Photos by Ralph Freso / Slideshow / Livestream
Paige Heilig in one of her dance videos flips her tresses to the beat-cymbal crash-beat of the techno music. Back. Forth. Forward. Fast. Cover the dance floor. Jump. Twirl. Cover the dance floor.
The Grand Canyon University dance performance major punches at her heart, pushes out her chest, flicks her hip.
She’s transported to another place and takes you with her.
“I grew up dancing. It’s always just been such a safe space for me, but also a challenge and a push,” said Heilig, who graduated on Friday among her College of Arts and Media classmates in the final of six commencement ceremonies last week for traditional ground students.
Heilig commanded the stage at commencement as the student speaker, when she spoke not so much about dance but about the steadfastness of God.
With all the joy Heilig has found in dance during her time on campus, it’s likely that not many know about the event in her life that could have very well erased that joy – a tragedy she didn’t speak of until about halfway through her talk.
Heilig spoke about asking a friend she met when she first arrived on campus why she chose GCU. That friend mentioned what every other student mentions: the affordability.
But Heilig knew that, for herself, it was something more that brought her here – that there had to be meaning behind why she was at GCU.
“Over the course of time, we all have experienced and overcome great obstacles and challenges to get us where we are sitting right now. My prayer today,” she said, “is that you are able to recognize the divine intentionality that the Lord has placed over every step that you have taken in his perfect timing.”
Her great obstacle was unimaginable.
Just nine months before coming to campus, a gunman killed four of her classmates and injured several others, including a teacher, in a mass shooting at her high school.
That day, Nov. 30, 2021, Ethan Robert Crumbley, who was 15 years old at the time, fired a semiautomatic weapon at Oxford High School in her hometown of Oxford Township, Michigan. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
The case established a new precedent when Crumbley’s parents, Jennifer and James Crumbley, were charged with involuntary manslaughter for not securing the handgun used in the shooting. They were sentenced to 15 years.
That tragedy “challenged everything I knew to be true about God,” Heilig said.
A bullet struck the door of her classroom during the melee.
Heilig said her life was spared that day, but what followed was "immense confusion and heartbreak that overwhelmed me for many years,” she said. "… I was tempted to believe that God had made a mistake in abandoning me as I navigated such deep tragedy.”
She was terrified to move away to college, away from the safety of friends and family.
But with time, what became clear to her about God abandoning her was not true. What became clear was the opposite.
She was protected “with great intentionality,” and was brought to GCU to bring her healing, so she could build a fulfilling life and feel that gift of freedom.
Freedom she feels when she dances.
Heilig, well-spoken and confident, has been one of the faces of the dance program ever since she arrived on campus in fall 2022.
When it came time to marketing the program, Heilig was one of the go-to students, comfortable in front of the camera.
And when it was time to practice her commencement speech just a few days beforehand, when she was told, “Just practice as much as you like, until you feel comfortable,” after 90 seconds, she said, “That’s all I need.” An “Are you sure?” inspired her to finish practicing her whole speech.
Heilig wanted to boost her creativity through dance. GCU’s dance program, which focuses on ballet, jazz and modern, spoke to her.
But the dance performance major didn’t limit herself. She double majored in applied entrepreneurship, looking to set herself up as a Christian artist and future business owner.
“I found that continuing my education and training in that way was going to enhance my creativity and just that side of my brain, but also, entrepreneurship would take me down a whole different leadership route and … being able to have stability in both business and the creative aspect.”
During her time at GCU, she worked as an assistant for the dance department while also throwing herself into dancing and choreographing pieces for campus performances. Her 2024 work, “Sorry, What was That?” was selected to be performed at the GCU faculty-choreographed concert, “Worthy,” as well as at the American College Dance Association Conference in 2025.
She also has taught dance to middle and high school students and traveled with the department to Italy for summer dance intensive workshops.
God, in that tragedy just five years ago, redirected her life, and she embraced it.
“That experience was not by accident, but it was the loving kindness of a Father who was fulfilling His intention for my life.”
Heilig, who questioned when she came to GCU why she was here, said she knows dance – the thing that makes her feel safe – is part of God’s intention for her.
The next path he’s leading her down is a residency with the Nickerson-Rossi Dance Co. Her choreographed work, “Exclusive: Just Put It On!” won first place in The Dance Platform: Elevating the Emerging Choreographer Competition earlier this month in Palm Springs, California.
The work, which looks at femininity through the manipulation of the conventional female presentation, stood out for its “bold voice, creativity and impact,” relayed the dance company.
The award includes mentorship with choreographer Michael Nickerson-Rossi in 2026-27 and a $1,000 commission to create a new work for the company.
“It was so crazy,” she said, that she won the competition.
She looks back at that tragedy in her life and her time here and said in her speech, “Amidst the noise of my life, my soul was gently, yet continuously, reminded of the ways each part of my story has been stitched together to display His faithfulness across the years.”
What she has learned in her journey is that God does not fail us. He has a plan for us.
“I stand before you today as a living testimony of His sovereignty and intentionality and the beautiful masterpieces He creates from our scattered pieces.”
Manager of Internal Communications Lana Sweeten-Shults can be reached at [email protected] or at [email protected].
