Ep. 39- Michelle Dawley
Questions asked or topics discussed:
Can you tell us a little bit about what got you thinking about a professional career in dance and what the first steps were that you took to make it happen? (2:32)
How long was the process of starting your visa to actually being able go to LA? (7:04)
When you first arrived in LA, how long did it take you to feel like you were building a community? And what was your first LA audition experience? (8:42)
What was the first job that made you feel like you could actually live your life as a professional dancer? (13:06)
What was your hardest no or rejection? (17:23)
What are some thing that you’ve started to practice, or try, to help build or sustain the framework of knowing your self worth? (21:04)
How is it having such a long distance relationship? How have you been able to manage that? (28:22)
How were you able to negotiate the body image side of the industry? (31:08)
Best celebrity you’ve worked with? (38:49)
One of your favourite choreographers to work with? (39:29)
What was it like to get the recognition from Tate McCrae’s solo on SYTYCD Next Generation? Did it change or have an impact on your career? (43:29)
If you had 3 pieces of advice for a grade 11 student wanting to make a career out of dance, what would you say to them? (47:40)
Originally from Calgary Alberta Canada, Michelle Dawley has been perfecting her craft for over 20 years by training in all genres of dance at prestigious institutions such as the National Ballet School of Canada, The Randolph Academy of Performing Arts, The School of Alberta Ballet and the International School Of Ballet. Michelle has also worked as an assistant to many renowned choreographers such as Ray Leeper, Dee Caspary and Sonya Tayeh on So You Think You Can Dance as well as being a proud member of Sonya Tayeh’s Dance Company.
As a highly sought after and internationally acclaimed dancer, Michelle has had the privilege to be very busy working on many different projects such as; The American Music Awards, The Voice, XFactor, MTV VMA’s, The Academy Awards, The BET Awards, 106 & Park, performing with Principal dancers from the American Ballet Theatre and San Francisco Ballet on Dancing With the Stars as well as shooting National Commercials for companies such as Toshiba and SENSA. She has also been a part of the CW television series Hellcats as well as the feature films Larry Gaye, Hotel Noir, Strings, Nickelodeon’s Jinxed, A Girl Walks into a Bar and Kirsten Stewart’s Dance Double in Twilight: Breaking Dawn. Michelle has also performed in industrials for Loreal, NIKE, Toyota, MAC Makeup, Mattel and Ford Motor Company in Istanbul, Turkey.
Working alongside many different artists such as Janelle Monae, The Wanted, Florence and the Machine, Cody Simpson, Dita Von Teese, Taye Diggs, Idina Menzel, Ashley Tisdale, Malin Akerman and Chelsea Handler is considered a highlight in Michelle’s dancing career. She has also appeared in music videos for artists such as Capital Cities, SteedLord, Meital Dohan and Michael Buble. Michelle has also traveled the globe with Latin guitarist Roni Benise as a dancer in his “Nights Of Fire” World Tour. Currently, Michelle can be found performing alongside Selena Gomez in performances for the MTV Video Awards, Dancing With The Stars, The Billboard Awards, The Radio Disney Music Awards as well as in her latest music video “Come and Get It”.
