Today we’d like to introduce you to Lindsey Pool.
Hi Lindsey, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I’m a 22 years old Libra! I was born and raised in Seattle, Washington, and I’m lucky enough to grow up with a full, loving family. My parents noticed at birth that I had a…natural inclination…to move. Even before I went to dance classes I’d be fascinated by dancers and performers I’d see on tv. I started my dance training at a small local studio at three years old, with just basic tap and ballet. After a year of doing that, my parents solidified for themselves that it was becoming way more than just a hobby for me. Dancing was literally my whole life, and I and everyone else close to me knew that early on. I began my dance career with aspirations to become a professional ballerina. Because of how fortunate I was with my family’s financial situation and how well they set me up for success in life, I literally had no idea how far-fetched that seemed at first. I looked nothing like any famous ballerinas around at the time. Looking back, I guess that was an advantageous trait of mine! I didn’t care that I was different from everyone else when I was younger. Not only was I just a little black girl trying to get into the tough, euro-centric world of ballet, all while being surrounded by other white, blonde girls during the day at my private elementary school, but I’m a mixed black girl; my mom is Chinese. I felt like I never fully fit into any community in my life growing up as a kid and a teen. I really mean it, any institution I went to or the black or Asian community; I felt like I just didn’t truly belong anywhere where I 100% fit in.
I attended Pacific Northwest Ballet school for 12 years, training to become a ballerina. There were a lot of consequences I had to face as a result of wanting to go down that path, of all types of severities. I ended up going through some really tough and urgent mental health issues throughout high school, again, as a result of so many different types of things that I’ll get into later. Because of that, I made the difficult decision to depart with my lifelong dream. I knew immediately though that dance was still my love, and I just needed to navigate and get to know the other sides of her. I found myself doing competition dance; something I vowed I would never take part in. However, just as life goes sometimes, it turns out it was just the thing I needed. I spent a year competing in my junior year of high school, where I got to explore styles like contemporary, jazz, lyrical, and hip hop. That was a year of great success for me, I felt like I bounced back better than I had expected after that darker time in my life. I found a lot of great opportunities and proof of my worthiness, not to others, strictly to myself. I tended to fall down deep holes of self-doubt, which I still do sometimes.
The end of high school snuck up on me, and my college options were nothing like I imagined for myself. I, unfortunately, wasn’t able to pursue a degree in dance and ended up putting that on hold as I worked and waited patiently for my next opportunity that I didn’t know yet I would soon create for myself. I attended Seattle University for my freshman year of college, going down the path to earn a BA in English. I’ve always had a sweet spot for writing, so I thought if it’s temporary why not? Going to a liberal arts university even for a short amount of time is an experience that I’m so grateful for at the end of the day. Even if it seemed so not ideal at the time. While I was at SU, I kept searching for performing arts colleges with great dance programs. And luckily, there was a more than amazing dance studio just a 15-minute walk from my dorm, so I was still able to practice and stay in shape for auditioning. After what seemed like a long season of auditioning for schools, I got a letter back from my top school choice with an offered scholarship! AMDA College of the Performing Arts had enthusiastically got back to me with early acception and assuring feedback. I was SURE I had bombed this audition, I ended up crying in the middle of one part of it because of something else that happened before!
Sure enough, as soon as the summer of 2018 ended, I packed up my bags and headed to LA! The city has been treating me amazingly so far. I recently graduated from AMDA a few weeks ago, and I’m grateful to say that I have a lot of exciting opportunities coming my way and I’m so excited to face them head on!
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
In the most polite way possible, oh god no. I had to climb a lot of prickly ladders to get to where I am today. Part of the reason why I’m so grateful for my experiences and what’s coming for me in the future!
This is difficult for me to publicly announce, and it always will be. My dad was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease in August of 2018. It’ll be three years next month. This has in no way been an easy thing for our family to deal with. And especially for me, I had to leave for LA in two months after the diagnosis. I felt devastated to leave my family behind, and it’s absolutely cliche, but they wouldn’t have wanted me to put school on hold for them. My dad, idols growing up, (don’t worry, you know you are too mom!!). He is so special to me and our local community. I’m tearing up right now writing about this! He was Seattle’s local meteorologist for 40+ years. He was “Steve Pool The Weatherman” YEARS before I was born. His gift was his brain and his intelligence, and his skill at his job was way above average. And I’m not just saying that because I’m his daughter! I grew up being stopped all the time in public when I was with him, and being asked about him at school, or even getting calls from close friends just so people could ask me what the forecast was going to be! As amazing as that journey was for him, and as cool an experience as it was for me to grow up like that, it had to come to a stop. There are so many consequences I could list as a result of his diagnosis, but he’s happy right now. And that’s all that matters to me. I’m grateful to have him where he is after three years of a diagnosis. I try to center in on gratitude as much as I can when it comes to that situation. We’ll always love him so much.
As I mentioned before, I struggled a lot with mental health in high school. It still continues to be one of the biggest obstacles I’ve had to overcome to this day. In my freshman year of high school, I was diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder, major depressive episode disorder, and at one point, suicidal thoughts and urges to self-harm. As I mentioned before, these came about for a multitude of reasons. First and foremost, it’s genetic, my dad and I bonded a lot over our anxiety issues as I grew up. Secondly, it was the institutions I attended and the environment I grew up in. I do want to say before I go into it that I was treated amazingly by my family and mentors growing up. All of this was simply due to circumstance. I was surrounded by a bunch of people who didn’t look like me for my whole life growing up in Seattle. I constantly would question myself, have debilitating self-esteem issues and more. I realized recently it’s because I was constantly reaching for a standard that I wouldn’t be able to reach. I’d never look like another white girl, and I wasn’t okay with that. Wanting to be a ballerina and going to private elementary school, the foundations of my understanding of life and normalcy were built on these standards I didn’t know I’d never reach. My poor younger self. In addition to that, it’s not that common to want to be a dancer. I’m grateful to be able to say that it’s so different now and people are learning to embrace the arts, but Seattle isn’t exactly known for their education in the arts. As I mentioned before, I went to a private elementary school. It was strictly focused on academic aspects, as is the general school district I’m in. I’m grateful looking back however, as I learned that God put me through those battles in learning how to read and write at an above average level for a reason. It totally pays off for me in my adult life!! After a rather rigorous, expensive (thank you mom and dad!) elementary school education, I attended a college-prep middle/high school. Again, fantastic curriculum! Just absolutely not for me. So all these pressures and reasons added up for me and ended up being the source of my mental health issues.
In my sophomore year, all of the pressures became too much for me. I ended up getting wanting to attempt suicide, which landed me in the local hospital. I very clearly remember my reason being that I couldn’t see any light at the end of the tunnel. I felt like I was chasing something I’d never be able to reach. I just wanted to stop being in pain. To this day, it’s still really, really hard for me to talk about the way I felt back then. And as you can see so far, I’m a pretty open book. But the good thing is, since then I don’t ever think about leaving! I’m still taking medications and go to therapy, so I’m not in the position where I feel like I need to turn to that again.
However, living with an anxiety disorder is still going to be the most difficult thing I’ll have to deal with in my personal life. Even after battling it for this long, I still find that it affects my daily life. I try to take it one day at a time and focus on giving myself room to simply exist. My inner voice can be so loud sometimes that I can’t hear my own rational thoughts. I tend to be a perfectionist because of my anxiety, which can result in some pretty extreme exhaustion. Which is why I just want to allow myself to be! And convince myself that it’s good enough, and the present moment is perfect exactly the way it is now. It’s definitely a work in progress!
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I am a dancer! I aspire to work here commercially in LA. The styles I specialize in are ballet (of course) and heels! I’ve found out I love heels because it feels very similar to ballet to my body. I mean, it’s pretty much the same thing, right? Standing on a pair of stilt-like shoes and creating pretty, feminine shapes! Seriously though, I’m still discovering what else I’m into. I’ve only been exploring other styles for six years, and especially after spending the first 16 years of my life thinking I’d only do one thing forever, it’s hard to turn it around and tell your brain to check out other viable options. As a dancer, I’d say I’m definitely most known for my performance quality, my smile, my hair (lol!) and my resilience and perseverance. In my dance journey, I’ve been proud of a few things! Some accomplishments, and some regarding my mindset and the way I carry myself as an artist in this industry. First of all, I’m incredibly proud of my BFA in Dance Theater from AMDA. That diploma will always symbolize something way larger than just a diploma for me. It’s a sign of my personal strength. I coped with my dad’s diagnosis from a different state. Also as I mentioned before, I had a year of victories following my darkest time. After the period of time where I felt suicidal, I was selected to attend a national dance competition in Burbank (Hollywood Connection Dance Convention) and placed 2nd in my category, which I considered A HUGE win, especially considering how little training I had in everything else. My very first huge dance win is probably my favorite! In 2009, I had earned the lead role of Clara in Pacific Northwest Ballet’s Nutcracker. I was one of the very first black Clara’s they had ever cast. I was also significantly younger and shorter than the other two Clara’s they chose that year. It was probably one of the first pieces of proof I had that assured me that I had potential, something special. Which was a huge deal to the little Blasian girl in a euro-centric world. And lastly, I’m proud of the fact that I consistently choose to be a performer first and to run on pure passion. I’m really good at remembering that I do this because I love it!
From what I’ve been told, I feel like as a performer I’m most known for my look/my brand, the energy I bring to a space, and my technical ability and versatility. It’s taken a long time for me to name things I’m proud of or what I’m good at!
Any advice for finding a mentor or networking in general?
Oh wow. I’m so blessed to say that I’ve consistently had some pretty awesome mentors in my life. And AMDA does a fantastic job at teaching us about networking in the industry, so I’m glad I have a lot of knowledge on the topic. There are a few key things I’ve found that worked really well for me! First off, be kind always! People don’t want to work with someone rude or unpleasant. Don’t be overly polite to the point where you’re no longer yourself, but make sure you relay to the person that you respect them. I found showing genuine kindness is one of the simplest ways to do so. Also, communicate, communicate, communicate. I cannot stress this enough. For example, if you want an agent, one of the qualities they look for in clients is their ability to communicate efficiently. It’s so important to have the ability to relay information quickly or be transparent about something you have going on. And, it’s unprofessional to leave your agent in the dark for weeks on end, even if you do see audition notices come in. Even a small “confirmed, thank you!” or “I’m going to pass on this, thanks so much” per each notice is enough. I’ve found that most people are really understanding, especially if you take it upon yourself to communicate first.
People in the industry, especially those who you idolize and respect so much can be some of the most intimidating people in the world. Trust me, I know. And because of that, it can be really easy to stress so much about wanting them to notice you and like you while you’re in a spaced with them. You’re thinking, “oh my god, they didn’t smile at me this time, they totally hate me.” or, “they just yelled at me, it’s official, they don’t like me.” And before you know it, when you get home later that night you realized you didn’t end up learning anything from them like you’ve always wanted because you were so busy worrying about what they thought about you! And listen, that’s valid, it happens to the best of us. Who doesn’t want to do well? But here’s something I’ve learned to ask myself to avoid going down in that mental spiral: “before you freak out that they don’t like you, do you even like them?” …You’re probably like “Yes of course, Lindsey I LOVE them”, but I mean do you like them as a person? You can observe people from far away all the time, you can love the way they move, or how amazing of an actor they are or their voice, but when it comes down to it, do you actually want to work for them or be in a space with them? Are they pleasant for you to work with? I’ve recently found a lot of freedom in realizing this. It’s one thing to respect someone for their craft, and it’s another to want to work with them because you respect them as a person outside of the art. Make sure you remember that! If it’s not working out, trust that it isn’t meant to be. “Rejection” is the universe’s way of protecting you. I’ve always found that it means that something bigger is coming for you.
And lastly, as cliche as it is, be yourself! As you’ve seen so far, I’ve had to go through a long journey of self-love and acceptance. I’ve realized that people are always going to have something to say about you, no matter what, no matter where you go, and life is short…so you might as well do whatever the hell you want! Nobody is meant to look or be exactly the same. Everyone’s journey to self-love is different, but when you start exploring that concept as a performing artist, it can help you get to know your strengths and play them up. This has helped me a lot in finding mentors. Find people you vibe with naturally, who have similar life stories, and of course, who do what you’d like to do someday. Make sure to do your research on them as well! This is also something I’ve learned at school, research the job you’re going for, research the director, research the choreographer. If that’s a baseline requirement, then it’s definitely a requirement to know everything there is to know about the person you want to work for or create a relationship with! Trust me, you don’t want to embarrass yourself. Overall, aim to be pleasant, open, and willing to show that you’re ready to work hard! And delve into your own personal journey towards unconditional self-love.
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lindsey.pool/
Image Credits:
Headshot/Bodyshots by Wes Klain
