Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Avery Gillham. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Avery, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s jump to the end – what do you want to be remembered for?

One day when my body and mind have to retire I hope to leave behind inspiration, opportunities, and a positive outlook for the arts. I wish for the students I taught to get inspired and go the extra lengths. Push to find a career somewhere in the arts where they feel welcomed, at home, and enjoy everyday of it. From now until then I hope to create something that can help employ future performers to secure a way for them to financially be okay without the worries of “where does the next paycheck come from.” As well as teach other members of society that you can be successful in the arts and that it’s not a scary industry to be in.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

I started my dance journey at Great Gig Dance Company in Kennesaw, Ga. After graduation from Kell High School I went on to earn my B.A. in Dance at Kennesaw State University. Throughout my time at KSU I was fortunate to perform in many regional theatre shows with the Atlanta Lyric Theatre and City Springs Theatre. Going into my final year at KSU I had to the opportunity to study abroad in Israel and trained with members of the Batsheva Dance Company. After graduation I found myself working with City Springs Theatre performing in many shows and then was a performer/tap choreographer/ and set builder for Holiday Inn (2019). I was booked to set sail with Celebrity Cruise Lines in 2020 and well…. that ship sailed because of Covid. Since then I was steered in a different direction that has helped me more than I could’ve imagined. I signed with Xcel Talent Agency based in Atlanta. After signing with Xcel I have had the opportunity to perform on live television at the CMT Awards with Walker Hayes, landed a roll as Hawkeye in Marvels Rogers the Musical (Broadway show in the marvel verse), performed on the Verizon 5G tour, and many more. I still currently reside in Atlanta and teach Tap at City Springs theatre for their pre-pro program and work with the Xcel teens time to time for some fun Hip-Hop classes.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

A wild situation I went through during my journey as a performer started on September 21st, 2021. I was diagnosed with cancer. I was very lucky to have caught it during the early stages so I didn’t have to go through any hard treatments. I had two weeks until surgery and had to stop dancing for a while. After surgery I had to reteach myself how to walk, gain flexibility and range of motion, and play catch up with what was happening in the Atlanta dance scene. This was an eye opener on the fact that anything can happen at anytime and taught me to never take what I can do for granted.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

One of my main goals for my dance journey is to be able to say I did a little bit of everything before I retire. I want to be able to look back at my jobs and say I did television work, music videos, live performances, travel and perform, see the world, and work with big named musical artist. Luckily I have done some of these already, now I just want to add as much of it as I can!!

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @averygillham

Image Credits
Jeffery Erhunse