Meet Angela Gallo

We recently connected with Angela Gallo and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, so we’re so thrilled to have Angela with us today – welcome and maybe we can jump right into it with a question about one of your qualities that we most admire. How did you develop your work ethic? Where do you think you get it from?

I am a dancer. Dance requires discipline, hard work and commitment. Dancers train for many hours a day for multiple days a week, year after year. As a field it is incredibly challenging and competitive. In order to be successful in the dance field, I had to develop a strong work ethic. I was not the most naturally talented dancer so I had to push and challenge myself. I took the feedback from my instructors and I worked it over and over until I was successful in that area.
What I learned from dance carried over in to all of the aspects of my life. It has served me well and helped me successfully begin a dance company. It also served me well as I moved in to academia and began to move from teaching in to more administrative roles. It will serve me again as I retire from academia to pursue other creative endeavors.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

I have worked for the past 20 years in academia but after taking an early retirement offer from my Dean of Visual and Performing Arts position, this summer, I am very excited to be launching a new business combining many of my interests and talents.
Hemisphere Dancer Wellness and Travel is an innovative new company that offers a wide range of services to help clients with their wellness, fitness and travel needs, such as Pilates private in person sessions, online Pilates classes (coming soon!), wellness retreats and travel coaching for those eager to dive deeper in transformative wellness and arts/culture travel.
I draw on my over 20 years of experience as a Pilates Master Trainer who is also Nationally Pilates Certified and my planning and leadership experience in curating study abroad trips that focused on dance, wellness, arts and culture. I have also recently become a certified Travel Coach through the Travel Coach Network, an International Coaching Federation recognized program.

Here is my bio for that program:
Angela is a seasoned traveler and wellness mentor with a passion for empowering individuals to unlock their full potential. With over 20 years of experience in dance, Pilates, and mindfulness, she brings a holistic approach to her work. As a certified Pilates instructor and creative entrepreneur, Angela is dedicated to helping others cultivate a sense of balance, strength, and self-awareness through movement.
Having led numerous study abroad trips for aspiring artists, Angela possesses a deep understanding of the unique challenges and rewards of international travel. Her extensive personal travels have taken her to over 26 countries, fostering a global perspective and a keen appreciation for diverse cultures. As a solo woman traveler, Angela has firsthand experience navigating unfamiliar territories and overcoming obstacles, building resilience and independence along the way.

I am very excited to work with others who want to bring balance back to their life through wellness and/or travel. The website for Hemisphere Dancer Wellness and Travel is hdwellnessandtravel.com.

Additionally, I am happy to also have more time to work on creative dance and choreography projects with my dance company, Sapphire Moon Dance Co. Since the pandemic, there has been a bit more of a focus on dance for camera. I I recently set work on Cola Rep Dance Company in Columbia, SC and collaborated with the artistic directors of Power Company Collaborative, Amanda Ling, and Moving Body Dance Co., Erin Bailey to create a new dance for camera called “Fire in the Belly”. I am looking forward to spending more time in the studio and creating a new solo work to perform later this year. Check out the website at sapphiremoondance.org.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

Being curious has been very important in my role as a artist and choreographer. Continuing to learn new skills has allowed me to do new things, especially in my new career path right now. I never would’ve imagined how much time I’m spending on developing websites and social media content in blog posts and it’s really interesting to be learning these new things. As the artistic director of the dance company and as a Dean in higher education being a kind and collaborative leader was very important to both the moral and the strengths of those I supervised and worked with. Being humble is also super important as a leader. By acknowledging the success and hard work of those that I supervised, it created a stronger team. I’m also very driven and have a strong sense of perseverance. That has supported me in difficult times.
For people were just starting out I would encourage them to also stay humble, be collaborative and to continue to persevere when things are challenging.

All the wisdom you’ve shared today is sincerely appreciated. Before we go, can you tell us about the main challenge you are currently facing?

Current challenge that I am facing stems from me retiring from my position in academia and starting a new but related career path. I have worked as a professor and academic leader in the artistic sector for the past 20 years. Higher education is going through a lot of shifts right now and I was not feeling as fulfilled in my work as I did when I first began. Additionally as a dancer and choreographer and a Pilates wellness professional, there’s a significant amount of movement that happens in my life. As I moved up to the chain of leadership, there were certain aspects that I really enjoyed in those positions, but the physicality of moving and being in my body was happening less and less. I didn’t realize how much that was affecting my mental state until this past year.
When I was presented with the opportunity for early retirement, I considered what I was really enjoying about my current position. What I kept coming back to was being able to provide opportunities for artists, mentoring students on their artistic growth and creative process and is leading study abroad trips, where I would really see the students transform from there time being in and experiencing another culture.
To overcome my challenge I am creating this new career path where I will be able to mentor others in their health and wellness journey while also leading travel retreats so that they can experience the same kind of transformative travel that my students were experiencing.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.hdwellnessandtravel.com or www.sapphiremoondance.org
• Instagram: @hemispheredancerwellnesstravel or @ang7593
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/angela.gallo.520 or https://www.facebook.com/SapphireMoonDance/ or https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61565079041155
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/angela-gallo-a8342711

Image Credits

Dance photos by- Franco Jauregui