Embracing the emotions behind dance
Student artist Meaghan Gallant has spent her life immersed in dance, but says it was at Queen’s that she connected most with the personal side of the art form.
Gallant, the current co-president of the Queen’s Dance Club (QDC), has been dancing since she was three years old. She said dancing is the best of two worlds.
“You get the exercise, you get to keep your body moving,” Gallant, ArtSci ’16, said.
“But it’s also such a raw form of artistic expression. You get to portray different stories and emotions and just completely let yourself go.”
After years of learning dance recreationally, Gallant says she stopped dancing for two years in high school.
She realized professional dancing wasn’t for her while attending a pre-professional ballet school in grade 9.
She said she knew then that she wanted to dance without the pressure of competitive dance teams when she arrived at Queen’s.
She discovered QDC in her first year, and has been involved with the dance club ever since.
Meaghan Gallant at a performance in November of 2014. (Supplied by Meaghan Gallant)
“The group was the perfect way to get back into dancing for me,” she said.
Gallant said her roles on the executive committee of QDC — as copresident this year and co-marketing director last year — has been a whole new experience for her in the world of dance.
“It’s so fun to not only see your own hard work pull off and be able to give back to the club, but also to see the influence you’ve had on all the other hardworking dancers,” she said.
According to her, her involvement with QDC has been particularly formative for her as a dancer.
“When you’re not working towards a ballet exam or a competition, the dancing becomes for your own personal benefit,” she said.
At the beginning of last year, Gallant said, improvised dancing really intimidated her.
By the end of the year, however, improvising seemed like just another opportunity to push herself out of her comfort zone.
“In that way, I think, I’ve started to explore another side of dancing,” she said.
“The growth is more through the emotional and personal side of dance, and less the technicality of it.”
Although dance isn’t a career path for her, Gallant hopes it will always be in her life to some capacity.
“It’s just so important to me. It’s the perfect release, for any time in my life.”
