Today we’d like to introduce you to Lacey Herbert-Stephen.
Hi Lacey, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start, maybe you can share some of your backstories with our readers.
I have been dancing since I was 3 years old. I had a very talented and amazing instructor growing up who helped get me into competition dancing. I began competing when I was 7 years old but never got very good until I was 15. When we would travel for competitions, we would go to dance conventions which is where you would stay Fri-Sun in a hotel and take classes from top choreographers in the world. This is how you would network, going to the conventions and them watching you as you grew up as a dancer, then when you were older is when you could start traveling and work on booking gigs. I won a scholarship when I was 15 to attend a dance convention for a whole year free; I took full advantage of it and traveled all around the U.S. I made great friends and ended up booking a small gig with Aaron Carter when I was 16. I would go on the weekends and dance on tour with him. Once I turned 18, I moved to Los Angeles, where I lived with a very well-known choreographer. She helped me network to get signed with an agency, and I began taking classes daily and booking gigs. I have worked with Nick Cannon, Chris Brown, Cheetah Girls, Yung Joc, Aaron Carter, Ashley Rae. I have been in movies such as Eagle Eye, High School Musical, Justin Bieber, Never Say Never, and much more. After living and working in North Hollywood for three years, I decided California was not for me and moved home to open my own studio. At the age of 20 I opened up my first studio, our mayor was a great supporter and in return for opening up a facility to implement the arts he Proclaimed August 13th (our day we opened) “LACEY DAY” in our city New Philadelphia. This is one of my proudest moments.
I owned Lacey Performing Arts Center for 3 years and then decided to merge with another local studio that I had danced with the owner previously. We opened up a dance studio together and owned it for years (we were a million-dollar company just after 2 years of being open.) I then met the love of my life, we decided we wanted kids, and I got pregnant! I had my partner of the dance studio buy me out of the company, and I decided to retire – I wanted to give being a stay-at-home mom a try. That did not last long!!!
We had a beautiful baby boy, and I ended up going back to work shortly after but to a different craft, after dabbling in a couple different work fields and finding out I was pregnant again (my boys are only 12 months and 2 weeks apart) I knew dance was going to have to come back in my life. We had our second baby and found out when he was 18 months old that he was Autistic and non-verbal. He has Apraxia, meaning his brain understands words but he cannot get them to come out. He showed love for music, and I knew instantly I was coming back to being a studio owner. I re-opened Lacey Performing Arts Center in Jan of this year, 2022, and we had a short season; we ended with 163 students this May.
We offer all styles of dance, theater classes, and sensory and movement class for children and adults with special needs. I realized fast, after looking to get my Autistic son into extra-curricular activities that there was nothing in our area for special needs children or adults. We now are going to be opening up Lacey Performing Arts Center Adaptive Movement Center, which is an extra-curricular facility for children and adults with special needs and disabilities. Currently, we are going into our first full season of the dance studio being re-opened, and we have over 300 students now enrolled we also have a building that we will be opening in June 2023 for the Adaptive Movement Center!!!
This has all been a lot of work and a long journey, but I finally feel like I am right where I am supposed to be!!!
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It has definitely not been a smooth road. I am a firm believer that nothing worth something is easy. I have battled with my father being an alcoholic and mentally abusive my entire life. I did not fit in at school much as I traveled almost every weekend. I worked in an industry at a very young age that was ran by mostly men. You have to grow thick skin in the dance or entertainment industry as the jobs you’re auditioning for let you know directly if you are too fat, too skinny, too tall, too short, not pretty enough, etc. I had to grow up very fast and become very street smart when traveling and living alone in my early years. I have lost friends to suicide or because of dance jobs. I was married before and went through a divorce at the peak of my career. Then I got married again, had to learn to be a stepmother and then an actual mother. Once I thought I had that down, God threw in my amazing Autistic son who rocked my world from side to side!!!
With every season comes more ups and downs but all you can do is learn from them. If you let the downs keep you from going up, you’ll never get anywhere.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar, what can you tell them about what you do?
I love to create and to choreograph dances. To take a dancer and make them tell a story through their body is so fascinating, especially when you can get them to do it well. Our bodies are so beautiful and can bring so much joy when they are used correctly. I am known for choregraphing on the spot, fast, and being able to teach classes without preparing at all for them. Walking into a classroom with a lot of students 20+ and just conducting a great class on the fly is my favorite. I love the high you get from that, your nervous because you don’t want to mess up, but you know you can do it! I used to love performing, even more, getting on the stage and the rush of waiting to be introduced or to walk on; WOW, what a feeling! As I have gotten older, watching my students go on stage is the rush I enjoy now, not knowing if they are going to remember everything you’ve taught them or not, and then when they do, and they exceed your expectations, it is breathtaking!
Along with dance, I have found a love for our special needs community and learning more about them and how their brains work. To see a special needs person and study them and their actions, you notice a lot of the time they are happy, especially in their own element. How can children and adults that have all the odds stacked against them or that are different in so many ways to typical people be so thankful and kind all the time, and then us typical humans be so ungrateful and selfish. It truly amazes me more and more.
Do you have any advice for those looking to network or find a mentor?
OPEN YOUR EARS, listen to what people have to say. The more advice you get the more you will grow. No one is the best, no one knows it all – be present when people are talking to you or giving you suggestions. Work hard; this world has changed so much since I was younger – no one wants to work hard anymore; they want handouts. Nothing handed out is going to be worth anything, you have to work for what you want in this world, and you have to work hard CONSTATNLY. Never burn a bridge; try and keep everyone in arm’s length but never push them away; you never know when you may need that person in your corner or when they may have an opportunity and need you. Keep a small (2-3) group of friends and people that you can trust; if they are by your side for money than they are not there for the right reasons, you want the ones that do not need payment and just believe in you and want to see you succeed by your side!
Contact Info:
- Instagram: laceyherbert075
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100073722661937
- Other: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100075931664787
Image Credits
Chelsea Dryden
Kellie Baker
Farrah Raines
Carie Cline
Cash Stephen
Mindy Judge
Janelle Walker
Shannon Mitchell
Nicole Host
Erin Perkowski
Josh Stephen
Molly Stephen
Jett Stephen
Mason Stephen
Colton Rose
Frankie Poorman
Keeley Schlabaugh
Maddie Forsythe
Addysen Gasser
Kody Miller
Sophia Lightell
Anna Courser
