Past East Student Chases His Dream of Professionally Dancing in California

It was after two months of demanding dance classes and competitive auditions that senior Grayson McGuire found a reason to believe that he didn’t graduate early for nothing. After auditioning for Travis Wall’s [from “So You Think You Can Dance?”] new reality TV show, the casting director made it a point to tell McGuire that he would have made it if he wasn’t still 17.

After completing the three classes in his schedule at East, McGuire had set out on his own to L.A. to pursue his dream of being in show business.

He started dancing in sixth grade at the Miller Marley School of Dance and Voice at the urging of his fellow actors at Theatre in the Park.

“I was really into musical theater, so I decided to give dance classes a try,”  McGuire said. “I hated it at first because there weren’t many boys in the class.”

But after a while more boys signed up for the class and once McGuire became more comfortable, he discovered he had a passion for the art. In his free time, he began choreographing dances for himself and later classmates. It was during his freshman year that he began to realize he wanted to make a career of dancing.

“I don’t want to be sitting behind a desk all day,” McGuire said. “If I couldn’t [succeed in Los Angeles] I would be a choreographer or I would teach dancing or voice. Anything to stay out from behind a desk.”

McGuire left his friends and family for the City of Angels on Jan. 12.

“My parents were obviously concerned about things like me living on my own and having to take care of myself or never seeing me again,” McGuire said. “But they were mostly worried about me getting into cocaine or other hard drugs, just because there’s a huge market in L.A. and it’s easy to get sucked into that. But I don’t do drugs, so no worries there.”

For the first step to making it in L.A., McGuire needed to get picked up by a talent agency. Packed in a gym alongside over 200 other Hollywood hopefuls, he was taught a routine and asked to replicate it with a group of three to five others in front of his potential agents. He was fortunate enough to be one of the 10 selected for representation.

He has since auditioned for a variety of gigs, including a dancer in several music videos, the Nickelodeon Kid’s Choice Awards with Will Smith, for parts in various reality TV shows and even for a job in Disneyland Tokyo.

He’s currently concentrating on the training side of fame, taking classes at several studios including The Edge Performing Arts Center, Millenium Dance Complex and Debbie Reynolds Dance Studio, as well as partaking in as many auditions as he can. Even if he doesn’t fit one part, if he becomes a familiar face, the casting directors might refer him for a role more suitable to his talents.

Yet despite his success, he misses the rain, the dollar-cheaper gas and streets devoid of heavy traffic in Kansas. He misses his English teacher Mrs. Frutchey-Miller, his friends and family, especially his dog Shammy and his cat Neo. He hasn’t been back to visit yet, but he plans to return for graduation and stay until mid-summer, spending that time choreographing and catching up with the friends and family he left behind.

In the meantime, he’s made a new family in Los Angeles. He’s become extremely close with the people in his contemporary dance company, Entity, during their 10:30 p.m. to 2:00 a.m. dance rehearsals.

“Meeting people here is an ongoing thing,” McGuire said. “I just try to be nice to everyone and make connections cause it’s all about who you know out here.”

He has also adopted a new member into his family, a guinea pig named Lucy in the Sky.

“She’s amazing,” McGuire said. “I want to get another one and name it Dirt on the Ground. I think that’d be really funny. But seriously, guinea pigs are the way to go.”

McGuire loves his new home in the dance capitol of the world. He likes the fact that the average temperature is around 70 degrees every day. He likes that he can go down to the beach in Malibu, hike in the Santa Monica Mountains and tour the city in the same day.

But he especially loves the opportunity he has been given.

“I’m constantly trying out for different shows,” McGuire said. “I mean, I almost made it on a TV show [within a few months of being here], so hopefully big things are in store for me soon. We’ll see what happens.”

Grayson’s Solo Performance