Kim Brooks Mata lives by one philosophy: dance is a reflection of life, and life is a reflection of dance. But for Mata, the University dance program’s head director and artistic director, the decision to turn her love of dance into a career was initially anything but certain.
After graduating from the University of Kentucky with a Bachelor of Arts in art history and a minor in dance, Mata said she feared she would be rejected from the professional dance community because she lacked the more intensive dance major. So instead of jumping into a dancing career, she decided to take a year off and travel to Holland with her current husband.
“I grew quite depressed as a result of not dancing,” Mata said. “That’s when I wandered over to a pottery shop, and told them I’d love to become an apprentice. After one day there, they asked me what I really wanted to do with my life.”
The owners of the pottery store directed her to a dance studio nearby and Mata soon took up dancing again. After being featured as a soloist in a number of pieces, the studio owner recommended that Mata audition for the Rotterdam Dance Academy in the Netherlands.
“During the improvisation section of the audition, I was being so goofy compared to everyone else,” said Mata. “I thought there was no way they were going to let me in, but they took me.”
After studying at the academy for a year, Mata returned to the United States to perform professionally. Additionally, she worked toward a Masters in Fine Arts in modern dance performance and become certified as a Laban Movement Analyst, signifying her expertise in an interdisciplinary study of movement.
“It was [the dance academy] that made me realize this is what I want to do — [that dancing] is my passion, this is where my heart lies and this is what I need to continue,” Mata said.
Though Mata enjoyed each company she performed in, she said the smaller companies offered a deeper level of involvement in choreographing her own routines.
“I feel I learned more about the choreographic process [in smaller companies] than because they were more receptive to performers actually contributing to the work,” she said. “That’s very indicative of the way the field is heading.”
After performing her last piece while five months pregnant, Mata decided to return to one of her original passions: teaching. She had first taught dance while still in high school, both on her own and through the professional Capital City Dance Studio.
“I went around to daycares and taught gymnastics, ballet and jazz,” Mata said. “I ended up earning about $5, so it wasn’t even paying for the gas — but I really loved doing it.”
After holding an interim position at the University for a year, Mata accepted her current roles as professor and director of the University’s dance program in 2011. She has taught courses on modern dance, dance technique, dance improvisation, dance composition, dance history and jazz dance at the University.
“The students are wonderful,” Mata said. “They’re amazing, bright, intelligent and bring so much to the process. Whether they’re majors or minors is not the point — it’s how they’re working with dance.”
On a broader scale, Mata hopes to expand students’ understanding of dance from an art form to a mode of self-expression and self-realization.
“[Before], I looked at dance more as an activity and a passion,” said third-year College student Erika Choe, a dance minor. “Now, I see it as something integrated into my everyday life.”
Ultimately, Mata hopes to expand the program from a minor into a major. In the short term, however, dance aficionados can look forward to the minor program’s recital, which will take place at Culbreth Theater Dec. 6-8.
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