Daily Inspiration: Meet Mary Grace Brant

Today we’d like to introduce you to Mary Grace Brant.

Hi Mary Grace, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
Gravity was such an amazing accident! It was originally built for personal use, but I was led to open it as a public studio space about 2 months into our journey. At first we started with all sorts of classes, but as the Shuffle students grew the schedule shifted to accommodate them. I have been “following the flow” with Gravity and now, on year 3 of serving Hollywood’s dance community, we are exclusively a Shuffle studio!

I have been in the Shuffle Dance world for 9 years now. I started Shuffling purely as a hobby, it brought me so much peace and joy! As I was continuing to grow my skill I found a love for filming dance videos for my social media. One year into my journey I got hired by one of the fitness industry’s leading names specifically for my Shuffling and I got to travel the world with them, sharing my dance with new communities and making lots of new connections. As I was doing this, I grew my social media community to over a million and built an online presence as a virtual teacher. My experience as a professional Shuffler, along with my signature style at the time, allowed me to grow my student base virtually for 3 years from 2020-2023 teaching Shuffling online.

When Gravity first opened, I was ready to take the teaching skills I had grown and host in-person classes for the LA Community. It took a little while to fill the room, but with consistency and hard work my people started to find me! Every week Gravity brings in folks who have absolutely no experience with Shuffling and welcomes them into our community of students of all skill levels. I am proud to be such a huge part of our dancers’ Shuffle journey, and I am excited to continue to spread the joy of movement to adults who just want to express!

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It has not! As I mentioned before, I did not build Gravity with the intent to own a public dance studio. I decided to host classes for the public when I realized that our current way to pay the rent of using the space was not going to work.

I had no idea how to run let alone work in a dance studio. I had a lot of connections in the Shuffle community, but not so much in the dance industry in LA as a whole. I “didn’t know what I didn’t know” and have been figuring things out along the way. How to market has been my longest and most time consuming lesson, and I am still figuring out what works best for Gravity.

After much shifting Gravity now is 99% my own classes and teachings, and I have changed the idea to be less about the physical studio and more about our community. It doesn’t matter WHERE we meet, just that we are here and we are moving!

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
What keeps me dancing is my need to have a creative outlet! I love making art out of movement.

I am most known for my teaching role at this point, but I was a trailblazer in the community. I was among the first to be hired as a professional dancer specifically for Shuffling and gained recognition for my energetic style of Cutting Shapes. I specialized in powerful, quick execution. Huge shoutout to some of my inspirations that showed me that performing and teaching this style could be more than just a hobby (Gabby David, Vanesa Seco, Elena Cruz).

These days I am focused a lot on the artistic aspect of my movement. I love bending Shuffling in many ways; fusing it with other dance styles, taking a high-fashion approach on the execution, performing to non-traditional songs. I hope to continue creating and growing my skills in choreography/creative direction to bring my visions to life and bring Shuffling to the highly artistic level I imagine in the industry!

Pricing:

• 1 Drop-In Class $25
• 5 Class Pack $110

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.gravityspacela.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gravity.la/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@GravitySpacela