(upbeat music) - [Narrator] This program was made possible by contributions to your PBS station from viewers like you.

Thank you.

- I am Mike Galligan with the Law Offices of Galligan and Newman and Mendel, Tennessee.

I support WCTE, the Upper Cumberland's own PBS station because I believe it is important to create entertaining TV programs that also promote lifelong learning and understanding.

When I support WCTE, I know that I am helping our Upper Cumberland community for generations to come.

- [Speaker] The Law offices of Gallagher and Newman provide clients with large firm expertise and small firm personalized care and service.

(soft music) - When I heard that Shane was dancing, I thought Shane dancing?

I just, I didn't see that coming.

- I think when an audience watches Shane I think they take away the beauty because the lines are sharper, the lines are cleaner, the extension is longer, the leap is bigger.

First night he performed in that concert, people gasped in the audience when he did this beautiful like switch leap in the middle of the air and you felt the audience like pull back because they just have not seen a six-four man do something like that in years.

(upbeat music) - Hello, my name is Avery Hutchins and I'm the host of "Where Stories Live."

In this episode, we'll explore the life of a former high school athlete who decided to pursue a career in theatrical dance.

Shane Langford, a Cookville native and the oldest of three sons, gained quite a reputation in high school for his exceptional performance on the football field and wrestling mat.

However, what many people may not know is that Shane discovered his passion for performance dance at a young age.

It wasn't until his first year of college that Shane fully embraced his inner passion and realized that dance was his true calling.

Now, let us hear from Shane and his Uncle Morris Irby as they share with us the incredible journey from athlete to dancer.

- My brother and I grew up on the west side of town and right down the road from Uncle Morris.

- What I remember about Shane and his personality in growing up, he was always a very mannerable child as a youngster.

- He used to cut my hair.

I remember my favorite thing.

We have a funny story of, I don't know I should say this, but it's not bad it's but he picked us up to cut our hair one day, and we always say this still to this day is he told us that we gotta brush it, you gotta train it and it'll do what you want it to do.

Still brush your hair.

And this was our memory with Uncle Morris that I'll never forget.

There were always people around me that I knew.

I remember growing up here with family and with friends that were just, that was everything, I didn't know anything outside of my little community over there.

When I was younger, I was mostly an athlete and my first thing was gymnastics, I think, into football and into track and wrestling and basketball.

(soft music) So early on, being a part of a sports team, it helped me too with, well, with training and discipline and commitment to what I was doing and being in the moment really and supporting my teammates.

That's another part of it that helped me.

But strength in jumping and just the agility of it.

I think my first experience with dance or with the stage was with my third grade "Nutcracker" performance at Parkview, they do the Nutcracker every year with the third grade class that they did when I was younger.

It was something everyone looked forward to.

I ended up being a clown, which was funny.

They took us to the Nashville Ballet to see them perform the "Nutcracker," and that was my first time seeing a ballet and I fell in love.

(upbeat music) - But the one thing that stands out regarding his personality at that time was they were good kids and they were mannerable kids.

I think that that goes a long ways because they were very disciplined.

It takes a lot of discipline to do what he's doing now in that dance.

- Had my first class with, in my summer SAC program.

And then after that, it wasn't until I was 18 in college that I had my first ballet class, like formal ballet class.

(upbeat music) In the class, I remember learning to leap and learning basic turns and just the posture and the arm positions and positions and things like that.

- After football, I really didn't know what he had gotten into.

And then I'd hear comments that Shane Langford is over at the dancing school or he's teaching and I thought Shane is dancing?

Boy, Shane Langford, he's a pretty good dancer.

- Pulling into the parking lot at the theater.

It's just like, just that feeling of walking in and all the kids are roaring, but all I could do is stare at the stage and hope I saw someone's face from the curtains or just a little glimpse of what I was about to see.

And it's the same thing, the same feeling of just, there's nothing else but you in the stage and it's all I see tunnel vision.

- After completing one year of college, Shane decided to return to Cookville where he wasted no time in enrolling in dance lessons.

This is where he received formal training in contemporary dance and ballet and discovered his love for the main stage.

Shane's athletic physique allowed him to grasp the technique swiftly and soon he was mesmerizing audiences with his captivating dance performances.

It was during one of these performances that caught the eye of Bryce McDonald, the CEO of the Cumberland County Playhouse.

- Well, after college and finishing that year, my freshman year came back to Cookville and had plans to go back to tech and to start schooling there.

But I'd started dancing at stage one and it's just, it's where I learned to understand my body and understand how to use my body and that's exactly what I wanted to know and what I wanted to do and the performance experiences, there were so many opportunities to perform with that studio and with with her.

(upbeat music) - I first met Shane in Putnam County.

I attended a show at the Cookeville Theater Company called "I Am My Ancestors Wildest Dreams" and he was a choreographer and a dancer in the piece.

I had to pick my jaw up off the floor from watching him in this phenomenal production.

I had to meet him after the show and just said, this is who I am.

We would love to have you be a part of our team in some way.

(upbeat music) - So I first met Shane, last spring when we did a show together, a diversity concert called "Let Us Sing."

And I saw him dance for the first time then and I thought, my goodness, this is spectacular.

And immediately I knew that I wanted him to work with our kids in our education department too.

- The way he tells a story through his dance is phenomenal.

He's probably one of the best male dancers I've seen in the last 10 years that we've ran into.

I just wanted to bring that to our audiences.

(upbeat music) - His dancing is magical because I feel like he invests so much into it and relates to it.

He acts through the pieces, but he's also so very technically good that it's just a marvel to watch him.

So you are just moved by everything that he does.

Musical theater is, it's your jack of all trades in a way.

And so you have to dance, you have to act, you have to sometimes sing.

Shane can do it all.

And he invests so emotionally in everything that he does and it just comes through and he shines and he just takes over the stage.

- Shane is this quiet giant.

He is a very tall, very strong masculine man.

He's so soft spoken.

When he dances, he floats across the stage and he kind of lives his life in that way.

I don't know if I've met a kinder soul who is always grateful, always has something nice to say, always supportive.

Comes to see other people in shows that are here just so that he can see the work.

Came to see our dance show with our kids before he ever started working here because he just wanted to see the level of the talent with the kids and then stayed in the lobby to tell them what a great job they did.

So like this tall six-four gentleman or however tall he is, telling this little five-year-old, you were really great.

And watching their eyes just light up.

It's everything you could want from a friend, but also from an employee as well.

(upbeat music) - For me to be a solo performer is the hardest thing in the world to do.

It's like, I guess it's like being an athlete on your own, like a track runner is by himself at a race or a jumper is by by him or herself in that competition.

Get the same feeling, the same gut reaction when I go out on stage by myself and hear the music start.

And there are times where I go out and before the performance starts, I wonder what I'm supposed to do.

It's, I forgot everything that I planned or everything that I was taught, but it just all comes back when the music comes on.

(upbeat music) - To get where Shane is as a performer.

That is years of work.

- Very difficult and strenuous dedication to keeping your body healthy, what you put in your body and maintaining that because it is your instrument takes a lot of dedication and time and hours to get your body warmed up, hours to sit in a class, hours to go to be ready and to teach.

It's even double the work because not only do you have to be in pristine shape to show them, but you have to be able to explain it and to break it down in different ways.

So it's an, I mean, you never stop.

- Describing myself as a dancer, I guess I would say I am a bit of a perfectionist and I like to be right, which I'm not most of the time, there are often times that I'm not correct and I'm often messing up, but those are the moments I live for though, is when you mess up and you can regain composure and you can pull through, you pull it out.

- Seeing someone that masculine, command the stage and be so light and powerful in the same is really moving to experience and to see just somebody that is slightly different than we are is really powerful.

It's powerful to our kids.

It's powerful to all audience members who can say, huh, that was awesome.

A lot of people here don't know so much about dance.

And to watch someone that has as much training as he does and has such command of the art is really powerful from an audience.

We have a lot of young right out of college professionals that join us.

- Watching someone who has navigated through life in a small town to do their art and survive, we can't teach that to them.

Not only is he a great dancer in multiple styles, which is, in this day and age not really something that you see a lot.

A lot of people are very specific in one style and he kind of spreads the gamut of that which is great.

He's a great storyteller.

Put him on stage and give him a character.

He's a really great performer all the way around and it carries from lights up to lights down, from scene to scene.

You can watch him be this really great actor.

(inspirational music) And for them to get to see his work ethic and how he studies and how hard and that he never marks everything is 150% every time he's there, it's a lesson they'll walk away with remembering that they learned that from watching Shane perform.

(inspirational music) When Shane was in White Christmas, when we were able to cast him into the part, the director and the choreographer got together and wanted to do something unique to this number 'Blue Skies' that happens at the end of Act One and Shane was the perfect candidate for him.

To watch him do this stylized Gene Kelly version of a dance with this hat on and he's in silhouette and he's just moving as if he is the visual representation of another person's voice and that would have never happened if Shane had not have been cast.

It's gonna be a unique version of that number in White Christmas that no one's ever seen.

It's never been done that way.

The ability as a creator to have someone like that that you can paint these broad strokes of art on and watch them just take it out of this world is just a gift.

- Shane discovered his passion as a dance instructor and while he continues to perform, he now divides his time between rehearsals and teaching.

His students are captivated by his innovative choreography, kind disposition, and composed nature.

It didn't take long for his class to become fully booked, earning him a cherished reputation among many.

Currently, Shane is a dance instructor at the Cumberland County Playhouse where he teaches a diverse range of dance styles to students of different age groups.

- What kept me here in this area though is my family and my friends and teaching you know.

I never thought I would become a teacher or intended to but I fell in love with it.

I fell in love with the kids and that's what kept me here the longest time is just seeing their faces every day.

It's gotten me out of bed in the morning sometimes and put me to sleep at night a lot of times too.

- The class that I teach with him is Intermediate Contemporary.

Honestly, they are just the best little kids ever.

He is so sweet with them.

He knows how to handle them so well.

If one of them has like a little hard day he just sits and talks to them and just lets them have a mental health day honestly if they need it.

- I like Shane as a teacher because he is incredibly understanding.

Like if you're struggling with a move he can help you with that.

He brings a lot of new dance moves and like jumps to the dance class so we're learning a bunch of new things that I've never even heard of before so it's really really fun.

- What Shane brings to the classroom is a lot of energy and talent.

He is such a talented person.

He knows his anatomy of his body so well.

He just knows how to control it amazingly and how to just be a flowy graceful dancer and just have fun with it and not have stress in our life with dance and just let dance be dance.

- Contemporary is a style I guess it's the new modern and it's a combination of so many things that can incorporate hip-hop and it can incorporate ballet or jazz or anything that's natural.

That's my favorite thing about it is you can incorporate so many things and so many styles that work for you.

It's your own style.

Having diversity in the classroom it opens a tremendous amount of doors for other individuals or other cultures to feel that this is a welcome space right that all are welcome.

To see someone that is like them is life-changing.

Shane has been a wonderful gift to our education department and as a teacher who teaches contemporary and jazz.

It's just so nice for the kids because it's somebody new number one but somebody who is so excellent at what they do.

He is so inspirational to the kids.

They see him work and they want to emulate that and they're so moved and inspired by him.

He comes in with such a positive attitude so I think that the kids have benefited a lot.

It's hard to be growing up and putting yourself out there all the time as these kids so he's just he reinforces this positivity in them that I see that they're just more joyous when they're in his classes.

(inspirational music) - You know diversity is important in all arts but especially in theater because theater is meant to hold a mirror up to society so you want audiences to see different cultures, different styles, different people, even lifestyles that they don't necessarily either embrace or understand.

The goal is every time you walk out of this from a curtain call you're gonna have a conversation at home or in the car that could enlighten you about something else.

It's not always the same so the more diversity and inclusion that we can bring from individuals to stories that we tell and if it changes one person's life then everything was worth it and we've done our job.

(soft piano music) - I guess my purpose in life I would say is to create beautiful things and to support and encourage people to create beautiful things and to feel beautiful like no matter what the the outside is it's not a visual thing I feel like it's a feeling and it's an experience you know.

What I would like to do most in dance is to show someone else that this life exists and that if someone sees themselves in me, a boy were to see themselves see me on stage and to think I could be a ballet dancer or I could, that's an actual life that I could I can pursue that or I can actually be this this person to see themselves represented on stage I think is important.

- I hope you have found Shane's story captivating and that it has ignited a spark within you to pursue your passion regardless of any challenges that may arise.

- What's next for me?

I'm not really sure I feel like I've made a routine out of going with what comes next you know and just look what comes naturally and I think it's time to be more active in professional acting and professional dancing it's possible and it's something that I can actually realize now I can see it rather than feel it and just to dream about it and think about though I've never knew about that life at all like being a paid actor and traveling around to different theaters and staying for this season and for this show and just coming back and coming and going.

I've been inspired by these kids and by Bryce and Brett and just knowing about it is the gateway I guess.

- I think it can be very hard for Shane as a professional dancer in our area of the world.

There are not a lot of opportunities.

Shane also seems to be someone that wants to be where he's at.

He would have other opportunities in bigger cities in other states but the fact that he chooses to live in the Upper Cumberland and stay and want to continue to do his art, it cannot be easy.

I know that he's had hurdles and trials but he keeps going at it with the most positive can-do attitude that you can imagine.

- And so when I see Shane involved in a lot of the things that he's doing now.

It makes me very proud to know that he's on a positive path and I know he's been in some of the performances of the Cumberland Playhouse and you know I've been to several plays up there so I know the caliber that they bring in so if he's good enough to make some shows and productions up there then that that speaks volumes.

(gentle piano music) - When I'm 100 and I look back on my life I want it to be so much more than I can see right now.

I don't think I can see as far as I'll go and I hope that's what I remember.

It's just that was so much more than I remember at 35 you know 36, 37 I could have ever dreamed so let's yeah just always be a good person you know, always be a respectful person and an active person and the doer but it's all a surprise.

(inspirational violin music) As an artist I want the ones that come after me to know that we are capable of creating anything that we want and loving who we want and making a living doing what we love to do.

Doing what you love is important and liking what you do.

(inspirational violin music) If I were to tell anyone or anyone looking up to me I guess I would say work harder so I would tell myself as a kid is, just work harder do what you're doing and focus you know commit and that's it'll take you a lot further than you think.

- Thank you for watching and I hope to see you next time when we go where stories live.

(inspirational violin music) (fun quirky music) I am Mike Galligan with the law offices of Galligan and Newman in Mendell, Tennessee.

I support WCTE, the Upper Cumberland's own PBS station because I believe it is important to create entertaining TV programs that also promote lifelong learning and understanding.

When I support WCTE I know that I am helping our Upper Cumberland community for generations to come.

- [Narrator] The law offices of Galligan and Newman provide clients with large firm expertise and small firm personalized care and service.

[Narrator 2] This program was made possible by contributions to your PBS station from viewers like you.

Thank you.