{"id":469979,"date":"2026-09-20T12:30:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-20T12:30:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/469979\/"},"modified":"2026-09-20T12:30:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-20T12:30:09","slug":"fall-arts-preview-2026-between-the-studio-and-the-night-shift-dancer-darion-flores-search-for-balance-san-diego-union-tribune","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/469979\/","title":{"rendered":"Fall Arts Preview 2026: Between the studio and the night shift: dancer Darion Flores\u2019 search for balance \u2013 San Diego Union-Tribune"},"content":{"rendered":"

In order to survive and thrive, ballet dancers often have to move.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s not a pun.<\/p>\n

A ballet career is precarious, in that most company seasons are between 30 to 44 weeks.<\/p>\n

So, for ballet dancers, that requires moving out of the state for performance opportunities, leaving side jobs during professional show runs and continually moving out of comfort zones.<\/p>\n

Darion Flores, 30, can explain.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think a lot of us take jobs in the service industry, whether we\u2019re a bartender or server,\u201d Flores said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s quick money, but it is taxing. The hours are crazy, and you\u2019re dealing with people constantly. I feel like it does pull focus away from the art, and it doesn\u2019t lend itself to the creativity in my spirit.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

After \u201ca lot of trial and error,\u201d Flores found an ideal job fit, one that supports his dance career. But it took years of job changes that nearly made him reject the one thing he believes he was born to do.<\/p>\n

As a teenager, after training at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, Flores competed and became a top 20 finalist in the televised \u201cSo You Think You Can Dance\u201d competition.<\/p>\n

Since then, he has performed in five states and danced for a half-dozen ballet companies, in addition to touring with Royal Caribbean Entertainment, a position that took him to Japan.<\/p>\n

\"Darion<\/a>Darion Flores is\u00a0a dancer with the local contemporary ballet dance company The Rosin Box Project. He will be performing in the company’s “Ghost Light” production in October. (Nelvin C. Cepeda \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune<\/p>\n

After the tour to Japan, the challenges of managing multiple jobs in order to dance made Flores consider a completely different career. He returned to family in Connecticut \u201cto regroup.\u201d<\/p>\n

Flores entertained the idea of becoming a first responder before deciding to take a job as a direct care specialist serving the disabled community in Connecticut.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are a lot of people who live on the spectrum and need assistance,\u201d he reasoned. \u201cAnywhere you go, you\u2019ll find that. If I wasn\u2019t dancing, that\u2019s probably something I would be doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Flores once performed for Ballet Virginia with Brian Bennett, who currently dances with The Rosin Box Project, a local contemporary ballet company headed by Carly Topazio.<\/p>\n

\"Darion<\/a>Darion Flores is\u00a0a dancer with the local contemporary ballet dance company The Rosin Box Project. He will be performing in the company’s “Ghost Light” production in October. (Nelvin C. Cepeda \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune<\/p>\n

Bennett called to tell him of an opening and encouraged him to move to San Diego.<\/p>\n

Flores contemplated whether dance \u201cwas a calling\u201d and decided to \u201ctake a leap of faith.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDance has always been a part of my life,\u201d Flores said. \u201cI started really early and I do believe there is a purpose behind it. I have an ability to share my gift and touch lives. I feel like \u2026 that\u2019s the point.\u201d<\/p>\n

Flores moved to San Diego and joined The Rosin Box Project\u2019s current season.<\/p>\n

He\u2019ll next perform in the company\u2019s popular Halloween-themed show, \u201cGhost Light Masquerade,\u201d opening October 22 at The Nocturne Theatre in San Diego.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always loved a good challenge,\u201d said Flores, who performed last month in the company\u2019s \u201cDEBUTS: The Frame Wide Open.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBrian was super helpful in that transition and I thoroughly enjoyed the kind of work Carly does and the opportunities that she creates for other choreographers.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Flores still needed financial security.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need health and dental insurance, all that great stuff,\u201d Flores said. \u201cI started thinking about what I needed to do day to day.\u201d<\/p>\n

The experience Flores had as a caregiver for brain-impaired adults back East was positive and he applied for a similar position at the Redwood Family Care Network, a health and human services nonprofit.<\/p>\n

As a direct care specialist in a group home, he has the night shift and works from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m., overseeing high-functioning adult males.The schedule frees him to stay in shape and dance for both The Rosin Box Project and Culture Shock San Diego.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t feel like work,\u201d Flores said of his caregiver role. \u201cI got along with the guys really quickly. I\u2019m full time at 32 hours and it\u2019s quite ideal. I stay up all night and check on them every hour or so, to make sure they are OK. I\u2019m monitoring and assisting, setting goals and expectations for the next day.\u201d<\/p>\n

After his shift, Flores heads to Equinox fitness club, for cold plunges, workouts and hot yoga. After a nap, he\u2019s able to dance.<\/p>\n

Flores said that in addition to providing financial security, his job working with brain-impaired adults gives him a sense of gratitude that translates to his dance career.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do love my job and the guys I work with,\u201d Flores said. \u201cIt goes hand in hand with dancing. It informs the dancing and it gives me more to pull from.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In order to survive and thrive, ballet dancers often have to move. And that\u2019s not a pun. A…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":469980,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[7,1472,967,184939,181,74,84,76,75,1058,420],"class_list":["post-469979","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-california","tag-dance","tag-entertainment","tag-fall-arts-preview-2026","tag-latest-headlines","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-county","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news","tag-theater","tag-things-to-do"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469979","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=469979"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469979\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/469980"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=469979"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=469979"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=469979"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}