#PeopleFirst Friday: Grayson Gerber
Junior Graphic Designer Grayson Gerber found a passion at a young age and has stuck with it for nearly her entire life.
“I started dancing when I was about two,” Gerber recalled. “My dad’s sister was a dancer her entire life and owned a dance studio, and I just started doing it too.”
Mastering and competing in multiple styles of dance including, hip hop, tap, contemporary, and jazz, along with musical theater, Gerber’s favorite style of dance to perform of all-time is best described as “lyrical.”
“I don’t want to say it’s ‘flowy,’ because sometimes it’s not,” she said on her preferred dance style. “But it’s more of your slower songs and more breathy movements. It all goes just a little bit slower versus a style like hip hop where you’re dancing harder.”
Gerber began competing in dance competitions in middle school, and it really cemented her passion.
“Competing was really fun for me,” she said. “It was a nice stress reliever, even when the competitions themselves could have been stressful. It never really felt that way to me. A lot of people at competitions would be very nervous, but I was just happy to be up on stage and dancing.”
After competing in middle school and dancing on her high school’s dance team, Gerber temporarily stopped dancing in college after she didn’t make the Coastal Carolina dance team.
“This is traumatic,” she said, laughing. “The year I tried out for dance, Coastal was having a lot of drama with their cheerleaders, and so the process went rogue. The dance coach told me I didn’t have enough showmanship and presence, which was funny because at my studio, I was known for my faces. It was just very bizarre. I think they cut me because I was too tall!”
After college, Gerber would relocate to the Charlotte area, where she has “officially” taught dance at her old dance studio for the past six months. (Though through her college years, she substitute taught when she was able.) Teaching students ages five to thirteen, she views teaching dance as a way to give back to those who taught her, while also educating the next generation.
“Teaching dance is something I’ve always loved, and I’ve known the people who run the studio where I dance for my entire life. I’ve done a lot for them, but they’ve also done a lot for me through the years,” Gerber said.
“It means a lot to me because my kids and my classes are like my babies. I have a helper in three of my classes, and now she wants to do a solo for recital and for me to help her out with that. She’s progressed so much throughout the year, and it’s great to see.”