Q&A with Choreographer and Teacher Grace Gallagher

I got the chance to sit down and interview Grace Gallagher, who teaches and choreographs all over the United States. She gave me valuable insight about the Fort Collins dance community and offered some advice for those looking to get into it.

Q: When did you start dancing?

A: I started dancing when I was seven, so about 25 years ago.

Q: When and where did you start teaching dance?

A: I was 19. I was dancing for a company [in Gilbert, Arizona] and they sent out a message: “We need instructors.” At that time, I had no teaching experience but needed some extra cash when I was in college, so I just figured it out. It was at Studio 3, which was a performing arts school.

Q: When did you start teaching in Fort Collins?

A: Three years ago.

Q: So, where do you teach now?

A: I teach at Colorado State University (CSU) primarily and I guest teach all over. I teach once a month at Studio West, one night a week in Thornton at Dance Space, and I teach once a month in Arizona at Dance Connection. I choreograph all over the place.

Q: What’s your favorite class to teach?

A: That’s hard, it changes all the time. Oh, you know what? I teach a Sunday class, which is a community class, at Canyon Concert Ballet. That’s my favorite class to teach because I know that everybody that showed up wanted to be there. The community is what makes it great, it’s just so fun.

Q: What age level do you teach?

A: I teach all ages. My youngest kids I work with are eight, the oldest are the CSU students.

Q: What’s your favorite part about teaching?

A: The interactions with the students, I like the engagement, I guess. I love dance, I think it’s wonderful, but I like actually working with people, helping growth and progress happen. I think dance is my vehicle to do that.

Q: What’s challenging about teaching?

A: I feel like I’m… constantly holding everybody up. I love that about teaching — I think something about my personality feels just welcoming, perhaps, ‘cause I have lots of students coming to me between classes and after classes reaching out to me, which is wonderful. Sometimes I have a hard time balancing that, though. Everyone brings me their luggage of life when they’re having a hard time, and then I’m a total empath so I have a hard time letting it go. I’m just holding on to everyone else’s things and that’s hard. As an introvert, it’s really hard. I just want everybody to be at their best and to make our community as a classroom feel so positive all the time, it just drains me sometimes.

Q: What’s unique about the Fort Collins dance scene?

A: It’s interesting coming from a big city. Before I lived in Fort Collins, I lived in Phoenix, Los Angelas (LA), and then New York City, so you know, it’s weird moving from these mega cities of dance, where opportunity was endless, and if you didn’t fit in one sect of the dance community, then there were others. Coming to Fort Collins, I just felt like it was so small and for the first two years I was actually super lonely because I felt like I couldn’t get welcomed in. It’s just been totally different. That was hard. It felt very small town and a lot of people have been here for a long time, so it wasn’t that it was personal, I don’t think, but they’re just not used to having new people come into their space and community. So, I think the fact that people love it here so much that a lot of people train here and work professionally here is cool. It’s just generations of dancers staying here and it’s interesting.

Q: How could the Fort Collins dance scene be improved?

A: I think, as with anything, there’s room for more. I think the hip hop community here is really trying, but with hip hop, it’s people coming from Boulder, Denver, the Springs, not just a Fort Collins group. Improving the hip hop community, in terms of quantity, would add a lot. I just think there’s space for more work to be put out.

Q: What styles are most common in this town?

A: Ballet is pretty prevalent here and a lot of modern.

Q: What’s your favorite part about dance in Fort Collins?

A: The kindness. That’s something so special about Fort Collins, because it is so tight knit. It took me a long time to feel like I had a place here, but now that I do, I feel so grateful for my colleagues. I feel grateful that the students are wonderful. It doesn’t feel super competitive, where living in LA and New York — yeah, that was competitive. So the fact that I can just love and nurture and appreciate and trust the people I’m around is really nice.

Q: Do you have any advice for anyone looking to get into the dance community?

A: Dance is just such a networking game. I’m guilty of that as someone who creates work. I choose dancers based off of their loyalty to my work and my classes — I’ve never held an audition. If I see you consistently showing up for class, working hard, trying to build a relationship, I’ll remember you. So just work on getting into classes. Do your research and figure out who’s creating work and get to know them. Advocate for yourself and figure out what you want to do in the community and then find a way to do it.

Q: Any last thoughts?

A: 99% of the time I feel like I have the best job in the world, so that’s great. I think Fort Collins is special in that it’s supportive. I think there’s more room to expand on what is being offered here, but I think that will come with time. It’s interesting, it’s such a small knit community with such open-minded people, so I think it’s an incredible place for artists to be.

This interview has been edited for clarity.