If good things come in small packages, then Hallie Aldrich may have cornered the market. The dancer, choreographer, masseuse and Pilates instructor now has a fifth moniker — that of designer/builder, having recently constructed an eco-mobile, a mobile tiny house designed for multiple artistic functions.

The Vashon native, whose heart belongs to dance, tapped her considerable vein of creativity to solve a problem of necessity: how, as a dancer on tour, to have affordable housing, a space to teach Pilates for income and a studio for choreographing and performing new work. The solution? Build a convertible home-studio space on wheels.

Aldrich came up with the concept while studying choreography and dance for her Master of Fine Arts degree at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she and a fellow dancer collaborated with a professor of architecture and two dance professors to draft a model for her eco-mobile

“We developed a business plan or dance commerce plan for a dance pod — an 8.5 by 24-foot travel trailer that is multifunctional with a living space, a massage or Pilates studio, one big dance movement or camera film and editing studio or a performance venue,” Aldrich said.

Her vision included an interior without columns, seamless floors and walls that unfold to become a 12 by 24-foot stage. Growing up on Vashon with countless boats in the water surrounding her island home, Aldrich also wanted “wrap-around boat-style windows.” Islander Randy Kirk, a metal fabricator, built the initial structure, reinforcing the walls with structurally-integrated panels (SIP). When her Illinois architecture professor could not assist with the build-out, Aldrich boxed up her materials and drove them home to Vashon where, she said, she has “lots of building friends.”

She arrived on Vashon with her pieces on Sept. 1, 2011, started dancing, gluing the SIP panels to the floor and fastening the floor to the base of a trailer. She said lots of people helped but in the end, she probably did 90 percent of the work. Now, her project is finished except for the fine touches, and Aldrich plans to unveil the dance pod in June, on the summer solstice.

“It has a kitchen, toilet, heat, walls and floors padded with four inches of insulation, and it’s so strong you can dance on the ceiling. It can go off the grid and last for a month.” Aldrich said. “I am finally ready for a summer solstice performance event out of the dance pod and an opportunity for people to go through it and see how it is built.”

Aldrich’s long-range plan is to use her pod as her home away from Vashon to bring her dance and business experience to young dancers through residencies at universities and colleges — all based on her art commerce model, which she said is different than commerce for profit.

“I envision creating residencies to teach the history of what no one talks about with dance — how to make money as a dancer. So many dancers are not told the realities. Everyone knows poets don’t get paid, but not everyone knows dancers don’t either,” she said.

Aldrich’s model defines the dancer-artist as an entrepreneur, which requires the brains and creativity she sees in abundance in most dancers.

“Dancers are so smart,” Aldrich said, “but I’ve seen amazing dancers have to leave (the field) to make money, going back to law school or getting a nursing degree.”

As for Aldrich, she exemplifies the need to constantly invent resource-generating ventures. She began teaching Pilates at Pacific Northwest Ballet and now brings her expertise to islanders at her studio, Movement Intelligence, located in the Burton Marina building. The first Friday of the month, she opens the doors to her studio for islanders to see new artwork exhibited on the walls. She also offers Trager bodywork, therapeutic massage with insurance reimbursement for her clients and rents out her massage office to other masseuses.

Ultimately, Aldrich would like to work half-time, reserving the other half for choreography, dance and residencies.

With all her spinning plates of creative endeavors, Aldrich is sure that Vashon is home. She is currently looking for a spot to house her dance pod as her mostly permanent island home, only trailering it off the island for scheduled residencies.

”I’m ready to move the pod here,” Aldrich said. “I need more nature — what is offered on the island — than the concrete found in cities.”