Meet Cecily Davis | Dancer and Choreographer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Cecily Davis and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Cecily, what inspires you?
I am inspired by music primarily. I grew up in a very musical household, there was always someone singing or playing an instrument. My mom would sometimes play classical music and operas for us at meals. I started piano lessons when I was six, and for a while I thought that being able to sit down and create music just from my hands was the best thing a person could do. But then I discovered ballet. In dance, I can be the music itself. When the note and chords and movements and person all meld together into one thing – it’s exhilarating. The more time I spend in my career as a dancer and a choreographer, the more I learn to get to this point sooner in the class/rehearsal process. Just because I want to experience that feeling of connectedness and embodiment as much as possible. As artists, and especially in dance, we spend so much time honing our craft and perfecting the technique – we start every day with a ballet class for that purpose. So it’s easy, especially when you’re young, to think this is the most important thing, the primary goal. But good art is not only a demonstration of skill, it’s an exploration of emotion and what is means to be human. This goal inspires me in all my work, to stay connected to the present moment and what the music is telling me or bringing out of me.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
My story is about discovering beauty in the unusual and unconventional.
I was probably 11 or 12 when I first started to be aware of the physical expectations for young dancers. Ballet requires a high level of flexibility, especially in the hips and ankles, and I didn’t have it. To keep up with the other students in my class, I would have to work harder and longer. On top of that, I started ballet at 9 years old, which is considered late for those wanting to go into a professional career. I added extra practice for myself every chance I got. I used my family’s driveway to practice leaps after class, going up and down the concrete in my sneakers and leotard until it got too dark or cold to stay out. I stretched for hours, trying to mold my long torso and muscular legs to fit the traditional ballet image. This drive at a young age for what I perceived to be perfection, combined with a relentless work ethic that felt more necessity than choice, profoundly impacted my work as a professional dancer and later, a choreographer.

At 17 I made the difficult choice to change ballet schools, and after spending the summer training with the Bolshoi Ballet Academy in New York and Moscow, I started attending Southeastern School of Ballet under Hillary Krieger-Toth and Gabor Toth. At a time when many young dancers are looking to enter companies, I was taking classes with beginners to fix the foundational holes in my training. Yet while those young dancers looked up to me as one of the oldest students in the school, I was incredibly inspired by their hard work and openness. To this day I strive to emulate their level of humility and eagerness to learn. Also at this school, I found a heavy emphasis on excellence in the art of ballet, combined with an approach that allowed for physical diversity. Ms. Hillary taught us how to understand our body and its capabilities, empowering us to understand our strengths and weaknesses without emphasizing one specific physique. This set an important foundation for my work later, creating an approach to art and dance that valued beauty in many forms. I still trained long hours, staying after class to work on whatever we had been learning. On multiple occasions I extended my practice time until my teacher, with kind exasperation, would turn off the studio lights to end my practicing so we could both go home. To this day, an empty studio feels like home to me. It is where I can create with freedom, make mistakes, and embody deep emotions.

I received my first professional contract at age 19. I had auditioned the year before as well and had decided that if I didn’t receive a contract after my second season auditioning, I would pursue college and a non-dance degree. Signing my first contract in my parent’s living room was one of the best moments of my life. My first three years dancing, I was completely unpaid, relying on three part time jobs and help from my parents to survive. This is unfortunately not unusual in the ballet world, where funding is difficult to come by, and the supply of dancers far outnumbers the jobs available. Ironically, some of my main breakthroughs in my artistic development happened during this time. As a corps de ballet dancer, I often spent more time sitting on the side than dancing, and with an excess of creative energy and a desire for more contemporary movement, I began choreographing. I started by creating a work on my colleagues called “and if we lose ourselves, and it was accepted to Fly on A Wall’s inaugural “Excuse the Art” festival. We performed it in March of 2020, and three days later we were all confined to our homes as Covid raged.

I used that summer to explore more of my own movement, and later that summer, signed a contract with Gwinnett Ballet Theatre for their first year as a professional company. I had never stopped trying to be the hardest worker in the room, and now I felt like I was getting the chance to really grow artistically. My journey at Gwinnett Ballet Theatre has been marked by relationships of trust and camaraderie. Last season I performed my first principal role, as The Firebird in Lori Zamzow-Wire’s premiere of Firebird. It was a career milestone that young Cecily had hardly dared to dream of. At the same time we began rehearsing, a recurring injury in my right foot flared up badly. Despite the sporadic pain, I managed to complete the rehearsal process and the shows, reveling in the fierce beauty of the Firebird character. Five months after, I elected to have surgery to remove a bone spur and a cyst in my foot, something I am currently recovering from.

To me, being an artist means being an explorer of human emotion. A year and a half ago, I created my first choreographic commission. It was choreographed for Gwinnett Ballet Theatre and premiered as part of their 2024 Love & Passion series. In this work I dove deeply into a portrayal of the beauty that exudes joy, but also allowed space for the grief and sorrow that often surround the moments of joy we experience. This has been my experience both in life and in dance, that rich art comes from allowing beauty to be created in difficult or unexpected times.

Working as a professional dancer and choreographer is one of the hardest things I have ever done. We push our bodies to their physical and mental limits every day. And yet, I wouldn’t want to do anything else. I believe the presence of art and artists in communities is vital to the well-being of a society, and so what I and my colleagues do as participants in that has significant meaning. I am currently seeking out more opportunities to create, making work that portrays the beauty in human physicality and emotion, using the classical vocabulary that I know well. I’m also looking forward to this upcoming season at Gwinnett Ballet Theatre, as we return to some of my favorite ballets – Dracula and Carmen – as well as the classic stories of Cinderella and The Nutcracker.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Well, of course the week would be filled with art and dance! There is so much art and dance in Atlanta, something I didn’t realize before I moved here. If they came in October, I’d of course invite them to come watch me dance in Gwinnett Ballet Theatre’s Dracula. We premiered it last season, and it was a huge success with sold-out shows. The rest of our season has some great performances as well, including The Nutcracker, Carmen, and Cinderella. DanceATL has a weekly newsletter with tons of performances and open classes. I always try to see Staib Dance, Kit Modus, Fly on a Wall, and Dance Canvas when they’re performing.
Additionally, Windmill Arts Center and The Goat Farm are two of my favorite venues – I regularly check their calendars for dance/theatre performances and art shows.
I recently started doing west coast swing – it’s so freeing to participate in a dance style purely for fun; it allows me to be creative without any pressure. Atlanta Swing Dancers Club and Wicked Westie are my favorites – they have beginner lessons and open dancing every week in the Doraville/Chamblee area. It’s super welcoming and so fun! If we need more dancing we’d go line dancing with Celina Meador – she teaches almost every day at different locations around Atlanta.
For food in the city, We’d start out the morning with some of my favorite bakeries. My favorites are Alon’s in Morningside Village and Theo’s Brother’s Bakery in Alpharetta. Then later pick up some pho from Pho Bac on Buford Highway or a slice of pizza from Pielands in Virginia Highlands. I’m a huge nerd, so we could go by Book Nook or Atlanta Vintage Books to search for some classics.
I spend a lot of time outside. I love day hikes, and one of my favorite parts about Atlanta is you’re less than 2 hours from the blue ridge mountains. Some of my favorites in North Georgia include Tallulah Gorge, Brasstown Bald (the highest point in Georgia with incredible views), Yonah Mountain, and Blood Mountain. We’d definitely stop at the Country Bake Shoppe, an Amish run bakery, or Jaemor Farms for fresh fruit. If we wanted to get outside but stay nearer the city, Arabia Mountain is a great morning or evening hike.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I have had so much support in my pursuit of a career in the arts. My main supporters are firstly, my family. My parents first put me in dance and have provided support in a myriad of ways as I trained throughout middle school and high school, and they continue to be my biggest supporters in my career. I also owe so much to the teachers that trained me – especially Hillary Krieger-Toth and Gabor Toth at Southeastern School of Ballet. I would not be dancing professionally today without them. Last, I am incredibly grateful to Lori Zamzow-Wire for seeing something in me 6 years ago when I auditioned for Gwinnett Ballet Theatre. She and the rest of the artistic staff at GBT have created an environment of creative expression and excellence, and her trust and mentorship has proved invaluable as I continue to grow and develop as an artist.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cecilydav/ (@cecilydav)

Image Credits
Erika Rivera
Francisco Jauregui
Julian Duque
Photography by ASH
John Davis