Today we’d like to introduce you to Mike Gosney.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
After teaching ballet for several years within the Chicago area, my peers persuaded me to start a small company. Using my knowledge of astrology and gathering a group of dancers interested in using astrology as a way to create new works, we rehearsed once a week and presented for the first time in 2006. 10 years later, we present multiple times a year rehearsing 3 days a week for 10 week contracts.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Funding is always a struggle being a nonprofit organization, but also learning what kind of dynamics work within the studio when bringing together multiple talents was a challenge but also proved to be extremely rewarding!
We’d love to hear more about your business.
Elements Contemporary Ballet cultivates an appreciation for ballet by producing original, distinctive, and dynamic performances that are relevant and exciting to today’s audiences.
Co-founders Mike Gosney and Joseph Caruana have built a repertory that includes work by up-and-coming choreographers from world-class companies such as Houston Ballet, BJM Danse, and Cullberg Ballet and collaborative works with stellar Chicago arts organizations like Surge (with Aerial Dance Chicago) and The Sun King (with Baroque Band). The company has presented concerts at Chicago’s Athenaeum Theatre and Skokie’s North Shore Center for the Performing Arts, and has participated in festivals such as Dance St. Louis’s Spring to Dance, Palm Desert’s Dance Under the Stars, the Chicago Cultural Center’s Spin-Off 2014, On the Prairie, and Dancebridge, and The A.W.A.R.D. Show! at Dance Center of Columbia College. Elements also offers an original youth outreach production through Urban Gateways titled The Evolution of Ballet.
What were you like growing up?
My parents claim that I was always very mature. I remember being not as much introverted as analytical and quiet. My imagination ran my childhood as did my love of music and unexplainable ability to play the piano with no training.
Contact Info:
- Address: 4920 n Glenwood Ave., #1
Chicago, IL 60640 - Website: www.elementsballet.com
- Phone: 7734073327
- Email: mwgosney2@yahoo.com
- Instagram: elementsballet
- Facebook: Elements Contemporary Ballet
- Twitter: elementsballet
Image Credit:
Photos by Topher Alexander
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