Life in motion: Gabrielle McNeillie dances over seas of delight

Katherine Camarata Lead Editor

From studying ballet in the Rochester, New York area to performing professionally on Carnival Cruise lines to teaching as a dance professor at CWU, Gabrielle McNeillie’s lively spirit has touched audiences all across the globe.

McNeillie’s dance career started at the young age of five, as dance runs in her lineage.

“I was lucky enough to have my aunt as my very first dance teacher,” McNeillie said. “She owned a dance studio, so I danced with her as a student until high school, and then I joined a pre-professional school for ballet called the Rochester City Ballet.”

McNeillie said she learned from all different types of teachers, French and Russian teachers as well as those who taught American styles of ballet, modern and jazz dance.

McNeillie was living in New York at the time of the September 11 terrorist attacks, which she later learned played an instrumental role in landing her nearly-decade long stint as a performer for Carnival Cruise lines.

“I found out many years later that they actually tried to get all the dancers they had hired out of New York when [9/11] happened … which I thought was really kind and it made me realize how lucky I was to work for that company,” McNeillie said.

According to McNeillie, dancing on the cruise ships was contracted work that lasted 10-11 months at a time, and she worked with Carnival for almost eight years.

She said getting accustomed to the jargon of a ship was an unforeseen aspect of living at sea.

“Looking back, one of the unexpected elements of ship life is the camaraderie and relationships you create while there,” McNeillie said. “I feel so lucky to have met and worked with people from all over the world.”

McNeillie recounted many adventures and misadventures of working on a cruise ship. She told one story about forgetting her dance steps to a dance she knew “backwards and forwards” and sharing a laugh with her dance captain.

“When you’re doing a show over and over and over again for eight, nine,10 months, you maybe start thinking about other things besides the dance you’re doing in the moment, and so this comes with consequences,” McNeillie said. “I completely forgot what I was doing. I was like a statue and my dance captain at the time was right behind me … I could hear his laugh behind me and … had to turn around and look and see what everyone was doing, so I could catch up, and he just had the biggest goofiest grin on his face because it's not something I did regularly.”t