In today's episode, I welcome Sabrina Osso! Sabrina is the founder of Osso Safe and she offers educational workshops about home violence and how to see the warning signs. She is also a dancer, dance teacher, choreographer, and a TEDx speaker. In this episode, she shares about learning to dance as an adult in NYC, the hundreds of auditions she attended, and her own healing journey. (Fun fact: the cover image is of a photo of Sabrina in her own-woman show, "Home Sweet Home?")

Get in touch with Sabrina Osso: https://www.ossosafe.com

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Episode 57 - Sabrina Osso

Lindsey Dinneen: Hello, and welcome to Artfully Told, where we share true stories about meaningful encounters with art.

[00:00:06] Krista: I think artists help people have different perspectives on every aspect of life.

[00:00:12]Roman:  All I can do is put my part in to the world.

[00:00:15] Elizabeth: It doesn't have to be perfect the first time. It doesn't have to be perfect ever really. I mean, as long as you, and you're enjoying doing it and you're trying your best, that can be good enough.

[00:00:23] Elna: Art is something that you can experience with your senses and that you just experiences as so beautiful. 

[00:00:31] Lindsey Dinneen: Hello, and welcome back to another episode of Artfully Told. I'm your host Lindsey, and I am so excited to have as my guest today, Sabrina Osso, who is the founder of Osso Safe, which I absolutely love the name of her company. And I can't wait to dive in and explore more about how all that came to be. She is also a professional dancer and has had lots of experience in the professional dance world. And so it's just my absolute delight to have you here today, Sabrina. So thanks for joining us.

[00:01:05] Sabrina Osso: Thank you so much, Lindsey. I'm so excited to be on your show, on this podcast, and I'm looking forward to our interview.

[00:01:13] Lindsey Dinneen: Excellent. Well, I would love if you would start by maybe sharing a little bit more about yourself, how you got started, maybe a little bit about your background and what you're up to these days.

[00:01:25] Sabrina Osso: Sure, sure. I've had years of on and off therapy to just open the conversation and it's just healing, especially when it comes to what I do  and relating it to dance. But I am a survivor of violence. My father beat my mother on a regular basis and I could not even think about dance growing up.  I had no one to take me and I loved it. I, I had it in my heart and my soul, but I had to put it on the back burner the way, way back burner. So, but I always had it in me and it wasn't until I moved out, actually that I kind of caught up on my life, if you will. And I, I moved out, I, I graduated from college. I did what I was supposed to do, quote unquote.  But I found it very unsatisfactory. I have a computer science degree. And I, I did the corporate thing and, and then my therapist said, "You need to read a book." And that book is called, "Do What You Love, the Money Will Follow." And I, when I read that book, I said, "I love to dance. I'm a dancer. I have to get myself into class."

[00:02:37]So that's what I did. I totally immersed and submerged myself in the dance world in New York City. I was shuffling between Alvin Ailey, Steps, and Broadway Dance Center taking 12 classes a week, auditioning heavily. And then the gigs started happening. I was starting to get gigs and it was very exciting, a lot of rejection, a lot of rejection. And, but I was in the city and it was so exciting and I met so many people along the way. And the teachers that I was taking were very well-established, to say the least. So, and then I began writing my one-woman show called "Home Sweet Home, Question Mark" and I, and basically I play different women being abused. She goes to her good place. That's where the dancing comes in, but then she's pulled back into the terror of violence, but the show ends very strong, very empowering. And I did a lot of research for that show because I wanted it to be entertaining as well as educational. And I could not believe the statistics that I was finding about violence abuse. And I said to myself, "I have to make this into a business. I have to make this into a bonafide business with paid services and products that will really help people, whether you're going through violence or not." So Osso Safe was born from really my one-woman show.

[00:04:10] And I did my one woman show. I was dance. I was teaching dance, actually also I taught dance for 10 years from Pre-K all the way up to high school through adult level ballet, jazz, tap, theater, Latin, lyrical, hip hop. And I, I performed the show with my dance students. I had one or two dance studio owners that allowed me to do that, which I'm very grateful for. The synopsis of the birth of Osso Safe and my dance background, how I started, and I bring dance into schools whenever I do my workshops at university, schools, I find that this taboo subject-- make it un-taboo by introducing the performance element to it because students will digest it better and it's more palatable if you will.

[00:05:07] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah, absolutely. That makes complete sense to me. I, I think that one of the things that I value the most about arts is the fact that it opens conversations that might otherwise either not take place or be extremely uncomfortable to bring up. But when you introduce it through the arts, it has a much more natural conversation that can follow after that. I really like that. I think that's, that's great, what you're doing is so fantastic and it's so needed. And I really appreciate the fact that you're, you're using something that obviously was extraordinarily difficult-- I mean, to put it mildly in your own life-- and then taking that and transforming it into something, just so needed and helpful. So thank you for, for doing that. That's, that's huge. And I I'm, I'm very grateful that you do that.

[00:05:56] Sabrina Osso: Thank you, Lindsey. Thank you. I appreciate that.

[00:06:00] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah, well, you've obviously had, there are so many parts of your story I'm so excited to dig into, but you know, you were talking about the dance aspect and so it's, it sounds like-- and please correct me if I'm wrong-- that really the majority of your training came as an adult rather than as a child growing up. Is that correct?

[00:06:22] Sabrina Osso: Correct, correct. Yes. I, I wish I was one of those people that started at five years old, three years old, even, or 10 years old. And I just was not one of those people. Like I said, I, I had to put it on the back burner and really-- oh, it was very painful. I just, I couldn't even think about it. It wasn't allowed in my household. And, and then when I, I started training, I started taking classes. I was so free, you know, and I was also heavily clubbing in the city, to say the least. So because my, my favorite, favorite music to dance to was techno, techno, house, tribal, and in the city at the time all the clubs were, they were huge, huge. They were a big, big following. I mean, thousands of people would go to these clubs from Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and the biggest night, Saturday, and even the raves.

[00:07:23] And so I was dancing after class and I was dancing in class. I was catching up on my life, like I said, and I was so free, and dancing is just such a beautiful, expressive form of movement. And it's so freeing and, and I would see the students that I would teach, you know, we would do the recitals and order the costumes and, and do the rehearsals. And I'm like, "Wow, I'm their teacher and I'm doing for them what I wish I had for myself," you know?  And then the different styles and being on a stage and teaching them backstage and, you know, calming them if they were nervous. And so even though I didn't have it when I was young, I kind of caught up with it later on.

[00:08:18] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah, it sounds like you really just dove in headfirst, totally immersed yourself and did a, basically a deep dive, intense study into all things dance. So kudos to you for that. That's, that takes some guts. I mean, I think any new endeavor takes guts, but you know, especially in a very competitive city, like New York City, yeah, I just, I commend your, your bravery for just diving in and going for it and seeing what happens. That's great. And then I'm curious, you know, you said that you started auditioning and started getting some, you know, really cool opportunities. What is your most memorable gig that you did?

[00:09:00]Sabrina Osso: I mean, I would have to say I did matinee theater. I did a small tour with a Latin pop artist, similar to, not nearly as big as Ricky Martin, but he kind of really emulated him. And so he did same style, you know, Latin mixing Latin with English and his songs, and the Latin choreography I performed in Lamb's Theater in New York City. And I was told-- or we were told, I should say-- Mark Twain performed there. He did readings there as well as a few other famous people perform there. And, and so that was very memorable. It was a Greek play called "Epimenides.". And I did, I think I did-- if not all of the choreography-- most of the choreography for the show.

[00:09:49] And you know, when you know that famous people have been at that theater, it, it kind of just is-- it's extra inspiration, you know, like you were on stage with these people that had a lot of influence, you know, in the world, performing, acting, singing, dancing. So, so that, that's one of my memorable performances. And I performed the most with my show, "Home Sweet Home," because when I performed it, I was asked, "Oh, wow, that was so great." And I've had to do that like around different venues where I would pull different styles depending upon what the person wanted. I would say, "Sure, I have that. I have a musical theater piece or I have a flamenco piece." Oh. And I did a Latin piece as well, partnering with my, my partner and that, that was the music that I chose and very salsa, very Mambo music as far as the theme.

[00:10:51] And just all the auditioning that I did, Lindsey, I mean-- holy cow, no exaggeration-- I think I went on at least 750 auditions. I'm not even exaggerating. It was between 750 and a thousand auditions. And that includes sending out the headshots, sometimes having to do just appearing and being cut, like, just because you're not the right type, quote unquote. And, and that just really thickens your skin, like nothing else, especially in New York City, you know? I mean, I was everywhere. I was everywhere-- the five boroughs, I think I went as far as Connecticut-- definitely Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, Manhattan, certainly and being on all those stages just to audition. I mean, holy cow. It was grueling. I mean, all sorts of weather, waiting outside, to just have a chance to be seen, to be heard to, to perform improv. I think I even tried out for SNL at the time, hundreds and hundreds of people lined up outside. And, and you had to do skits on the, on the spot or some kind of monologue, according to the theme that it was and, or the theme that they asked for. And so like I said, I totally submerged and immerse myself in, in that world. And, but yeah, I hope I answered your question.

[00:12:23] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah, no, for sure. Lots of memorable things, of course, as, as I'm sure any artist would agree with. And so, I'm curious, so to write your one-woman show, of course, I would imagine that that was kind of a, probably a really difficult challenge in some ways, because not only are you writing something that's really meaningful to you and important to you, but it's something that happened to you. So how was that writing process? Was it difficult? Was it liberating? Was it, what was it like?

[00:12:59]Sabrina Osso: Yes. A good word. Liberating and healing, I would say. And, and, hmm. Yeah, liberating and healing. It, it was automatic, really. It was automatic. I, I mean, after auditioning and getting gigs and, and I have to say, I found the choreography that I was doing-- not that it wasn't satisfying me-- but I said to myself, I want to do my own choreography. I want to do what feels good to me, you know, because when you're doing choreography, other people's choreography, it's other people's choreography. So, I just said to myself, "I just want to write, I just want to see what happens." So I kind of just, I didn't have any expectations, really.

[00:13:44] I just said, "Let me just write my one woman show." And I knew quite a few people that did that also, you know, auditioning and performing in gigs. And I would meet this one and that one saying, "Oh yeah, I'm working on my one man show or my one woman show," when it's mainly singing and acting, some dancing or, or mainly acting, or, and I said, "You know what? Let me, let me try that. Let me just try that." So I just started writing, I just started writing and I knew it had to be very personal and, and something different, you know? I didn't want it to be what typically was done out there as far as you know like "Brigadoon" or "Carousel" or "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers," or I wanted it to be more raw and, and very personal.

[00:14:39] So I just started writing and it came naturally actually once I started writing one scene and, and, and doing the choreography, which I enjoyed a lot and acting comes naturally to me when it's my own stuff, if you will. Like I said, I played different women being abused, so that came, I scripted it all.  I knew what I wanted to, that what I wanted the ending to be. I wanted it to be strong and empowering and to actually say that we have to do things differently. And, and to show that this steals your life, you know, that the abuse and violence steals your life. And I think I was effective in doing that in the show. And, and I love doing the choreography but I knew I had to catch up. You know, I wasn't one of those people that started dancing, like I said, at four or five years old, 10 years old, even. So I had to take teachers that I-- I needed for them to pay attention to me. And that would catapult me to kind of save on the years that I lost not dancing.

[00:15:56] So there was two particular teachers: Phil Black and Kat Wildish. Phil Black was a master dancer, master dance teacher at the time he passed away in 2015, but he, he could take anyone off the street and make them into a dancer in a year. And, but he expected not a hundred percent. He expected a thousand percent in class, and he was great. He taught you-- you really got your money's worth in class with him-- because he taught lyrical jazz, theater jazz, Latin jazz, swing jazz. He saw it as all jazz. So he put all the different styles and made it into one class and every day was a different theme. So you learned all of these styles in his class and so I took him religiously. I mean, I was in his class all the time and, and then Kat Wildish. She was one of my main ballet teachers and, and she's amazing. She paid a lot of, a lot of attention to me. And so with the show, I was able to do the choreography cause I knew all the styles.  I learned them and I put them in my show and it just kind of flowed and I, at the end of it, I felt, as you said, liberated, healed. The healing is always a process. You're not a hundred percent healed, but you are continuously healing if you allow it, if you do your homework. So, and, and like I said, dancing is just-- it's my essence. It's my essence, truly. And I'm grateful for that. Yeah. So, so thank you for asking that too. I appreciate that question.

[00:17:52] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah, of course. Well, and so now you have this one woman show and also now you have your business. And so that includes you actually speaking, right? You're going to different locations and speaking with people or groups. Are you still actively doing that now? Has it had to pivot a little bit with the times and more virtual or how is that all going for you?

[00:18:16] Sabrina Osso: Yes. Ever since COVID hit, things are really-- and still--actually kind of like at a standstill right now. So I've had to just readjust and see. I know it'll be picking up soon because as I understand it in September, I think the schools are going to be fully reopened, especially with more and more vaccinations being done. People are feeling safer. And so we are working on that to, to get things rescheduled. I have proposals out there and, and the feedback that I've been getting is that we should be up and running again towards the end of the summer into September, October, and yes, I've done some virtual performances, if you will, or virtual workshops. But like I said, it's been, it's been sporadic due to COVID. And with COVID, in a way-- and I'm, and I'm not trying to be offensive by, by any means-- it has kind of opened the eyes.

[00:19:23] I'm kind of grateful for COVID to a certain degree because homes must be safe. Your place of residence must be safe and COVID has highlighted that in a very big way. Home violence-- I, I prefer to say home violence versus domestic violence-- home violence has spiked across the globe ever since COVID hit on an enormous levels and your home should be your sanctuary.  It shouldn't be a war zone. It shouldn't be hell. It should be your, your comfort, your, your most safe place. And unfortunately for so many of us, it isn't, and COVID has definitely highlighted that. And I, I just want to reiterate that violence steals your life. Like I said, violence, any abuse, chaos, disfunction. And, and what a misfortune, what a misfortune I have to say. Like for myself with dance. I should have been dancing at three, four years old, you know, and and I'm not blaming my parents.  I had to let go of that because I made the best of it.

[00:20:40] You know, I, I didn't start dancing till much later in my early, early twenties and I had to catch up and I, I actually have had people say, "Holy cow, Sabrina,  I did start dancing at five years old and I haven't auditioned as much as you have." And I say to them, "Really? You, you started dancing at five years old?" And they were afraid to audition. I found that surprising from some people that stay in that cocoon of being in your dance school when, you know, cause it's kind of like a second home, right, being in that dance studio and you grow up there. Cause I taught in a good seven of them and, and it's true. That's like your second home. You go home, but your dance studio-- if you start from three, four years old and you're there through high school-- it's literally a second home and your second family. And, and I guess for, for some, it's your true family because of home is not a good place. It's your getaway.

[00:21:47]We try to, as far as the education and what we teach in our workshops, is to be preventative. And whatever we teach on to a high school student, obviously we're not going to teach the same things or the same way to someone, a student in the sixth grade or fifth grade. It's modified, but the message is there. We teach on warning signs, what constitutes abuse, to give students tools to practice safety, that when they are of dating age, you do not do what mom and dad are doing. You do different if you are in a abusive environment.  We're very positive though. And that's where dance, we bring dance and acting and encouraging the performance aspect of it. So. Yeah, so with, well, so all of these components come into play. It's kind of like what I did with my show. I do in my workshops to make it entertaining and empowering and educational at schools and universities.

[00:22:55]Lindsey Dinneen:  Perfect. And for any of our listeners who might want to connect with you and even book a workshop or something like that, is there a way for them to do that?

[00:23:06] Sabrina Osso: Yes, absolutely. My website is ossosafe.com. That's OSSO, and then the word safe, S A F E.com. My direct email is [email protected]. I am on all the major social media platforms of Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Alignable, Instagram. I did do a TEDx Talk and that is broadcast on the internet. It's under Sabrina Osso. So that's also on the website. But yeah, those are the major components of, of how to contact us.

[00:23:40] Lindsey Dinneen: Perfect. Well, first of all, thank you for sharing your stories and all of the ways that you've taken difficult things and, and transform them, and the liberation that can come from that. Thank you so much for doing that. I so appreciate what you do and the way that you bring hope to other people. And I always ask my guests the same three questions, if you're okay with that.

[00:24:05] Sabrina Osso: Sure. Sure. Absolutely.

[00:24:07] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. So first of all, how do you personally define art or what is art to you?

[00:24:14]Sabrina Osso: Freedom. Freedom, and freedom is a two way street.  I'm free and you're free. So that should be without harm, without anything negative. It is, it is freedom of expression. Just freedom.

[00:24:31]Lindsey Dinneen: Perfect. I love it. Okay. And what do you think is the most important role of an artist?

[00:24:37]Sabrina Osso: It goes back to freedom to liberate. I like that word that you used during our interview: to, to liberate, liberate all emotions, whether it be happiness, sadness, anger. It could be, yeah, sadness, happiness, joy, liberation of all emotions, because once you release it, then you can get to the next level. So, yeah, liberation, I would say.

[00:25:08] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. Perfect. And then my final question, and I'll define my terms a little bit, but do you think that art should be inclusive or exclusive? And by that, I mean, inclusive referring to an artist who puts their work out into the world and provide some context behind that, whether it's a title or program notes or the inspiration, versus exclusive referring to an artist who puts their work out there, but doesn't provide context behind it, so it's left entirely up to the viewer to determine what they will.

[00:25:42]Sabrina Osso: Hmm. Huh. Good question, Lindsey! I've never been asked that and in that way, I would say, well, maybe both. I would say, can I answer both are fine. I'm a proponent of both, really inclusive and exclusive because like even with my own show, I titled it, there was a description. And, and if I didn't do that, then yes, I guess the audience would have a different experience, which is correct also. So  I would say I would be for both. If I could say that.

[00:26:25] Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah, of course. Perfect. Well, thank you again so much for joining me this morning, Sabrina. I really appreciate it. And I just commend you for the work you're doing. I think it's incredibly important and inspiring, and I would highly encourage our listeners to check out her website and social media and follow what she's doing and yeah, watch that TEDx Talk, which is super cool as well, and definitely support what she's doing because it's, it's important and valuable. And I appreciate it. So thanks again, Sabrina.

[00:27:00] Sabrina Osso: Oh, Lindsey, thank you so much for this opportunity. I really enjoyed talking dance and performing in the arts with you. It's not very often that I'm on a podcast where I'm speaking about that. So I appreciate our time together and to talk art and dance and performing. And this was truly wonderful.

[00:27:21] Lindsey Dinneen: Oh, good. Yeah. Well, I, yes, thank you again so much. And thank you to everyone who has listened to this episode. And if you're feeling as inspired as I am right now, I would love if you would share this with a friend or two ,and we will catch you next time.

[00:27:38] If you have a story to share with us, we would love that so much. And I hope your day has been Artfully Told.