Meet Abbygale Chung

Today we’d like to introduce you to Abbygale Chung.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Abbygale. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
As a kid, when people would ask me what I wanted to be when I grew up, I’d always respond with dancer. Most of the time, people wouldn’t think much of it: where I grew up, becoming a professional dancer was uncommon. Fast forward a decade, and that is exactly what I am.

I’ve been dancing all my life, having started classes at the age of four. I was born and raised in Edmonton, Alberta, where I took advantage of every training opportunity I could find and joined the ranks of elite local companies. When I was 15, I was chosen to be a back-up dancer for Janet Jackson at the Edmonton stop of her Unbreakable World Tour. That performance changed the course of my life—it inspired me to commit myself to commercial dance, and I’ve been wholeheartedly pursuing the industry since.

At the age of 18, I moved to Los Angeles to participate in the Millennium Dance Complex Certificate Program, an opportunity I was fortunate enough to have supported by a grant from the Alberta Foundation for the Arts. I fell in love with L.A. hard and fast. Coming from a comparatively smaller city, artists in my community rarely received full funding to study internationally. In the context of my journey as an artist, Millennium was an invaluable experience. I was able to foster relationships with local creatives, participate in the city’s flourishing commercial dance industry, and devote myself to my craft full-time.

These days, I juggle a commercial dance career in both Vancouver and Los Angeles. I do most of my television and film work in Vancouver, having just wrapped production on a Lifetime Original Movie there, and spend my time in L.A. understudying industry professionals and gaining performance experience. I try to return to my hometown whenever I can to teach classes and offer up the knowledge I’ve gained through my experiences out here to young dancers in the same position I was as a teenager.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
In retrospect, I realize how incredibly lucky I’ve been to have had the experiences and opportunities that have come my way. With this being said, succeeding in any artistic field requires you to develop a thick skin and work the hardest you possibly can. The dance industry is highly competitive, and along the way, I’ve forced myself to push beyond my physical limits, sometimes to the point where limbs have gone numb. Mentally, I’ve had to build a strong foundation of belief in myself and my ability in order to handle rejection gracefully. But I’m grateful for these obstacles—the struggles I’ve faced as a young dancer and the amount of work I’ve had to put in to carve out a place for myself in the industry have only aided in my current success.

We’d love to hear more about your work and what you are currently focused on. What else should we know?
I’m 19 now and am working as an independent dancer and choreographer. In my career, I’ve appeared in various music videos, commercials, and national campaigns, and have worked with companies such as Honda Motors, Ford, and Tutti Frutti. I’ve performed live on World of Dance competitions and supported recording artist Lia Cole on her Asia Tour. I’ve also worked on short films and movies, which are listed in more detail on my IMDb page. I’ve toured Canada as an assistant at VIP Dance Conventions and am currently a faculty assistant at Millennium Dance Complex. In addition to all my work as a commercial dancer, I have a huge passion for teaching and lead classes whenever I can. My signature style is a challenging fusion of jazz and hiphop that requires a dancer to be very versatile in their movements.

I think my lack of hesitation is what sets me apart from other young creatives. I’m a highly ambitious person, and when I decide to pursue something, I throw my whole self into it. It might not be the most thought out way to live, but I think that attitude has helped me to gain an influx of opportunities in a short amount of time.

If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
Personally, I wish I continued my time in gymnastics! I took classes as a kid and had advanced to a highly competitive level at around age ten. At the time, I was offered to start training for high-level competitions, but I declined because I preferred dance! I didn’t have the opportunity to return to gymnastics as my dance career was beginning to progress and required all of my time, but I wish I had taken my gymnastics training just a little farther! Learning stunts as an adult is much more challenging, but I’m excited to relearn elements of gymnastics and incorporate it into my dancing.

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: instagram.com/abby_chung/
• Other: youtube.com/abbygalechung

Image Credit:
Redd Angelo, Kyra Jasman Photography, Romy Young Photography, Shalene Dawn Photography

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