We were lucky to catch up with Gary Beauford recently and have shared our conversation below.
Gary, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?
Well I decided that a career in the entertainment industry was for me when I first saw my baby brother on tour with Charlie Wilson & the Gap band. I was able to catch this show while he was in town (Baltimore MD) touring back in 2007 & see him perform & dance along Charlie motivated me to want to pursue a career. I was dancing & training but didn’t know it was really possible until I saw him perform.
Gary, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
Well started off dancing when I was a kid trying to do everything that Michael Jackson was doing at the time. My baby brother & I would dance together learning different sequences of choreography from videos or whatever we would make up together, & also dancing at our church high school. Once I graduated High school I joined the military & that’s when I found out about Culture Shock DC which is a non profit professional dance organization which helps train dancers & prepare them for a career in the entertainment industry. I trained with the company for 5 1/2 years learning everything needed to advance myself & my career. From there I started to travel to NYC to advance my training (Broadway Dance Center, Brickhouse, Perri Dance) & also started working in the industry there. After gaining some footing in NYC I decided to move to ATL because of growing industry there & I felt I could make a name for myself instead of going to LA like most dancers in this career field. Ive been in ATL for 13 years now & it has been nothing but a blessing!
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
Well a big thing for me to learn was how much I need to trust God & have faith that my career would move in a direction that would benefit me & others around me. The entertainment industry can be a very rough place to navigate, it can cause you to question yourself & your God given abilities, so for me trusting in Him & allowing Him to shape my career is where I have found piece. Learning how to budget your finances is another lesson I had to learn, because in this career field unless your on a tour or filming for a movie or television then there in a no consistent check so budgeting is important. Allowing the money from one job help you sustain until the next job or opportunity. Sometimes evening picking up a job that will be compatible with your dance schedule, this helps to supplement some consistent money coming in until your next job or opportunity. But ultimately through trusting in God to supply all that I need & through Him I’m able to manage what He blesses me with I’ve been able to have a stable & successful career thus far.
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
The drive for me & my career is to just to be able to continue to work in this industry until I can’t do it anymore. A long & successful career is my ultimate goal doing what I love everyday it’s important to me, I don’t want to work any place that I don’t love & being able to dance, teach, & choreograph for my job is nothing but a blessing!!!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://gbeasyent.com/
- Instagram: @GBEasyEnt
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gary.beauford/
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@gbeasyent?si=RIDuSLcBT-yeBGIW
Image Credits
Instagram:
@arisskin
@yungceophoto