We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Gaynor Hicks a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Gaynor, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.
I have taken two big risks in my adult life. The first one when I was 17 freshly graduated high school, I moved from the comfort of my family home is Brisbane, Australia to a brand new city – Sydney, Australia. I only knew a handful of people but knew that was where I needed to be to begin my professional career in dancing.
I like to tell people who don’t know that Sydney is Australia’s version of LA.
At the time I didn’t realise how big of a deal it was because at 17 – you don’t think about the serious stuff. You just think wow this is going to be so fun, going to meet new friends, living out of home. Now when I meet 17 year olds all I can think is ‘you’re so young, I can’t believe thats when I left home’
But when I came to another point in my life where it was time to make a similar decision, about whether or not I was going to make the leap from Australia to LA. I wasn’t as thoughtless, at 26 years old; all I could think about was where am I going to live? what about a car? what about my friends? It was definitely a case of bigger risk, bigger reward.
And that was all I needed to remind myself.
Had to give myself a few pep talks here and there, telling myself that if I wanted to achieve all these crazy goals I had, dancing for my dream artist – LA was where I needed to be.
All I have ever wanted to do was dance and that was always my focus and motivation for any major decisions I made.
Thankfully much like my decision to move to Sydney at 17 – it all paid off & continues to pay off in ways I could never imagine.
Since living in Los Angeles I have had the opportunity to tour with Justin Bieber, BlackPink & J Balvin.
As well as work on some amazing projects with artists such as Pharrell Williams, Imagine Dragons, Ava Max & many more
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
My name is Gaynor Hicks and I am a professional dancer originally from Sydney, Australia now residing in Los Angeles, California.
I have been dancing since I was 3 years old and for as long as I can remember it is all I have ever wanted to do.
From a young age, I would play with my hands quite gracefully and being that I have two older brothers I like to believe my mom was super excited to have a little girl so she decided to put me straight into ballet.
I believe my mom’s dream was that I would go into a ballet company at some stage but when I got a little older and found other styles of dance my attention was quickly swept up in a whole other direction.
During high school when I wasn’t at the studio, I would switch between watching two dvd’s religiously – Christina Aguilera’s ‘Stripped Tour’ and Justin Timberlake’s ‘FutureSex/LoveShow’. Unknowingly, I think in that time is where I realised all I want to do is be on tour. The idea of a job being out there where every night I could be onstage dancing to my favorite songs behind my favorite artists – I couldn’t imagine anything better.
I love everything about dancing.
I love the professional side of it – performing, travelling, meeting new people.
But I also love the other side of it, I love being a student, I love learning, I love being pushed. The grind of it, although at times can get overwhelming, is one of my favorite parts.
You hear it all the time, hard work pays off and it is nice to know that that is in fact true.
I have been able to accomplish some of my wildest dreams and thankfully have had to add more to the list to remind myself, I got more to do, I’ve got more to achieve.
I have loved every room that I have been able to step into with my dancing and I am so excited to see what the future has in store for me
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
The most rewarding aspect of being an artist is being able to do what I love everyday. It is definitely a blessing as I know a lot of people don’t consider their work their favorite place to go!
My work has brought some of my favorite people into my life and being able to share the same passion and travel the world together is the best thing in the world.
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
For myself, I do have a lot of personal goals that I am really focusing on! I would love to have the opportunity to perform at the Super Bowl!
In regards to a ‘mission’ the older I get, the more passionate I am about instilling confidence and self worth in the next generation of dancers coming up – especially dancers in Australia!
We produce some of the most hard working, talented dancers and sometimes the thought of moving countries and getting out can feel a little overwhelming and feel like it’s not achievable.
Every chance I get, especially when I am teaching, I really try to make sure I am passing information and lessons I have learnt in my time.
There is so much room for everyone to be great – and I love seeing everyone, especially my students – really pushing and working for it!
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @gaynorrrr
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@hicksgaynor
Image Credits
Rory Kramer Evan Paterakis