Inspirational Leader Laurie Ann Gibson

Inspirational leaders hold great talents of motivating and inspiring people. They also help make a difference in lives and help others achieve their goals and dreams. Inspirational leaders tend not to lead through fear and like the famous words of Ghandi – help you “Be the change you wish to see”. Last television season, I watched a show called Born to Dance. This show was about 20 aspiring young dancers given the tools needed to take their dance careers to the next level with a prize of $50,000.
What appealed about this show were the strong feelings a chorographer demonstrated that entitled her to be an inspirational leader. Her name is Laurie Ann Gibson and I portray her as an Inspirational Leader. Laurie Ann Gibson was an average girl who was born July 14, 1969 in Toronto, Canada. She grew up looking up to famous icons like Diana Ross and Gregory Hines and had a strong love for dance. At the age of 17 she took a greyhound bus to NYC, NY where she attended school to train at the prestigious Alvin Ailey.
Her opportunities started to emerge in 1993 when she landed a gig as a Fly Girl on In Living Color with Jennifer Lopez, and soon after went on tour as a dancer with Mary J. Blige. At an early age, her talent must have been evident, as she was asked to choreograph for the then rising star Mary J and continued to do so for albums and tours to come. She is also known for her work on MTV’s Making the Band series, helped direct a movie called “Honey” which was based on her life and won a VMA 2010 Best Choreographer award (Interview, 2011).

Little did she know, at the age of 17 she would become one of the top admired Dance Choreographers known today. Her professional title is Choreographer and Creative Director to many of today’s superstars , with over three-dozen music videos and television shows to her name, her credits include some of the biggest names in the music industry such as Nicki Minaj, P. Diddy, Alicia Keys, Brandy, Beyonce, Usher and Hilary Duff, just to name a few. Laurie Ann Gibson’s do-it-all attitude gives her an incredible ability to make a name for herself in the hip-hop world.
In August of 2010, she aired Born to Dance which showed her humanitarian beyond just dance. It was very commendable to see the amount of dedication, signature tough love, motivational speeches, encouragements and most of all prayer she poured out to these ladies being most interpret shows like this reality shows. Laurie Ann stood strong on letting everyone know her show as not reality; it was real; real emotion and real performances. When she was younger, she felt that she was one brave soul that didn’t fully understand by taking her venture by herself and getting on the greyhound bus would change her life.
And she wanted to show other young ladies there are others out here, behind them, supporting. Over 8 weeks, I watched 20 ladies go through hard, intense and stressful dance routines in a variety of creative challenges; including music video competitions, commercials and a live performance with Lady Gaga. But 19 had to be cut. Laurie Ann unleashed her hottest choreography and presented lots of tough love but what was truly admiring was how she told each lady at illumination how their individual journeys were just beginning and that this was just a stepping stone for their careers.
And foremost, I also loved that she ended each episode in prayer. She was not afraid to let everyone know about her Christianity. This demonstrated how much of an inspiration is she to others, including non-dancers because we all can relate and feel how sincere her actions are (Television Series, 2011). I have several personal strengths but I wouldn’t put myself into a leadership role. I’ve learned a lot about myself throughout the class assessments and I would definitely say my ability to grasp an understanding of my lack of punctuality helps me prepare more timely.
Also acknowledging my academic challenges gives me a better outlook on how to overcome my doubtfulness. People like Laurie Ann Gibson have contributed in my inspiration to continue to push forward, achieve and accomplish my goals. Laurie Ann Gibson said that while developing her skill, she noticed she would always teach with the words “Boom” and “Kack” with such force, power and drive that she didn’t realize she was demonstrating how she felt about dance. The “boom” was her heart and the “kack” is the soul; which gave birth to her dance team name; Boom Kack (Weblog, 2011).
Laurie Ann wanted to these 20 ladies to understand how important it was to love what you do by get the technique under their belts first and continue to work your gift so they could stand on solid ground. But most importantly, through her helpful criticism, embodied passion, creativity, and identifying herself with every girl, Laurie Ann Gibson is setting her gift free to others and watching it soar. “There is hope, God still deliveries miracles”-Laurie Ann Gibson.