizing it.
When I was around 8yrs old, I went to a Persian friend’s birthday party and I was absolutely floored and amazed at what I saw there. I couldn’t even believe it – a Bellydancer!! She was mesmerizing. I was enchanted. She was everything that I ever dreamed of and I secretly wished that I could be her. This seemed like a total fantasy and I never told a soul. Fast forward 20yrs later. I had taken maybe a few Bellydance classes here or there, just for fun, always remembering this memory in the back of my head and being intrigued by Bellydance but never really finding the time (or the confidence!) to pursue it seriously. I took a class and the teacher recognized the dancer within me and helped me to bring her out!
After that the rest is history. I remember years later dancing at a young girl’s birthday party and looking at the little girls’ faces as it dawned on me. I was living my childhood dream and I hadn’t even realized it! I hadn’t acknowledged it yet, but now I saw it – I was the dancer from my memory and I could see myself in these little girls’ faces. My childhood fantasy had come true. It may have seemed totally different to me as an adult, but I suddenly remembered the way it felt to be that little girl and to realize who I had become. How cool is that?
Pricing:
- Online classes $10-20 per class
- Private coaching $50-60/hr
Contact Info:
- Website: www.goddesstiffanymarie.com
- Instagram: @goddesstiffanymarie
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/GoddessTiffanyMarie
Image Credits
Annie Jeeves Nathan Morrison
