Life & Work with Katrina Spencer

Today we’d like to introduce you to Katrina Spencer.

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?
I am a small-town girl from Pennsylvania with country roots. I trained at three different studios growing up all throughout high school including The Dance Company, Van Dyke & Co., as well as Dancers Studio. Meanwhile, for five summers leading into & through high school trained in Point Park University’s six weeks international dance intensive. Upon graduating high school, I moved out to Los Angeles to attend college and pursue my dreams of becoming a professional dancer and actress. I trained at Hussian College in Studio Los Angeles for four years and just recently graduated in May. Since moving to LA, I have had the opportunity to perform in many live dance performances, act in many short films, plays & musicals, as well as also play “Anita” in an upcoming sci-fi drama series titled “Anita”.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It has been anything but a smooth road to have gotten to where I am today. Growing up, I had multiple injuries as well as less opportunities than those who lived close to or in the city. However, those factors never limited me, they just made me work that much harder. Some injuries I faced included, multiple ankle sprains, a strained back, as well as iliac apophysitis (which is where my whole iliac spine separated from my growth plate). Recovery time for those injuries ranged anywhere from three weeks to three months. People don’t address how difficult it is to come back from an injury a lot of the time, however, I will say it is almost more mental than physical. It is also extremely hard to rebuild the strength and start training again when you see how much muscle and skill you have lost through healing and rest. I never let that stop me though, and in the end I always came out of the injury way stronger than I was before it happened. Growing up, even though I also had to commute an hour one way to dance, I feel like it made me more hungry to train and to be the best I could. My dreams were nonnegotiable which meant I would travel any distance to make sure I wasn’t falling behind in my craft. When you are dancing for 4-6 hours in a night, it is challenging to come home and deal with your basic needs such as eating, and showering, let alone also completing a huge pile of homework and trying to get enough sleep. Also making time to be an athlete in school was more onto my schedule but I also chose to be busy and take that on. This all in the end just taught me to be grateful for the opportunities to do so much, and be healthy enough to train. Also, coming from a small town, I know not everyone is fortunate enough to be given the opportunity or supportive parents to travel an hour one way, so even though sometimes it was a lot, I was very blessed to have a lot.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I am an actress and dancer! I am strong in both skills but more than either of those, I am a storyteller. I started dance at the age of four and got into acting at the age of 14. However, even before I got into acting, my strength in dance and most common compliment was that people were drawn to me because of my face and expression on stage. I think that is what sets me apart from others in both dance and acting is that I have always been able to access my emotions so easily. I have never had trouble opening up and being vulnerable, and at the end of the day, people want to see whats real, and everything I perform or characters I bring to life, all come from a very real place for me.

Risk taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
I am most definitely a risk taker. I risked a lot moving across the country to pursue a career and industry that millions of people are trying to just even get their foot in the door. However, even though that was a huge risk, I never viewed it that way because it wasn’t even an option for me. The only career I knew I would be happy in is the arts and storytelling. Regardless of fame or money, it has always been about the love of it for me. I could care less about what people told me because I care more about my happiness and what fulfills my soul and my purpose, and that is dance and acting. There is no greater risk worth making than when there’s love and passion involved.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://youtu.be/dRuqrOQal3c
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/katrina.nichole/?hl=en

Image Credits
Wes Klain Jared Trevino