Fond of dancing since childhood, Livia established a dance and music company and is working to nurture young talents across the world. She believes that as an entrepreneur one must remember that whatever you do must benefit mother earth.

Livia Drapkin Vanaver is the Director and Co-founder at The Vanaver Caravan which is a dance and music company based in Hudson Valley.

Livia belongs to the USA where she lives in New York in Hudson Valley. She was born and brought up in Queens which is one of the boroughs of New York City.

Recalling her childhood memories, Livia says that she had loved dancing since her childhood. She says that her mother was always very encouraging. She took ballet classes and performed folk dances across the world. She remembers playing outdoors, visiting neighbors, playing the piano and giving concerts, making puppets, taking walks with her father, and more about her childhood.

Sharing about her life journey, Livia says that she was part of an experimental New York Puppet School where they created a Dance and Music festival every year in May and each class became another country, and that became the real basis of the work she does today, she says.

Talking about her education, Livia says that she graduated from New York University, School of the Arts, and then began traveling with her husband singing in folk clubs and performing for the US state department as cultural ambassadors. She says that they established their company in 1972 and have performed all over the world. She further adds that they also have very robust programs in schools where they create world dance and music festivals that coordinate with the curriculum in order to make the children learn about other countries and cultures.

Speaking about the challenges she faced, Livia says that the biggest challenge for her was losing her mother at a very young age which however led her to a sense of living her life with aliveness and purpose. She says that after losing her mother, she realized that life is too short which gave her the motivation to follow her passion for dance and cultural connections.

When asked how she started The Vanaver Caravan, Livia says that as a dancer she was pretty sure about starting a company after graduating from NYU. Thereafter, when she met her husband Den, she realized that there did not exist any company that could do everything that they wanted to do and then they created A Coming Together Festival of Dance & Music which they named The Vanaver Caravan with which they travel all over the world.

When asked about her success mantra, Livia says that the success mantra she follows is “Follow your Bliss”. She says that if you are passionate about what you want to do, you will be successful. Further, she says that she believes in perseverance to keep going and never give up.

When asked what she loves about her job, Livia says that the main thing she loves about her job is using dance and music as a vehicle to find humanity and to help others, especially young people to find their purpose in the world through movement and through the essence of love.

Regarding her achievements, Livia says that the biggest achievement for her is being the mother of three sons and establishing her own company which is in the process of moving forward with leadership of the team carrying the vision that she didn’t imagine in her younger years. She says that giving young people the ground for their own expression is an accomplishment.

Talking about her role models, Livia says that her mother is the one for her. She says that even though she struggled with her health her whole life, she used to work as a French Major. She says that watching her mother work hard despite every challenge gave her the courage to be the same as her mother.

When asked to choose between education and experience, Livia says that education is a very important part of anybody’s life but nothing can replace experience. She believes that traveling and experiencing your life as much as possible everyday, and being present at the moment is the most important thing. This is the real education she says.

To the dancing and choreography aspirants, Livia advises them to have their unique voice because that is what makes a difference between good and great. Following your passion and instinct will give you the actual satisfaction, she says.

Even if Livia is put back in a time machine and sent to her past, she would not prefer changing anything. She says that her good and bad experiences have made her what she is today.

When free, she loves traveling, doing Tai Chi, meditation, reading spiritual books, and walking.

Talking about her COVID experience, Livia says that COVID has taught her to be flexible and not be dependent on anything as life has its own plans. She says that during COVID she had a lot of time for herself and never felt distressed. They continued conducting digital classes in order to continue nurturing their students, she says. She says that the pandemic taught her the importance of digital media and also staying connected to nature.