Meeting Mr. Geoffrey was very inspirational and I appreciated him delving into the reality and the path to achieving success in the Arts. Mr. Geoffrey knew as a child that he wanted to become a choreographer despite his parent’s wishes. So at a young age, he moved to New York City seeking opportunities in becoming a dancer to be able to pursue choreography later on. Similar to Mr. LoPorto, Mr. Geoffrey highlights that while being on the road for 3 years performing in different cities and countries is a great experience, often times that also means that one doesn’t have time explore the location, but instead they are on the road for the majority of the time. Hearing both of their experiences is very important because often times we hear about people going on tour and we think of how great of an opportunity it is to perform and travel the country/ world, we often forget that it means that these tour buses become one’s “home” for the 3-5 year duration of touring.
Mr. Geoffrey quickly realized while touring that no performance was like the other and for a perfectionist like him, he decided that moving to choreography was a better option. Present day, Mr. Geoffrey teaches dance at Marymount Manhattan College and Montclair State University. While he enjoys dance, he has also developed another artistic passion, painting. After moving into a new home, Mr. Geoffrey decided to paint a piece for the large empty wall in his home, thus establishing his painting career. He highlighted the importance of exposure and that often times in order to create a name for oneself, artists often times offer their time and work for free. Additionally, he underscored the value of artist’s time and presented a contradicting view to Berger, similar to many of the other guest artists. Money does not sully the art. However, Mr. Geoffrey highlights when that money no longer goes to the artist of the piece, then there lies an issue. All in all, meeting Mr. Geoffrey was a wonderful experience and his motivational words have definitely resonated with us all!
