We recently connected with Laura Macy and have shared our conversation below.
Laura, appreciate you joining us today. Earning a full time living from one’s creative career can be incredibly difficult. Have you been able to do so and if so, can you share some of the key parts of your journey and any important advice or lessons that might help creatives who haven’t been able to yet?
I feel really lucky that I’ve been able to earn a full-time living from creative work since I was 21. I started my business as a professional pianist when I was 16: playing for live events such as weddings and birthday parties, and teaching private piano lessons to family friends. I think I had about 5 students when I first started out, and the live performance work was slow and irregular, so I worked a variety of regular jobs to support myself while I finished full-time education.
It was only when I graduated university at 21 that I decided to take that scary leap and quit my ‘muggle’ job so I could focus on becoming a freelance artist. I did lots of random gigs over the following 12 months to make ends meet: I worked as an extra on film & TV sets, taught dance workshops at primary schools and continued to perform at function gigs. I definitely wasn’t in the place I’d hoped to be in that first year, but being self-employed gave me the freedom to focus on growing my business as both a professional pianist and professional dancer. One of the most valuable things I learnt in those 12 months was to take every opportunity that came my way, and to plant seeds everywhere I went. By the time I was 22, I had expanded my creative network so much that I was getting more and more opportunities sent my way to work as both a professional dancer and pianist. I was still regularly applying for creative jobs such as extras work and function gigs, but I definitely wasn’t panicking as much anymore! After another 12 months, I’m now 23 and it feels really special to say I work full-time as both a professional dancer and pianist.
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?
I never really know what job-title I fall under! Like most creatives, I work in multiple different areas of the industry. I’m a professional pianist, so I work as an accompanist, I perform for live events, recording sessions & music videos and I absolutely adore teaching one-to-one lessons. Alongside my piano jobs, I’m also a professional dancer and perform for a variety of events such as film & television, music videos & stage performances. I’ve been lucky to have had a lead roles as a dancer in music videos such as “Bobamia” (Bob’s Dance Shop), “Starfall” (Zetra) and “Heads or Tails” (Beija Flo), and for film & television work such as Eurovision and the Everybody’s Talking About Jamie movie premiere.
Any advice for managing a team?
When I was 22 I started directing and choreographing my own work. I was living in Liverpool at the time and felt there was such a huge pool of talented creatives in the area, but not enough opportunities for their work to be seen. I had around 14 dancers take part in my first concept video, alongside a videographer, a photographer and two production assistants. I felt such imposter syndrome leading a team of this size, especially as I had no funding to be able to pay any of them. However, as the project developed, I could see how valuable the experience was becoming for everyone involved, in ways other than monetary profit. It was an opportunity for us all to do what we’re passionate about, to connect with other talented creative people, for our work to get exposure and to add to our skill-sets by learning from each other. I will forever be grateful for the people who said yes to that first project – it gave me the confidence and drive to continue creating. In the summer of 2023, I directed my 4th project that involved 50 dancers! Although the imposter syndrome is still there at times, these projects are so rewarding. I love bringing together a group of creative people who are passionate about what they do, and seeing their creativity bounce off each other. And I’ve definitely learnt that you grow the most by taking risks outside of your comfort zone, even if it absolutely terrifies you!
Here’s my most recent concept video from last summer:
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
In January 2023, I fell badly out of a turn at an audition and broke my kneecap in half. I was told by doctors that I would potentially have to have screws drilled into my kneecap and if that was the case, it could end my career as a professional dancer.
I was seen by multiple doctors who all gave different opinions on if I should have surgery or not, and I remember feeling completely overwhelmed and confused at which option would give me the best fighting chance at a full recovery. My entire world felt like it was falling apart. Trying to not let my thoughts go to a dark place, I started researching dance charities in the UK that might be able to help. I reached out to a charity called The Dance Again Foundation, who made a huge difference to my recovery. They signposted me to a dance specialist whose opinion I could trust and they helped me to fill out all of the confusing paperwork and x-ray requests to get all of the information to the right people. Their knowledge and experience in the dance side of the medical industry gave me someone to trust when I was surrounded by so many conflicting opinions and they also signposted me to funds that I could apply for to support my recovery, because as a self-employed artist unable to work, I was feeling very anxious about my financial situation.
My doctors and I came to the decision to let the knee heal without surgery, and with great physio and a lot of determination, I’m very grateful to say my knee recovered fully and just 10 weeks after breaking the initial injury, I performed as a lead dancer in Europe’s biggest television show: ‘Eurovision’. To raise awareness for the charity that helped me, I choreographed and directed a concept video about my story in the hope that other dancers can reach out to them too in the future. One of my videographer friends from LA actually flew out to Liverpool to shoot it, so the video is extra special to me for many reasons: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTewwG2ZTcs
Contact Info:
- Website: https://encoremusicians.com/Laura-Watson
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lauramacy/?hl=en
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGU92oWUztkuEZVbHHYUFvA
- Other: https://youtu.be/B3ZXmps21Z4 Piano Showreel
Image Credits
Zurisaddai Corona Jr. Paul Nilson Érin Kelly Erin Sullivan The Portfolio People Phoenix Photos Mobdrop Media