Just before she hopped on a flight to Florida, where her boyfriend is performing in the national tour of Broadway’s Come Fly With Me, international ballerina Grace McLoughlin caught up with Her Campus on what it’s like to be a college freshman at 21.
You had every little girl’s dream come true. Why did you leave the professional scene?
It wasn’t enough for me to just dance. That’s why I had to come to school. One part of me was really growing – my dance, and my physicality – but the academic side of me was going nowhere and that scared me. I was watching all these fabulous women dancing and growing older and getting injured – then, you’re 28 and you have nothing else to do. That wasn’t going to happen to me.
So, when did you decide do leave the professional ballet world and come to college?
Actually, I got a three year deferral from Northwestern. You can’t defer any longer than that. I definitely thought my Los Angeles company would be a one-year thing and I’d always wanted to go to school. I’d been training in New York at the School of American Ballet. My high school was great but it didn’t have teams or school spirit that Northwestern has, and I really wanted to come here. In December of my first year in LA, I got an offer from a company of Denmark to work for the summer and that ran into fall quarter, so I asked for another year of deferral. And then another.
Sounds glamorous. What are you focusing on at NU?
I came in as a Dance major because I thought that would be easy. Now, I’m Comm Studies with a dance minor. There isn’t a ballet program so all the dance I’m doing is contemporary and modern and improv. Everyone here is really talented in their own ways. I didn’t come here to dance – I’m going to keep dancing because I love it, but I basically came to find an alternate career.
Are you still considering professional ballet for the future?
I’m doing both – I still have my job for the summer in Copenhagen and they’re going to let me come back a little bit early. I have ballet classes at school (NU) and the teachers let me wear my point shoes and do my own thing. Also, there are lots of open classes in Chicago. The Joffrey Ballet is here and Hubbard Street offers professional classes. I’ve kind of over-committed myself on campus so I don’t have a lot of time to go.
You’re living in NMQ. That wasn’t a choice, right?
I didn’t know about it at all. People told me to go through Bobb but honestly, I’d already been through that. There are a lot of cool people here and it’s great to have a home to come back to that’s quiet. I’m a new member of Kappa – I didn’t know if I wanted to do the whole recruitment thing, but I found that it was a really great base for me to build a home over the next four years. I’m also on the Dean’s Advisory Board (for SoC).
You’re a freshman the age of a senior. How does that play into your experience?
It’s kind of unique coming in as a 21-year-old freshmen. I really don’t think that age has anything to do with maturity. I love that I meet new people here every day. It’s a luxury I didn’t have in the dance world – I literally felt like I knew everyone. All of your classmates go to different companies and suddenly you know everyone. I’ve fallen in love with Northwestern – it was a little jarring at first. I’d be living alone or with my boyfriend for the last few years. But it’s nice to not have to pay the bills or get gas – everything is taken care of. Also, I felt some comfort coming in, knowing my (age) class was still in the four years of college with me.
What have you been up to on campus? Are dancing with any groups on campus?
I did Fall Dance Concert which is a student-choreographed show, and I’ll be in Senior Showcase in the spring. For the first time I’m dancing barefoot which is crazy. I also did Dance Marathon on the Dancer Relations committee. I didn’t realize it was the same weekend as Danceworks and everyone was like, “You can’t do both!” I went to Kam Dodge and Nadia Rieser, the co-chairs for Dancer Relations and told them, and they are so great, they didn’t want it to stop me so they worked something out. I literally had my show for Danceworks, went to Dance Marathon for the night, had my show the next day, went back to DM for closing, and then had another Danceworks show – it was the craziest weekend of my life.
You mentioned being “in love” with NU. What is it about this place that makes it so amazing for you?
I think it’s the diversity. You just have everything here. It’s like a living snow globe with just so many opportunities. You have everything at your fingertips.
Why HC Loves Grace: A former international ballet star taking campus by storm? But, she’s also just like everyone else. This dancing diva is far from drama – she’s so real and easy to talk to. From chatting with her, you can tell she’s got serious direction and a big heart. Grace is proving to be more than just a fun and spirited freshman – she’s already an asset to NU in so many ways. Plus, she can do it all in point shoes.