Project Description
[Performing with GroundWorks Dancer Maddie Hanson]
About Amanda
Amanda Cole joined Plexus LGBT + Allied Chamber of Commerce as the first Executive Director in March of 2019. Her work in the non-profit sector began while a student at Antioch College, where during her first co-op she was Director of an AmeriCorps program serving at-risk youth living in vulnerable communities. Since then she has been a servant leader and community activist.
Building upon these early community engagement experiences, she went on to run a community-based afterschool program, leading her to pursue graduate studies in non-profit management. As a graduate research assistant with the Center for Urban Affairs at Wright State University, she worked on designing, implementing, and evaluating community school models and replicating the Harlem’s Children Zone Promise Neighborhoods, traveling to Durban, South Africa twice as part of an asset-based community development and youth leadership project.
After graduating she began a career in fundraising and development and returned to her alma mater, Antioch College, to run the annual fund and alumni relations departments. Her move to NEO was spurred by the opportunity to join the Museum of Contemporary Art, leading the development department. Additionally, her community involvement and training include leadership and change facilitation through Points of Light Youth Leadership, People’s Institute for Undoing Racism, and the Nonprofit Leadership Alliance.
An advocate for communal living, Amanda lives intergenerationally in Kent, Ohio with her wife and father-in-love. An avid reader and consumer of podcasts, Amanda has been most inspired by Encyclopedia Brown to choose her own adventure.
Better Know Amanda
Family Shoutout: We are a modern Brady Bunch family. My wife Erin and I live intergenerationally with my father-in-love Larry raising our three grandkids [we call them the GOATS (Greatest Of All Time)] Elliot, Dylan Rose, and Zona. Our pets are Chiweenies Poe & Riley, a Ball Python named Snape, a Bichon Frise ironically named Pepper, and an African Spurred Tortoise named She-Ra. Our two grown kids Austin and Erika are out and about in the world
Favorite TV Show or Movie: Antonia’s Line is my favorite film…but I also have a tendency to watch TV’s The Office over and over
Favorite Book or Author: Who can possibly choose one? Temple of My Familiar by Alice Walker and Written on the Body by Jeanette Winterson
Favorite genre of music: Too hard! I most often listen to Hip hop
Name one thing on your bucket list: Go to The Met Gala but more realistically attend the Brooklyn Public Library’s The People’s Ball
Favorite dessert: Cheesecake
Why did you decide to be an It Takes Two! celebrity dancer?
Saying yes was easy. To quote choreographer Pina Bausch, “Dance, dance. Otherwise we are lost.” Groundworks seeks to make dance for the community, David [Shimotakahara] takes a collaborative approach that opens new transformative opportunities for dancers and audiences. Most importantly, Groundworks brings dance into our schools and into the lives of our children. Who doesn’t want to dance and donate for this cause?!
How has it been working with your GroundWorks dance partner (s)?
Maddie [Hanson] is so creative and a fun choreographer to work with. I asked to be challenged and to play with the irreverent in movement. She is up for the challenge! In college, studying dance and being in the studio was life changing for me. Stepping back into the sacred space of the studio and creative movement made me feel 22 again…and then I was icing my knees before bed!
What has surprised you about the creative process?
Less of a surprise about the creative process and more about being self-conscious of my body. Of how much harder it is to shut off my mind and just move. Thankfully, Maddie had good techniques to get me out of my head and into my body!
What about dance in general connects with you?
That is a universal human experience, an ancient artform that all people, in all times have always done. I mean…maybe not the Puritans, but they also burned witches.
Why should people vote for you?
Because our dance is going to pay homage to the groundbreaking choreographer Pina Bausch (google Café Müller and watch the film Pina). And because I’m not a Puritan…obviously.