Conversations with Courtney Conovan

Today we’d like to introduce you to Courtney Conovan.

Hi Courtney, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I grew up in the Texas Hill Country outside of Burnet, Texas. My early years were shaped in rural community and building a relationship with the outdoors, primarily water. I find that much of my passion and curiosity of life and art has come from those precious years in such a small pocket of the world. I grew up a gymnast with a strong tie to many other sports but eventually my dance training took the lead and expanded as I went on to Austin, Texas before attending college at SUNY Purchase Conservatory of Dance. My time at Purchase introduced me to concert dance and allowed my capacity of modern and ballet to extend significantly. I also developed a love for choreography in this time as well. During my senior year in school I was fortunate to be offered a contract with L.A. Dance Project and ended up moving to Los Angeles. During my time at LADP I had the pleasure of collaborating and performing works by choreographers such as Benjamin Millepied, Bobbi Jene Smith & Or Schraiber, Pam Tanowitz, Dimitri Chamblas, Janie Taylor, Madeline Hollander, and Jamar Roberts. In 2024 I signed with a modeling agency and have also been exploring this as a new facet of creativity. Now as I transition into being a freelance dancer and artist I look forward to connecting with passionate people of all forms. It is my hope to keep falling in love with art and people as much as possible.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
In the work of artists there are so many no’s. You must become resilient and trust in your own being with a knowingness that is beyond outward approval. Deepening your relationship with yourself and to your art, if done so authentically can save and sustain you- but it is also hard work. To truly build a practice to your form with love and curiosity at the forefront. For me, a way to stay in a healthy relationship to my main art form of dance is to learn other disciplines of art as well. I am a serial hobbyist with practices in many other forms such as painting, wood-burning, silver smithing, pole dance, and more. I aspire to feel like a beginner as much as I can, it is not until I find myself feeling uncomfortable that I can continue to expand in the ways I imagine for myself. I expect to ask as many questions as possible and continue to deepen my own artistry while remaining open and receptive to the history of these forms in an attempt to honor them to my fullest extent.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
Most of my career up to this point has been based in contemporary dance. I enjoy the ranging spectrum of everything from contemporary ballet to more dance theater work as well. While this has been my main mode of movement, I also enjoy training and working in other genres of the commercial realm as well. I find that the knowledge each dance genre allows, informs each other and can overlap in such beautiful ways. This is something I am exceedingly excited to keep diving into as my work develops.

Outside of dancing, I am also working to develop my practice as a choreographer. Through this I hope to be as tender as possible and allow intention to move through me primarily without judgment. From there I wish to strip everything down as much as possible, to find the honesty of what I am hoping to convey. It’s my aim to build portals through one another with dance connecting the unseen but felt lived experience of freedom.

How do you think about luck?
In a way I don’t know about luck or how much I believe in it. While I feel extremely grateful at times for the way my life has played out- opportunities granted, people I’ve met and fostered relationships with, places I’ve lived- I also think there is a lot of responsibility inside of luck. It’s doing your best to be prepared for your dreams when they arrive, which includes a lot of discipline and work. There is so much duality at the center of it all too. With as much beautiful happenstance there is, there are so many hard moments of what one might consider bad luck. I also know that these moments make me understand people more. That living through a lot of life gives me so much perspective and empathy in many different ways.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/courtney_conovan/

Image Credits
Dyan Jong, Josh Rose, Kermit Mercado, Diego Uchitel