Jaime Carabetta

Founder/Artistic Director

Jaime Carabetta began making dances for the neighborhood children at the age of 5 to her dad's Shirley Bassey records, gradually morphed into a light theatre ingénue before earning her MFA in dance at University of California, Irvine in 2000. As a dancer she performed nationally and internationally, touring the US and Japan.

Jamie has had the honor of receiving numerous major grants, from the National Museum of Dance, NYFA, NYSCA, California Arts Council, Los Angeles County Arts Commission, Department of Cultural Affairs, Lower Manhattan Cultural Center, Center for Cultural Innovation and the Annenberg Foundation.

Her choreography has been commissioned by: Oberlin College, Cincinnati University, CSU Pomona, Dominguez Hills, El Camino, West Los Angeles and Cerritos Colleges,Vineyard Arts, CUNY Dance Initiative, Highways Theater, Pour L’Art show, CSULB Art Museum and Trunk Gallery. Jaime’s dance, “The Line”, placed as a finalist in the prestigious McCallum Theater’s Choreography Festival. Most recently, her film “No Man is an Island” was screened at ADF’s Movies by Movers.

In 2012, Jaime founded Pony Box Dance Theatre, a bicoastal non-profit committed to sharing the joy and healing power of dance with everyone.

Jaime is certified in pilates and yoga and enjoys art, theater, music, cooking and gardening and has two children.

Visionary, Creator, Educator

artistic statement

Jaime Carabetta, Artistic Director

My artistic vision has to do with following the code of the Dandelion, always pushing UP through whatever hinders its growth; cultural, spiritual, societal and personal. My artistic vision has to do with bridge building, as I look around and see an increasingly divided world poised to fall into an abyss. My artistic vision has to do with the struggle to maintain self expression in an increasingly dogmatic and inexpressive world. My artistic vision has to do with exploring the place between group dynamics and the individuals longing for personal connection. My artistic vision seeks to affirm the importance of human beings acting in support of other human beings. To understand the work that I do, you have to know that in
my youth my own bodily autonomy was violently taken from me and you have to know that Dance is the healing counter force for that trauma.

Who is a part of the work? Those who possess the strength of their artistic vulnerability, and a personal drive to express themselves through movement. They are Survivors who have swapped their own oppression for self expression and for the mastery of their craft.

How do we go about doing it? Through Collaboration, Exploration, Investigation, Liberation, Integration, and Implementation. We work quickly. We often have to. A theme is decided. A working (usually final) title is assigned, discussions follow, and an outline takes shape based on initial mental sketches. Free, improvisational sessions reveal the "thrills,"
which are strung together like pearls along the line of the theme. Draft ideas are passed on to the composer. An original score is introduced, further inspiring the movement.

Refinement takes place. Minimum rehearsals are usually the maximum realized, based on
the peripatetic schedules of our excellent dancers. This is a thumbnail of how we go about
doing it. We surmount the mountains, and rise to the challenges. We keep pushing UP.