Lucy Vallely on the Power of Rediscovering Your “Why”
“I’ve always had creative tendencies and a sense of my own personal style,” says dance teacher, performer, and choreographer Lucy Vallely, sitting in her Brooklyn apartment that’s adorned with band posters and artwork, “but I had to figure out how to translate that into movement so that dance could be a funnel for my creativity.”
Growing up in Long Beach, California, Vallely started dancing at age 2. As she got older, the hobby turned more serious, and when she was 11, she signed with an agent, jumpstarting her professional career.
At 13, she won her first national title at The Dance Awards and by 15, she was choreographing at studios across the nation. While beginning her choreographic career so young had its benefits, by 18, Vallely started experiencing burnout.
“I grew up constantly training and traveling, and I felt I had lived a whole adult lifetime during my childhood, so by the time I became an adult, I needed a break.”
In 2022, after taking some time off from dance, Vallely moved to New York City for the first time, before she and her boyfriend set off on what she calls a “vagabond” stretch in 2023—living out of their Subaru and driving to national parks before landing in Hawaii for a couple of months. That fall, they moved back to New York City, this time to Brooklyn, and the freelance opportunities started flooding in.
Long-term dreams soon began to come true. In the summer of 2024, she got a call from NUVO Dance Convention asking her to be on faculty. Now, Vallely is about to go into her third season teaching for NUVO as well as being a successful freelance dancer and choreographer.
On Her Aesthetic
“I don’t obsess over how I’m perceived. Creating really comes from a sensation of what excites me or what music is moving me in that period of my life, which changes from time to time. Sometimes I’m really into folk or heavy rock or more alternative indie bands, and these music bubbles guide me.”
“I grew up with a large soup and array of influences that informed my movement. That’s why it’s very eclectic—I have a style that’s jazz-infused but still maintains that contemporary base and foundation, while adding some hip-hop elements.”
“I want my art and my dancing to be a mirror and reflection of my spiritual journey as a human on this planet. People can smell inauthenticity—they can see and feel when someone’s trying to be something. And yes, be something, but just be you.”
On Finding Her Why
“I had to take a couple of years to figure out my why with dance. And now, even if I have hard days or weeks with dance, I know deep down this is what I do—I’m not going to stop.”
“My why is the initial feeling I felt when I decided I wanted to be a dancer—the love and excitement of creativity and expression, rather than the performative side.”
“I think we overcomplicate dance sometimes—for kids and for ourselves as adults. I just needed to come back to: ‘I’m doing this because I love it and I want to be a pure light of love for dance and community.’ That’s it.”
“What a privilege it is to be able to move my body, feel alive, and feel connection to music. I needed the experience of being a little lost to let go of expectations. I came back with a beginner’s mindset, which helped me to rediscover how dance felt in my body.”
“Dancing is so pure, and there’s a vibration you feel in the room when you share that with people. I like to improvise by myself sometimes, but honestly, I think when you’re with other people, it’s gold. That’s why I love to dance.”
On Future Goals
“The last few years, from age 20 to 24, have been about my foundation—my why, my base, my home, figuring out what it means to be an adult and what I want. I built this confidence and trust in myself, and now I’m ready to expand.”
“I’ve said this since I was 15: My dream job is the one I don’t know exists. I experienced that this year—I did a Rolling Stones music video [“Jealous Lover”] last month, and I didn’t even know that could be an option. It was just a surprise: Boom, here you go—you’re going to be in a music video for one of your favorite bands. It’s surprises like that [that] I live for. I go about my career clear on the energy and feeling I want to have, and the rest I am open.”
“I know this might sound woo-woo, but I feel held by the universe, giving me the opportunities I need for my experience as a human on this planet.”
“I want to utilize my career and dance as a way to grow as an artist. I don’t know if that’s necessarily [having] the biggest, flashiest jobs. I just want soul-enriching experiences with people that I respect, and that respect me back. And I’m open to all mediums.”
“People always ask me, ‘Well, what’s next?’ I just want to build on what I already have, because I’m so happy. I’m living a life that I love. That’s how you grow—by being so grateful for where you are in this moment.”
“I have videos of myself, from when I was 17, saying my dream living situation was having my own studio apartment in Brooklyn and being a professional choreographer. And now I’m doing that, so it just makes me excited for the future.”
“I think you can cast little spells within your life, and you’ll be surprised to see how they actually happen.”
