‘The ideas of choreography and fashion choreography just really opened up to me, just opened my eyes up.’
More than 6,000 miles from the glitz and glamour of a Paris fashion show, models are learning to stroll, turn and dance down runways in the unlikely fashion mecca of El Cajon. Gretchen Burns, a dancer/model/choreographer, has been teaching aspiring and professional models to walk with grace and twirl with flair for the past 20 years. The 41-year-old native San Diegan always knew she wanted to be a dancer, but it wasn’t until she was in her early 30s that she turned to modeling. Twelve years ago she began choreographing and producing fashion shows for charity events and department stores in San Diego and Palm Springs. Now Burns manages her business, Gretchen Productions, from her home in El Cajon. Times staff writer Caroline Lemke interviewed her and Roger Hart photographed her.
Ithink everything I do I kind of back into, but then it turns out pretty well. I started out as a ballet dancer. My body wasn’t really right for ballet, but I knew I wanted to be a dancer, so I got into modern dance, and that gave me the skills as a choreographer. The more I did other people’s material, the more I realized I still wasn’t dancing what I wanted to dance. So I developed my own style that was right for my body and my expression, and it just kind of grew from there.
I lived in San Francisco for three years, and when I lived there, I didn’t dance. I worked for a stock brokerage. After my first son was born was when I got back to dancing. At first I was just going to do it for exercise, then I realized how many avenues there are for dance. It wasn’t that I just needed to find a company that I could dance with, but the ideas of choreography and fashion choreography just really opened up to me, just opened my eyes up. That’s when I got gung ho and said, “I’ll never go back and punch the clock.”
A lot of it is attitude, a lot of it is really performing. Because my background being a dancer--my major was dance, my minor was drama--I can see how much acting plays a part in being a runway model. A lot of times people say, “What are you doing?” I say, “Well, I’m teaching a walking class.” It has a lot to do with body alignment. It has a lot to do with grace, the bending of the knees and walking on the balls of your feet. There’s a lot of classic turns in modeling. It doesn’t seem anywhere near as involved as the technique you learn as a dancer and yet it is so refined that it does take a while to get the look, to get that smooth walk.
It’s something that is so strong. It’s part of the reason why I continue to model and dance, even though I think the biggest creative outlet is to choreograph and produce the shows. I still, every once in a while, have to get my little face out there on stage. I just need that immediate audience response, and it really makes you alive.
Say I’m choreographing a show, and I’m trying to show all the models what I want. The time factor is definitely frustrating. It is the most chaotic thing in the world. You’ve got these models for a short time, you’ve got all these ideas in your head and you’ve got to get them out on their bodies as fast as you can. I’m always thinking, “Oh God! Help me communicate well and fast.” But oftentimes I find I just jump in there and, instead of verbally telling them what to do, I push them through the movement. I have to say, “I’m sorry. Don’t think I’m pushy, but sometimes I communicate better with my body.”
But it’s so rewarding because you think of all the things that could go wrong in a show, the major disasters that could happen--you could have not communicated right with the lights, the whole power system could go off, a dancer could trip in the dark--there’s so many impending little disasters that, when it all goes well, it’s a major thrill.
