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

Hi Monica, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
Dancing With Dante was created by Timothy Sadler (guitar/vocals) and Monica Rivas (vocals) after their previous band Fortune in Fallacy broke up over quarantine. We have always found our place in the world through writing and performing music. Our first song under this new project is titled ‘Move’. This song talks about feeling stagnant in everyday life and needing to make the move towards our dreams. This song, in essence, is the reason for why Dancing With Dante came to fruition. Two best friends, feeling stuck in the mundane, breaking free to chase their dreams. We wanted to create a band that wrote about everything, that took pride in its flaws, and pride in wearing their heart on their sleeves. We think we did just that.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
This band has been through the ringer over the past few years. We’ve lost members, gained members, had late nights, and made beautiful memories. Much like every band full of music lovers, we pour everything that we have into our music… But what we think makes us more unique is the diversity we bring to the table. Not only referring to how we mold and bend to different styles of music with every song we write; but because each member of our band is vastly different from one another. From big things like being born on different sides of the globe, or growing up as a country boy, versus growing up as a queer city gal. To the smaller things like having completely different music tastes… we come together to write these amazing songs, and play these crazy shows. There truly is something for everyone in the music we write, each song like each of us, is true to itself. With our differences we’ve been able to write from so many different perspectives, we value each other’s different views and are able to learn so much from each other.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
If my best friend was in town I’d start off with a day trip to Fort Collins, we could grab coffee at Mugs, and we could hike Horse Tooth Reservoir, maybe do some paddle boarding.

We’d have to spend a day up in Breckinridge hike Sapphire Point bring lunch and eat while taking in the view.

Next would be a day trip to the Royal Gorge, if its hot enough rafting would be ideal!

A morning of hiking garden of the gods is on the list.

Of course, a day in Denver spent at the museums, the nature and science is my favorite. Needless to say we would be getting our steps in on this trip!

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Wow the list is long… We owe a huge shout out to our producer/recording engineer Van from BNormous studios. For years we have struggled to find just the right fit. We’ve had the pleasure of working with quite a few amazing studios out here, but Van really got our sound just right. Thank you also to Shay who does a majority of the art work we have. with out the both of them, our band would not look and sound like we do.

Our friend from Meechieprints who had been supplying us with our merch since day one.

Our buddies with Blue Mesa, The Unsolved, Hellgrammites, Ghosts in Stereo… Really any band who has been there with us from the start playing shows with us, giving us the opportunities we’ve had to grow in this music scene.

The biggest thank you goes our to our friends/family/fans. The people who listen, share, and comment on our music. The ones who come to our shows, buy merch, and show our music to their friends. We would not be able to play all the shows that we do and release the music that we are going to release without your love and support. from the bottom of our hearts… We love you all and thank you.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dancing_with_dante/?hl=en

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DancingWithDante/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@dancingwithdante8539

Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@dancingwithdante?lang=en

Image Credits
All Photos were taken by our dear friend Jeff Kalmut @Jk_pov

Nominate Someone: ShoutoutColorado is built on recommendations and shoutouts from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.