What is your life’s purpose?
I like to help people feel good by teaching them to dance.

How are you living your purpose?
I am fortunate to currently be teaching and performing in the Boston area. I have been performing solo work for the most part but I am in the process of expanding my company; Different Dances. At the moment I teach at an after school program in Lawrence MA and a dance academy in Lynn as well as hold rehearsals for upcoming shows. I have been teaching for as long as I have been dancing.

At the first dance academy I attended, we would take turns leading warm ups. By the time I graduated high school I knew I wanted to be a dance teacher and choreographer. I would attend workshops and auditions in NYC but I found myself some times helping other dancers with their steps and not paying attention to the audition! That was kind of funny. I have been teaching dance ever since. I am interested in developing my own style. At the moment I am enjoying fusing various styles such as Salsa, Lyrical and Belly Dance. I like to perform and teach styles that people love but I also try to present it in a new and different way.

How did you find your purpose?
My grandmother taught literature at a University level in the Dominican Republic and my mother was an elementary school teacher in Lawrence MA. My father was a high school science teacher. My aunts were dancers and my cousins are singers and actors so I guess I got the idea from all of them! I started dancing at a local dance academy and I really loved it. I like to think I’m a private and introverted person but, when I dance or act people can feel what I’m feeling. Art is cathartic that way. You don’t always have to be specific about the drama or conflict because some things are universal such as love, suffering, and death. I realized I could tell these stories and better yet teach others to express themselves as well. I am very curious, sometimes I like to think I am a researcher or scientist when I am trying to find out everything about a folkloric dance or an acting role. Sometimes the problem can appear as simple as finding a new way to get up from the floor or turn around and go back the other way because you ran out of stage. I like to be good at what I do but, it is a truly amazing feeling when some one is proud of themselves after they learned something and you know you were there to help.

What advice do you have for purpose seekers?
Think of your favorite way to help others and go do that. If you can help or inspire just one person that is incredible and we all have the power to do that and more. Oh and do it now. We all have the power to wake up one day and be that thing that we want to be we just have to get up and do it. We may have to take a singing class or get an MBA but we can do it.

What resources do you recommend?
Going to college was very helpful for me. I especially enjoyed my English and Cross Cultural Psychology courses. If you are going to dance, the sooner you take anatomy and kinesiology the better. What doesn’t kill you. Showing up to things in person is one of the best things you can do. Going to see theatre shows and concerts and reflecting on them is very good for one’s education. It is also how I get most of my work. No one is going to work for you like yourself. My agent who is amazing tells me that. I call, I write and I knock on doors of organizations that interest me. I have been feeling very nostalgic so I have been getting close the Latin American community and attending their events. I am very interested in Afro-Caribbean art so I offer my services to organizations that are compatible.

At a young age my grandfather taught me to write everything down (he was a lawyer) and my mother showed me how to “map out my destiny” and keep it somewhere I could see it. I would look at beautiful things in books and the news and I would want to go there but I have ended up creating beautiful things in my area for my community and that’s just as good. I make lists, I write everything down and I set goals. I put those goals where I can see them and I try to make even the slightest amount of progress every day. We may not win every day but we learn to try again and with more experience.

Connect with Lunara Devers
Email: lunaradevers@hotmail.com
Facebook
Instagram: @lunaradeversdotcom
Snapchat: bonitaflowrbomb

Lunara Isabel Devers was born in Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico. Lunara is a graduate of the Boston Arts Academy. There she received scholarships to the Boston Conservatory’s summer programs and went on to graduate BAA with Honors and Distinction. She received scholarships to Long Island University where she studied classical ballet, modern dance and completed two minors in theatre and psychology. Lunara is an actress known for her role as Araceli in the short film “De Nada” and Lorismay Alvarez in the web series “The Pineapple Diaries;” as seen in Latina Magazine. Lunara has taught at various Boston Public Schools including the Boston Arts Academy, Dorchester Academy and Charlestown High School.
Lunara has had the opportunity to perform in various prestigious venues such as the Joyce Soho, the National Puerto Rican Parade NYC, Hispanic Heritage month at City Hall, Lawrence MA, We Are Boston Gala for the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs Boston MA, the League of United Latin American Citizens, the Puerto Rican Festival Boston and many more.