Paige Fraser, Professional Dancer, Activist, and Artist.
“We want to inspire and
encourage people to
accept how they are but also know that
there are so many resources and ways to
alleviate pain— to
work on your mental health, to connect
with others,
to dance and not feel judged.”
-Paige Fraser, Founder of The Paige Fraser Foundation
A Dreamer.
Loyal. Persistent. Caring. The same characteristics that define the Bronx are the same that shape Paige Fraser. At the age of 13, she was diagnosed with Scoliosis, a severe curvature of the spine. Despite what doctors told her, she was able to make a name for herself and live her wildest dreams. To do so, she had to do a lot of extra work to make it to this point in her career. She is a former member of Alvin Aliey2 and Visceral Dance Chicago. She is a Dance Magazine “Top 25 to Watch” and a Princess Grace Award recipient. She has danced for artists like Beyonce and Chanel Iman, as well as being a featured dancer in the Intel Campaign, “Experience Amazing”. She is currently on the Broadway national tour with the Lion King.
She is the founder of the Paige Fraser Foundation, its mission to inspire young dancers and artists with or without disabilities.
When I sat with Paige to talk about how the pandemic has affected her foundation, she once again saw opportunity where others might’ve seen a dead end.
Teaching students in Haiti.
A Fighter.
“I've used this time to the silver lining and use this time to work on the foundation and develop these programs. Before, I was always juggling the foundation with work…which was very overwhelming. Now I've been able to sit down and talk to the board and have people help us in different ways and fine tune what it is we want to do and how we want to grow. “
She recently appointed a new program director, and in the month of July, highlighted artists with other disabilities beyond scoliosis.
She also discussed about the difficult times that come with our new normal. In talking about being an artist during the pandemic, she said: “you know you're going to have days where you feel unmotivated and you feel sad. You're just like who am I? What am i doing? Why did I decide to be an artist? But there's a beautiful thing still happening even if it's virtually even if it's online or it's still happening and we're seeing that the world needs the arts to survive.”
A Bronxite.
Paige gave some advice to those who are struggling during these trying times.
“Try not to stay in that funk for too long --try to find other things that you're excited about maybe you want to write a book, maybe you want to create a website, maybe you want to create a podcast, maybe you want to teach little kids-- whatever it is your art is--to teach kids how to sing or how to dance there's so many ways we can use even this platform zoom. It's like there's so many ways we can use these new platforms to still feel connected and still feel rooted in our purpose.”
Her end goal is to eventually establish a performing arts center where she grew up, in the North Bronx.
To Learn more about her foundation, go here: thepaigefraserfoundation.org
Paige the moment she knew she was joining the national tour for Lion King.
