It could be a disservice to Galen Hooks to chalk her magnetism as much as one thing as elusive as an “X issue.” With over 20 years {of professional} expertise, 70-plus efficiency and choreography credit dripping in A-list celebrities, a social media footprint with greater than 300 million views and counting, and repeatedly sold-out grasp courses across the globe, Hooks has put within the work. With out skipping a single step, she discovered success, and desires the identical for you.
Hooks spent her early dance coaching at two competitors studios in Walnut, California: High-quality Arts and Dellos Performing Arts Middle. At 7 years outdated she went on “Star Search” with a dance group known as Women of Paradise. (In keeping with Hooks, they had been Junior Dance Champions with eight episodes straight because the winners, and 4 stars each time.) She then signed with an agent and commenced coaching at main Los Angeles–primarily based dance studios like Edge Performing Arts Middle, Moro Landis (now Millennium), and Tremaine Dance at 9 years outdated. “I used to be in a faucet firm with Gregg Russell, and a jazz firm that Marguerite Derricks and Michael Rooney ran,” she says. “I used to be very lucky to have lecturers of that caliber from a younger age.” At 9, she was in a Montell Jordan music video, at 10 she was in a film known as Mrs. Santa Clause, and at 11 she danced on Nickelodeon. By the point she was 15, Hooks was forged within the job of a lifetime: Austin Powers in Goldmember. She hasn’t stopped working since.
Regardless of the loopy schedule that comes from fixed bookings (to this point she’s labored with Britney Spears, Usher, Jennifer Lopez, Camila Cabello, Justin Bieber, Ed Sheeran, Miley Cyrus, Coldplay, Janet Jackson, Chris Brown, Rihanna, John Legend, and extra), Hooks graduated from highschool, and even went on to earn a bachelor of arts in regulation and society from Penn State. “After I did the Tremendous Bowl with Janet Jackson [2004], I used to be 17 and I spent rehearsal breaks learning within the nook,” she says. “I studied on the bus whereas touring with Snoop Canine, and graduated from faculty whereas working as an assistant choreographer on Camp Rock.” Whereas some may argue business dancers want to decide on between dance and better schooling, Hooks is right here to set the report straight. “My dance profession and schooling have fed into each other,” she says. “I paid for my schooling by means of the cash I made performing, and learning regulation was instrumental to my time because the chair of Dancers Alliance, in addition to my time on the SAG-AFTRA board.”
Past the deserves of fine coaching and a school diploma, Hooks needs dancers in 2024 to pay shut consideration to her timeline as a choreographer. “I adopted the normal journey from dancer to assistant [for Marguerite Derricks, Jamaica Craft, Jamie King, Andre Fuentes, among others] to affiliate choreographer to choreographer,” she says, including, “[Dancers should not] simply go from studio dancer to choreographer. There’s a lot to study earlier than you get to that time.” She has comparable emotions relating to turning into a grasp educator. “I began educating at little conventions right here and there after I was 15 years outdated, and it wasn’t till 10 years in the past that I actually felt like I knew what I used to be doing. I used to must cancel my courses after I taught at Debbie Reynolds Performing Arts Studio as a result of solely two folks would present up. Each time I’ve a sold-out class now, I really feel grateful and attribute it to the truth that I’ve turn into a greater instructor through the years. You’ll be able to’t substitute expertise.” Now, Hooks teaches all over the world as a grasp educator, has created her personal dance coaching technique, and even launched an internet coaching program to share her knowledge extra broadly.
On the Origins of the Galen Hooks Technique
“It began as an audition intensive: As somebody with the angle of each a choreographer and a performer, I needed to raise the veil off what choreographers really search for in auditions. Then folks began reserving, and so they needed to know what to do as soon as they had been on the job, so I did an on-set intensive. Then it began to develop, so I turned it into ‘the Galen Hooks Technique.’ In my intensives and pro-level courses for aspiring dancers, I train them find out how to analyze a chunk of choreography. How you can break down the moments in a routine that the choreographer needs to shine. What to do to your face, your eyebrows, your head angle—the place your chin needs to be. Initially of sophistication, the dancers would have been lower, however by the tip of sophistication, they’re employed. I train these two-day-long intensives, in individual, all all over the world. Along with that, I’ve created GHM On-Demand, which makes all of that data accessible on-line.”
On Creating Inclusive Dance Areas
“My courses are for each fashion, stage, and age of dancer. Not everyone seems to be pursuing a dance profession, and everyone seems to be welcome. I’ve mother and father who used to bop who don’t really feel snug going to large studios to take class however wish to expertise the enjoyment of motion once more with out all the detrimental psychological areas folks can fall into. My years of expertise have allowed me to really feel very assured in educating anybody, any fashion, and pulling the most effective out of them.”
Her Recommendation for Aspiring Professionals
“Choreographers are actually craving sensible, mature dancers. A variety of younger individuals are proficient, however what’s their perspective? What do they stand for? What are their eyes saying? How do they stroll within the room? If [people] dance with a sway-back or do eye rolls and pull faces that aren’t emotionally motivated, these are useless giveaways that they don’t seem to be professionals. A sensible dancer delivers what the choreographer is asking for. Dancers should be discovering who they’re and learning what seems to be nice on them—particularly on digicam. Passing that talent down is de facto necessary and can get folks reserving.”
