PROfile: Stephen Galloway
Movement, Moda, and More
Stephen Galloway is having a decidedly — and restoratively — quiet moment; make no mistakes though, despite taking some time to reflect throughout the past year, the Creative Movement Director remains incredibly busy. Raised in Erie, Pennsylvania, Galloway ascended through classical ballet’s ranks (landing the role of principal dancer for the Frankfurt Ballet under the direction of legendary Choreographer, William Forsythe) before pivoting toward costume design, editorial movement coaching, film direction, and more. From collaborating with dynamic photo-duo, Inez and Vinoodh to defining a new language-of-aesthetic for Mick Jagger, Galloway remains in demand and ever-expanding in his creative reach and pace…even if right now feels like a bit of a welcomed pause.
You’ve recently moved to Los Angeles from Germany, the weather is better but how have you been doing during quarantine?
It’s funny because in the very beginning, it was not that difficult for me to stay at home. Very often, when I would come back from trips, I had no problems staying in my house for two weeks without going out. Luckily, I’m in a situation which I am so blessed to be in, I have a new home so I’ve been painting the walls and I’ve gotten a lot of work done. It’s always a recharge for me. I’m a Pisces, so we’re never alone.
Speaking about home things, we heard tell that there was a piece of art that you were trying to acquire, the jacket of a particular Diana Ross album, Baby It’s Me shot by Victor Skrebneski in 1977. What drew you to that cover art’s image?
First of all, just that lighting! That image is just perfect; the front and the back. What pulled me in was the allure of what was missing. It wasn’t overdone, which made you focus on its simplicity. It’s so still, you can almost hear her breathing. I have the image now and it’s almost like a shadow and a memory. That’s the one thing that pulled me into it, the quietness and the mystery and of course the elegance. And, of course, the seduction of the back. I often thought, when I first started to get into my work as a Creative Movement Director, how underestimated the back was. As a dancer, working with William Forsythe [in Frankfurt], we were never really one hundred percent occupied with the idea of frontal presentation.
You’ve mentioned being inspired by the 70’s throughout your career but that kind of quiet isn’t necessarily something we associate with the time.
To this day, I’m often inspired by those great masters. I’m reading the new Richard Avedon biography and it’s kind of amazing that they just walked into a studio and did what they did. They didn’t have the reference board, they just walked in with an idea and from that carried it on. I’m constantly trying to get back to that first step creatively. We live in such a referential world these days, everything is a reference, an influence. For me that’s the ongoing journey, whether I’m working in ballet or on a film, I’m trying to get back to that original idea.
Or you’re utilizing a reference in a way that feels different.
…and honest. And that requires time and experimentation. At the Frankfurt Ballet, we would start out with one idea, but by the time we had the premiere, it had turned into something completely different. To this day, the work that we’re doing is constantly evolving because we rely very heavily on the new performers that are doing it. That circle of origination is interesting because it allows us to move into something that is hopefully new and hopefully fresh.
A lot of what you’re talking about sounds like “flow” and allowing things to happen organically, is that something you can teach?
I think it just has to do with being sensitive and listening. I get a lot of people in my DMs who want to do what I do and you can kind of tell the people who are really interested and the people who want to meet Naomi Campbell…
But don’t we all want to meet Naomi Campbell?
Exactly! But why do you want to meet Naomi Campbell? To see Naomi live on the catwalk, she physically vibrates in a way that is incredible. The first time I saw her it was at a Versus show, I was freaked out because you could literally feel her coming around the corner. She wasn’t even on the runway yet. So the first time I worked with her I was trying to figure out if this was also going to translate to editorial or what the energy was from her. Bill Clinton was the same way, in terms of this physical resonance.
Let’s dive a bit deeper into that: with people who resonate so strongly and even with people who may not, how do you know what kind of movements will work on set?
I must admit, I don’t — I really don’t know until I am there. That’s the one thing that I have yet to really figure out the proper language around because it has to do with listening. It has to do with a physical type of listening that definitely comes from my background as a classical ballet dancer. Also in the Frankfurt Ballet we were able to incorporate extremely sophisticated improvisational dance techniques into our work and to do that you have to listen to your body.
That is one of the challenges with teaching what I do, because it is really about how I listen. I wish I could say that there was a rhythm going into a photoshoot but there are too many things involved. Even if it’s a photographer that I’ve worked with before, it’s different each time. I do wonder sometimes if to do what I do one needs to be a person who studied dance or simply a person who is physical. I think you have to love fashion, you have to know fashion in order to do what I do. You have to know the history and the references.
Is that because “fashion” isn’t just garments? What is the “stuff” that makes up fashion?…
When I’ve worked on shoots I’ve really tried to give the talent as much information as possible so they don’t just feel like they’re being told what to do. The really good models understand that. They want to see the clothes before they even get into them. They want to see the possibilities and what their physicality could be. These are the girls who are the superstars, who really understand that it’s more than just putting on a dress and having your picture taken.
Can you share a bit about some of the people in your life that have become style references? You’ve mentioned previously women in your family who were seamstresses, but what about your male fashion influences?
It’s the quintessential image of the extremely well-dressed Black man in the family, all the way to my dad who played in a band and was full on Sly Stone, George Clinton Parliament Funkadelic! I remember seeing photographs later in life and being so pissed off he threw all those platform shoes away. This is the thing, Black people don’t archive enough. We don’t archive our lives enough, nor do we archive our belongings enough.
Although that’s shifted a bit with social media becoming a new kind of archival process…
One hundred percent, but I have such an aversion to Tik Tok, it actually pains me. I do laugh, but it drives me crazy. I love imagery and the moving image so much and yet these flashpoints for likes seem like such a waste of spirit time. What does that do when you try to actually make a point? Every time we present something it contributes to our story, it’s all an archive of who you are. You don’t have to be super precious about what you put out, but I do think that sometimes we take it too lightly.
That sounds very much like the perspective you’ve consistently brought into the fashion dialogue, a more conscious kind of image-making.
Now I’m established enough to where people know because they’ve been able to see for themselves. That really has to do with my dear friends and collaborators Inez and Vinoodh. They were quite instrumental in establishing that there could be another eye and then people started to like their work enough to make the connection. I am a radical collaborator, that’s how I’ve been raised throughout my career, and I love them so much for that. I still have to know when to pull back and allow the intimacy between the photographer and the subject. There are moments when I feel like I don’t need to be there but I’m there, just in case, to give a hint. When you know there’s a choreographer there, it’s all wrong, you’ve defeated the purpose.
I remember calling my advisor at the Collective Shift and saying that I should change my title [from Choreographer] to Creative Movement Director. We changed it that season and literally overnight, a light went off in people’s heads. It was very interesting to see that happen because it’s allowed me to move into so many different fields that were ultimately about establishing a physical vocabulary. It’s all the same world but it comes down to being able to physically listen.
What has creating your own professional title meant for you personally?
The sense of purpose in my next steps in terms of what I want to do with the drive that I have as a creative person. My career is very established now, I receive work and I’m very happy. I want more but in asking for that more, what is the purpose of that more? I’ve nowhere near answered that question but I was surprised because I’ve never asked myself that question before. We’re in a time where we have space to think about purpose and whether that purpose is enough.
Galloway’s upcoming projects include a world premier piece with the Boston Ballet, throughout which he has placed an artistic hand in virtually every facet of the performance. Via this return to dance, he is walking in the footsteps of the man he has called his “creative father”, William Forsythe. It’s by no coincidence, as Galloway has actively pursued embodying key tenants of the legendary choreographer’s philosophies; it is also by no accident that Galloway remains entirely his own creation — an ongoing cycle of invention and reflection. For one so aware of the discrete power of quiet, this period of stillness brought on by our times feels less like a stasis and more like the harnessing of strength, building his creative force’s next evolution.
Some quotes have been condensed for space and clarity and have been approved by the subject.
