October 29, 2016

Meet Professional Dancer & Dance and Fitness Instructor: Ashley Allen

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Ashley Allen.

Ashley, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I started dancing at the age of 5 in Ballet, Tap, Jazz, Hip Hop, and Contemporary. I fell in love with everything about dance and knew I wanted to pursue it professionally. My first professional dance job was dancing on a vista class cruise line ship for their production shows. I was quite an amazing experience! As soon as the stage lights hit my face and I looked out into the audience I knew this is where I belonged. From there my dance career brought me to LA where I danced on TV shows, Musical Theatre Productions, and Music Videos. I was able to work with Colbie Caillat, Victoria Justice, the Disney Channel, and How I Met Your Mother (just to name a few). To then later moved to Las Vegas where I danced in various shows and productions on the Strip. From dancing and assisting in a Magic Show in bringing in the New Years on stage with Bruno Mars, Las Vegas was never a dull moment!

Not only just performing, I have also been teaching all styles of dance classes for over 11 years now. While dance has always been my main focus I also fell in love with fitness. I got addicted to becoming stronger and seeing results and it helped improve my dancing skills! When I was in Las Vegas I was trained at VegasHot! a hot yoga and pilates studio. I taught in Pilates/Bootcamp/Kettlebell style classes and loved it.

My dancing career has brought me all over the world (literally) and I have seen and experienced so many amazing memories. But now a new journey has begun, Atlanta! I moved here about 4 months ago from Las Vegas. Trust me, it was a shock being a west coast girl! But, I fell in love with Atlanta and its uniqueness. My journey here has lead me to an amazing studio, Dance 101. Dance 101 is a unique, adults-only dance studio with two locations in Atlanta and Alpharetta. I started out teaching Beginner Hip Hop and fell in love with everything the studio has to offer and what they believe in! Now I am full-time Instructor at Digital Media Manager at both locations! I teach Contemporary, Hip Hop, Jazz, Body Sculpt (fitness class) and a sassy Stiletto class. It’s amazing to bring all my experience to this studio and share with the incredible talent they have here. I also do videography which as Digital Media Manager I am incorporating into and creating beautiful visuals for all of our social media.

Has it been a smooth road?
Yes and NO! Haha. I am a very positive, motivated person in general so I always push thru and achieve my goals but no it has not been simple! With a professional dancing career, you are always hearing “no, your not what we are looking for” “you’re too muscular” “you’re not tall enough” “you’re not a blonde” (you get the picture). No is something you have to be ok with and able to accept, not take it personally and move on to the next big thing. I have heard hundreds of no’s but when you get the yes it makes it all worth it. I have trained my whole life for this and have gone from being broke, to having money, to unemployed, to employed and doing big things! It has its ups and downs but that’s life! Nothing will ever come easy, it’s all about how hard you work for what you want and you will be rewarded!

Have you ever wanted to stop doing what you do and just start over?
There has always been difficult moments in my career and always will be. This is life. But honestly, the only way to move forward from them was to have a positive mindset. Even in the lowest, hardest times in my career I kept pushing and kept going! It’s harder done then said, of course, but if you let the negativity get you down and dwell on it, that is where you will stay. Surround yourself with good friends, family, and positivity! Change the way you view bad situations and how you will overcome them in a positive way. Your mind is a powerful tool, use it!

What would you tell someone who is just starting out?
Well, being new to Atlanta myself I can only express what I have experienced in the short time I have been here. Atlanta was a hard place to break into being COMPLETELY brand new to the city. I did not know anyone! So, I do what I always do any new place I move to, network network network email email email call call call.. haha you get the picture. It’s all about who you know, always. I went to auditions, emailed agencies, taught master classes and intensives at dance studios until I found the perfect fit.

What are you looking forward to?
I am most excited about starting this new journey here in Atlanta. It’s a big change for me coming from 7+ years of dancing professionally on cruise ships, in LA and Las Vegas. I am going full force into teaching dance/fitness and dance choreography now and jumping into a new endeavor, Film/Photography! I am with an amazing dance studio, Dance 101, which allows me to grow in all these areas of my goals and creativity! I feel like there is endless growth opportunity here for me and I can’t wait to unravel them all.

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