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

Hi Jennifer, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
When I got the idea to start my own business, I felt like it was something that needed to be done to fill a gap. At the time, my husband and I were living in New York and were saturated in the arts culture of the city. We moved to New York because the kind of dance and work we wanted to do was not present in Atlanta. Living in New York inspired us to bring that energy back to Atlanta and open up the arts culture in here. We wanted to expand the platform here and that was our whole driving force! We moved back to Atlanta after a couple of years in New York and began to build programming for young dancers and a contemporary ballet company that would tell stories that are relevant and thought provoking. We wanted our professional company to be run differently from our former company experiences. We wanted the environment to be open, inspiring, and nurturing. We were very grassroots in our set up. Our goal was never to have all the students for our school, but to create a more diligent and focused training program. Having that training program assisted us in running the professional company and we were able to create both a pre professional and professsional platform of well trained dancers and contemporary work. Ultimately the vision was to raise the bar and bring more people together in support of the arts in Atlanta!

Please tell us more about your work. We’d love to hear what sets you apart from others, what you are most proud of or excited about. How did you get to where you are today professionally. Was it easy? If not, how did you overcome the challenges? What are the lessons you’ve learned along the way. What do you want the world to know about you or your brand and story?
City Gate Dance Theater is a contemporary ballet company. I think what sets us apart is that we truly try to connect with our audience on a more personal level so a lot of our works are some what stories where patrons can, not only enjoy the dancing, but be challenged in their thinking to see how the work relates to them. I’m most proud to say that to this day, going into our 7th season, responses to our works have been that of appreciation. Many people have come to me and said they’ve had these experiences and have never seen them expressed in this manner and to me…that’s kind of the point! My prior experiences as a brown girl that loves ballet but had fear because of lack of representation and horrible experiences is actually what got me here today, I believe. I think that is still what carries me because it has developed a passion in me to want to create works where a diverse group of people can be seen and represented. It was by no means easy, but I do believe it was, and still is, worth it! I can say proudly, that it was the people I surrounded myself with that helped me to overcome the challenges and set backs I experienced. My “shoutouts”, my support system, my best friends, my family, my children; they were all there for me and it’s because of them that I did not quit. My biggest lesson I’ve learned is to love yourself…period. I developed a sense of self defeat, feeling like I had to be in a box when in real life, I knew I was so much bigger then that. Lack of love for myself lead me to believe the lies that were told to me as well as the way I was treated, it made me feel like, “maybe it’s for a reason”. In real life, it took me a while to learn that I was just as good as my counterparts and I too, had the ability to shine and do well. That was the push I needed to succeed. I think I’d like the world to know that my work, it’s not a brand, it’s a lifestyle. This is my life. These are my passions. These stories should be told. This work should be seen. These dancers should be built. My brand, is building. And growth. And light. And sharing! I believe that’s what we are ALL here for. To share, and build, and grow, until our time is done.

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?
Okay…I’ll play along as if we were not in the midst of a pandemic! LOL. First things first, Sundays are for Rum Punch Brunch at the Sound Table to eat and fellowship in the name of good Reggae, Caribbean, and occasional trap music 😮…ALL DAY! Taco Tuesday is definitely the move and La Parilla will be collecting our Margarita donations! Thursday, we catch a special at RaSushi or some downtown / midtown spot so we can feel like grown ups and Friday is a chill night at the Drive Inn on Moreland ave with home made popcorn and “to go drinks” on deck! By Saturday, we are basting in the sun on a rooftop pool with Sangrias in hand! One of those days, I’m sure we would go old school and chill and someone’s mom’s house, eat a home cooked meal, and collect some wisdom and a good laugh or two! Classic Atl lifestyle…only place we didn’t go was Golden Glide 🤷🏽‍♀️!

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I definitely have had many supporters and mentors that have gotten me to where I am today! Shoutout to my parents for supporting my training and encouraging me on every level of work! Shoutout to Ms. Nena Gilreath and Mr. Waverly Lucas, directors of Ballethnic Dance Company, for pushing me to my limit, believing in my ability, and helping me to get my courage back to pursue ballet as a young black dancer. At a time when I doubted my abilities and that there would ever be a place for me in the genre of ballet, these 2 people showed me a new way! Super shoutout to Ms. Regine Metayer! The first dancer we ever hired for City Gate Dance Theater! She now resides as our Ballet Mistress and has done nothing but support, love, and show up for me! Shout out to Kyla Langdon, CGDT Production Manager, my right hand (wo)man, and little sister (from another mother). She saved me, after my husband’s passing and kept me from drowning in all that can be overwhelming about running a company. Shout out to my dancers who have seen the vision and worked with me and stuck with me to bring them to light. Shout out to my besties who have spread the word that “they know a black ballerina!” Lastly, shoutout to my late husband, Robert E. Mason II. Without his vision and his will to make me great, I’m not sure I would have made it this far. He believed in my abilities as a dancer, pushed me outside my comfort zone, and never accepted failure from me. I’m thankful for the time I was able to have with him in the studio.

Website: www.citygatedance.org
Instagram: Citygatedance
Facebook: City Gate dance

Image Credits
Richard Calmes