Meet Blayke Monroe Hammer | Dance Studio Director & Yogi

We had the good fortune of connecting with Blayke Monroe Hammer and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Blayke Monroe, where are your from? We’d love to hear about how your background has played a role in who you are today?
My name is Blayke Hammer and I was born and raised here in Scottsdale, Arizona.

During my childhood I’ve gotten the opportunity to be a part of some very cool things but the coolest thing by far has been my family. My parents have owned their own businesses from the time I was born and I’ve loved being able to watch them grow and flourish while growing up beside them. My mom took over Scottsdale School of Dance from her childhood dance teacher when she was 21 years old and has taught dance/ran the business on the side while working full time as a food broker since then. Growing up, I was involved in many different sports but the two that stuck with me were dance and cheer. At 12 years old I started teaching my first dance class and have continued to add different styles and classes to my curriculum since then. Throughout high school I was involved in school competition cheer and all-star cheer, when I graduated I was able to help coach my high school cheer team and work summer camps at my all-star gym. While working summer camps at the all-star gym I was able to learn teaching tactics and business skills from the owner/staff there that I would not have been exposed to while learning from my mom. This helped grow my overall knowledge of both sports and made me feel more confident in my experience with teaching. When I was 19 years old my mom was offered a job position that would take away from her time with the dance studio so I stepped up and took over the last part of that season and have made it my own since then. Being able to watch my parents work so hard while I was growing up and learning from them first hand how to run a business has been one of the greatest blessings in my life. I am so incredibly grateful to have parents that taught me how to work hard and instilled in me that I am capable of achieving whatever I put my mind to. At Scottsdale School of Dance we focus on empowering every dancer and work to showcase the unique skills each individual student has to offer. This is something my mom has always been passionate about and I hope to continue to carry this intention with me as the studio grows and our students flourish.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
We create art through movement at Scottsdale School of Dance and hope to inspire our students to discover what movement means to them. In any style of art the goal is never to reach perfection but to find an expression that perfectly embodies the artists strengths while allowing room for revision. I found that putting myself on the same level as my students and educating them that my goal is not for them to have the most refined and perfect dance moves, but to have the most refined movement for their body on that day, takes a layer of pressure off and allows them to have fun experimenting with new movements. Walking into a calm and comfortable environment is necessary when trying to learn and I strive to create an environment where my students know they are welcome no matter what they have to offer that day. This is something that I’ve learned how to incorporate while practicing yoga myself and becoming a Certified Yoga Instructor. The definition of “Yoga” is to find the connection of the mind, body, and breath. Through this principal and many more included in yoga I’ve structured my dance curriculum to stem from the basics of yoga and connect the base of dance to the strengthening, stretching, and balance postures found in yoga. Bringing dance and the practice of yoga together has been very beneficial for my students and the amount of strength they have gained has given them more confidence in their dancing and teaches them how to trust themself and their bodies. Keeping an open and welcome line of communication between myself and my students has been crucial while adding yoga into my dance practices and allows me to get honest feedback from the ones who are directly being influenced by my teaching, Over the past year and a half I have loved getting to combine the two things that drive me most, dance and yoga, and getting the opportunity to experiment and expand my knowledge in both of them at the same time. Although it has not been easy to combine the two, I am very grateful to learn from every mistake and educate myself with new ways to teach both dance and yoga.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
If I were to plan an itinerary over a week to show someone a good time in Arizona, our time would be full of lots of fun restaurants and any activity we can do outside. Some of my favorite spots to bring someone for a morning outing would be Press Coffee, Chop Shop, La Grande Orange, or Press Juicery. These are some of my regular morning spots to get a fun drink or breakfast before starting my day. After fueling up on something healthy we would go to a yoga class, take a walk/hike, or just relax before going to grab lunch. Some of my favorite places to take yoga classes are The Blue Buddha, Yoga 6ix, EsEnEm Yoga, and Modern Yoga. Following yoga we would need to re-fuel before the evening, some of my frequent lunch spots are Flower Child, Olive & Ivy, Aj’s, Luci’s at the Grove, and Schmooze. In the late afternoon/early evening some of my favorite things to do, when Im not teaching dance, are taking photos around the valley, spending time in my backyard, making crafts, visiting thrift stores, learning more about interesting topics, and relaxing with friends. After winding down in the evening we would find a restaurant for dinner and something fun to do afterwards. Some of the restaurants I frequent for dinner are Carlsbad Tavern, Postino, Diego Pops, or anywhere that has sushi or gluten-free pizza on their menu. Depending on the night, my friends and I also like to go over to the Grapevine in Old Town to do some karaoke! After dinner, we would obviously need to get a sweet treat to finish off the night and some of the best places around are Zoyo, Handels, Froyo Maya, Jenni’s, or the gelato bar inside of Olive and Ivy! For any weekend activities we could head up to Sedona or Flagstaff, take the boat out on Bartlett or Canyon lake, head up to cave creek for some hiking, explore local farmers markets, or go paddle boarding down the salt river. Some of the best places to explore around the valley are Papago Park, Fountain Hills, the McDowell Mountains, South Mountain, and any hiking around the Scottsdale or Phoenix area. All of these activities are perfect if you like being out doors and soaking in nature with a view. I would make sure anyone who came to visit me got a good taste and feeling of what it is like to live in the beautiful Arizona desert!

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I would like to dedicate my shoutout to all of the teachers, coaches, and students that have helped me get to the point I am at today. I strongly believe that we are all products of our environment and being able to say that I have been positively influenced in some way by everyone that has lead me is something I consider to be very special. Not everyone can say their past relationships with coaches, teachers, or mentors have been positive ones and I feel very lucky to be able to say mine have been. Within every experience in life there is something that should be taken away from the experience or learned from it. Finding what I like and dislike about certain methods to connecting with students and teaching are things I have learned through being on both the teachers side of it, and the students side. Not every way that I have been taught or have taught my own students are always the most effective ways to do so but being able to learn from the experience on both sides has helped me become the teacher that I always wanted while growing up. Learning how to be an effective teacher/mentor while running a business at such a young age has not been easy, but all of my amazing dance students and parents have certainly made it easier on me. The amount of love and support I continue to receive from my dance families as I learn and grow each new dance season means the world to me and continues to drive me to work harder. Thank you to everyone that has guided and supported me throughout my life, every little thing has helped me get to where I am now and I am forever grateful for that.

Instagram: @blaykemonroehammer @scottsdaleschoolofdancessd