COVID-19 halts dancer’s dream career; she adjusts

BY Amanda Martilla

Only eight years ago, 17-year-old Cammi Nevarez had just received the news she just knew would launch a successful career in dance. She had been selected out of 500 dancers as an on-call dancer for Cirques Du Soleil in Las Vegas.

And, the girl born and raised in Canyon Lake, was right. After years of education and dancing on stages throughout the world, Cammi was on the threshold of her dreams coming true. Then COVID-19 hit earlier this year and the world’s stages closed, including her next productions in the heart of New York City.

With a career on hold, Cammi has decided to come back home and utilize the part of her college degree in Entrepreneurship she received in Dance at Point Park University.

“I organized my own creative process,” Cammi said. “This process would provide a safe environment for professional dancers to keep training, growing and creating. I called the project Don’t Stop The Dance.”

Cammi rehearses for Don’t Stop The Dance, a project she created that provides an opportunity for dancers to make dance art during theater closures due to COVID-19 restrictions. For this creative process, professional dancers came together to co-produce a one to two minute dance video everyday for 30 days. Photo by Silken Kelly.

Don’t Stop The Dance is all about collaboration and consistency. Professional dancers came together every day for 30 days to co-produce a one to two minute dance video. It is a high-energy, choreographic and creative process that provided an opportunity for dancers to make dance art during these unprecedented times, she said.

Cammi said she began Don’t Stop The Dance not only because she wanted to have the experience of running her own company, but also because it has been hard for many dancers, including herself, to maintain a consistent training schedule amidst the pandemic.

“Cammi has found locations all over the southland to bring her art to the world,” her mother Macy Weatherly said. “Cammi involved fellow dancers who were also striving to keep moving. The backdrops of familiar buildings, bridges, roads and historical monuments were inspiring her everyday.”

Photo by Silken Kelly.

Cammi brought her international community a message of hope and a message that the show must go on despite the pandemic, Macy said.

“From sun up, to way beyond sundown, Cammi and her crew poured their hearts, bodies and souls into one music video per day,” Macy said. “That’s quite a challenge. Different music, different costumes, different locations and a variety of dancers were shouting from the mountain tops: ‘Hey! Don’t Stop The Dance!” The dance of living, breathing and loving every moment we have together.”

The 30 videos her group created are available on YouTube and can be found by searching for Cammi Nevarez.

Prior to this 30-day marathon project, Cammi was focused on a burgeoning career that began with dance classes in the 8th Grade.

Cammi Nevarez from The Friday Flyer in 2012.

After being urged by her mother to try out for different sports and activities, Cammi found dancing when she was in middle school. Her natural flexibility, coupled with her competitive nature, brought her to the Temecula Dance Company, a studio filled with advanced dancers who would challenge her.

“I was blown away by the skill level of the dancers my age,” Cammi said. “I was nowhere near them. I vividly remember telling myself, ‘I have a lot of work to do to catch up.’ Being the underdog, ignited my passion for dance.”

Her naturally competitive nature kicked in and her career path was established.

“I took a look around and I knew I had no time to waste,” she said. “I was 15 years old, I was too old not to be good. I was hungry for what the faculty at my studio was teaching me.”

She continued with Temecula Dance Company, one of the top dance studios in Southern California, and eventually took the auditions in Las Vegas for Cirques Du Soleil. She was chosen as an on call dancer for the group which added greatly to her dance résumé.

After graduating from Point Park University in Pittsburgh with a bachelor’s degree in Dance and a minor in Entrepreneurship in 2016, Cammi moved to New York and joined her first dance company. At Michael Mao Dance, Cammi found a mentor in Michael and learned most of what she knows about dance from him, who she says came from a different generation of dance.

“Michael guided me down a path of knowing what it takes if I want to be a ‘star dancer’,” Cammi said. “After completing my college degree, it was very important to me to explore and live in New York. I worked under the wing of some brilliant minds, acquired a mentor and met many new dancers that are now some of my closest friends.”

By 2018, Cammi had secured a spot in an American modern dance company called Parsons Dance, somewhat by chance. Her friend had called her saying that Parsons Dance needed another female dancer. Cammi quickly responded and earned her place on the high-energy and athletic dance company.

“I became the company understudy,” she said. “I was one step closer to a dream I didn’t see for myself until I realized it was actually tangible.”

When the Parsons Dance company went on tour later that year, Cammi made the decision to join Sweetbird Productions. With this dance company, Cammi performed in the Rock the Ballet show on the 2018-2019 Germany and Switzerland tour and the 2019 France tour. She also starred as Juliet in the company’s 2019-2020 Romeo and Juliet production in Germany.

Although Cammi began her dancing career as “an underdog” all those years ago, her curiosity and work ethic has fueled her passion and allowed her to attain many of her dreams. Besides being able to dance across the globe, Cammi said she is thankful for all of the people who she has met and the lessons she’s learned along the way.

“My advice would be to go for what you want even if it seems hard, difficult or out of reach,” she said. “Don’t look at what someone is doing to your left or right. Stay focused on yourself. Life is a marathon, not a race.”