Andrea Palesh ’08 has led a successful career in public relations for the fashion industry in New York City, but there was always a part of her that wanted to keep dancing.

“For the past four years I have been working in fashion public relations and marketing, and in my most recent job I was working in social media for Maybelline and Garnier,” says Andrea. “I was working in cool industries and I got a lot of experiences under my belt, but I was also taking dance classes and performing in a small contemporary company. I squeezed dance in wherever I could with a full-time job.”

After a series of life experiences, including a time when she was unable to apply for a choreography job due to her age, Andrea made a bold decision.

“I applied for a choreography opportunity, but there was an age limit, and thought “I am getting old, I’m not going to have time to do this much longer,’ it was a turning point for me,” says Andrea. “I quit my job to travel for three months, and when I move back, I have decided to make a living from dancing.”

Her travels will begin in Switzerland, then Madrid, Spain to Paris, London, Dublin, Ireland, Edinburgh, Scotland, Amsterdam, Holland, Berlin, and Prague. From Prague Andrea will travel to Martinique and then fly to San Diego and then to Vancouver stopping along all of the cities on the way; Los Angeles, San Francisco, Eureka, Ore. Portland, Ore., and Seattle.

Tired yet?

"Since I moved to New York City I had been taking a lot of classes at the Broadway Dance Center so I’ve met dancers from all over the world, and I have been able to see so many different forms of movement. It has all been influenced by where they are from and where they were trained, and it’s truly a melting pot of different styles and influences,” says Andrea. “I hope to get a better perspective on dance in the countries I visit. I plan on getting involved in the dance scene in each city that I travel to, even if it means going to a dance show or taking a class. My expectation is to be involved in the dance community even though I’m not home so to speak.”

While Andrea moves about Europe, the Caribbean, and the West coast of the United States, she will record her experiences with dance on her blog, Read Between the Lanes.

On Andrea’s time at Colorado State University

“There is so much that I learned from dance at CSU I don’t even know where to begin. If you really want to dance and try hard, you have to learn to be a self-starter and a go-getter. It’s one of those programs that allows you to shine and grow. I was able to take all of the things I learned from that and apply it to dance out here in New York City,” – Andrea Palesh '08