Fresh off his Broadway debut with “The Music Man”, the new dance teacher Jordan Beall is excited to share his new experience and knowledge with his students.
Beall had dreamed of performing on Broadway since he was seven years old, so once he graduated from Oklahoma City University, he moved to New York. He lived and worked there for seven years, and eventually he booked “The Music Man”, which was his Broadway debut.
“I was probably in for that casting and production team 10 or 11 times through multiple rounds of initial calls, callbacks and final callbacks,” Beall said. “It was a marathon to book that job, so when I got the call, I was really proud.”
While he was with “The Music Man”, he got to meet Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster, perform at the Tonys, and he was featured on a Broadway cast album.
“I felt very intimidated the first day, but that was immediately squashed by our leading man and leading lady, Hugh and Sutton,” Beall said. “It was just a really cool environment they created for us to come in and feel safe and express ourselves and get out of our comfort zone to build what we created which was a really beautiful show that spread a lot of joy.”
Although Beall enjoyed his experience with “The Music Man”, he wanted more stability in his life and to be closer to his family in Texas, so he decided to start a new chapter teaching at McGuinness. Now Beall has to switch gears from performer to teacher and choreographer. He reflected back on his experience with his high school dance teacher in Odessa, Texas where he grew up.
“We are all clay in my opinion, and we have to be moldable,” Beall said. “I look back at my teacher in Odessa, and at the time I did not appreciate it, but now I text her so often. She pushed me so hard and I didn’t always like it, but here’s the thing in life, you’re not always going to enjoy it, but it’s going to make you a better person.”
Beall plans to push his students to their extremes to help them grow as dancers. He looks forward to seeing their progress at Dancing with the Irish Stars and the Dancevisions showcase at the end of the year.
“I want to inspire students to have a respect for the art,” Beall said. “The fact that my students and I are able to move together and explore space is really cool, and I want them to appreciate that as well.”
Beall will also be the choreographer for “Greece”, this year’s musical. Beyond teaching people the dances, he wants to create an environment similar to his experience on Broadway with “The Music Man”.
“I want to cultivate a safe place to explore, something we always had in the rehearsal studio,” Beall said. “I want to make sure we cultivate that here. It’s a very vulnerable place to be, being on stage and going through that whole rehearsal process. So ensuring that I can create that space and get something up on its feet in a short amount of time is important.”
