Jul 13 2020
2
sparkles lund DOTY

ALEXANDRA LUND WINS NATIONAL DANCER OF THE YEAR FOR THE THIRD TIME

By | Competition, Convention, press | No Comments

COVID-19 impact forced competition online with more than 150 entrants in scores of States around the county          

July 13, 2020 – Arroyo Grande, CA – Last weekend, 17-year-old dancer, actress, and model Alexandra “Sparkles” Lund of Arroyo Grande, California, was selected by Hollywood Vibe as their 2020-2021 National Dancer of the Year. Alexandra, whose professional dance nickname is “Sparkles,” previously earned two national championships in 2012 at age 9, and again in 2015 at age 12.

After the impact of COVID-19 closed in-person classes, the California native from the Central Coast was able to train virtually via leveraging Zoom classes online.

“Virtual classes are definitely inferior to the experience of a live studio class where you can dance collectively and be inspired by other dancers,” says Lund. “But my time teaching and taking classes on Zoom during the pandemic with my experience working in front of the camera for television and Sparkles Lund on YouTube channel definitely came in handy! No one ever envisioned a National competition online, but so many dancers had worked so hard over the year, and Hollywood Vibe made it happen online – I’m so glad they did!”

In addition to her national dance competitions awards, Sparkles has a long history of dance.  She started her career as a dancer in the “Just Dance Kids” video game and has had guest appearances on Disney’s “Bazaardvark,”” NBC’s “The Voice,” ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars,” and “Fresh Off the Boat,” earning her admission into the Screen Actors Guild. Lund’s work also includes work on commercials, theatre, and music videos, highlighted by dancing with Justin Bieber on his Purpose Tour.

“This has been a year of highs and lows,” says Alexandra Lund. “Along with other Seniors across America, I missed out on so many events that define the senior year of high school like prom and graduation. Being quarantined at home is hard for everyone, but I focused my time and energy into my dance by training in my garage that my dad converted into a dance studio.  And it all paid off.”

In addition to practicing her dance, Lund also stayed busy by managing social media channels for the Choreographers Alliance and The Camp Intensive. At the same time, she continued to work as a brand ambassador for the international dance wear company Capezio.

Training in Pismo Beach at Dellos Performing Arts Center under the direction of Johnna Clark, Lund graduated this spring from Arroyo Grande High School as an Honors Student. She plans to attend Syracuse University’s SI Newhouse School of Public Communications. The Syracuse University Lady Orange Dancers Division 1 dance team selected Lund as one of only two first-year students who will dance for the University this fall.

Video Announcing her selection – 

 

DOTY Solo – 

 

Jul 03 2019
1
Choreographers Alliance

Performing Artists Need to Leverage their Collective Voices to Support H.R. 3121 the Performing Artist Tax Parity Act

By | press, School, Stuff I Like | No Comments

Did you know that California Rep. Judy Chu (D-CA27) and Floridia Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-FL16) have authored a bill that will allow performing artists to deduct money spent on union dues, travel to auditions, headshots, agency fees, training classes, management fees and other miscellaneous expenses from our taxable income? There has been a law since 1986 (called the QPA – Qualified Performing Artist tax deduction) that gave these deductions to performers up to an income limit of $16,000. Before this year, I was able to reclaim nearly all of the State and Federal Income Tax I paid during the year.

Sadly, the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act that went into effect in 2018 eliminated the ability to claim miscellaneous itemized deductions like our work expenses. As a result, performing artists (including me) we unable to reclaim hundreds or thousands of dollars of income tax deducted from our jobs. The Tax Cut and Jobs Act raised my taxes and the taxes of all Performing Artists. I was shocked when I paid my takes this year and received such a small State and Federal Income Tax return. That is the money I use to pay for travel to Hollywood Vibe Nationals, Buildabeast, and other summer intensives. This new law being proposed by Rep. Chu will correct the problem by updating the thresholds of the deduction allowing more low and middle-income artists to utilize it.

“Life doesn’t happen to you, it happens for you,” says Tony Robbins.

You never know the types of isolated events in your life that shape you, but three things have happened for me in the past year that have made me pay attention to something important for performing artists. I am sharing these experiences in hopes of awakening a spirt of positive change for dancers. If we work together, we can make a difference.

  • This winter, I worked with my father to address the school district, state education board , and federal lawmakers (aka politicians) to fight for my right to attend public school and work as a dancer. We were successful at getting my absences for work excused.
  • I am volunteering with the Choreographers Alliance to help them with marketing the mission to receive appropriate compensation and protection for their work. This will take time, but with your support Choreographers can get credit and residuals for their work in Advertising, Television and Film.
  • I attended Girls State, a weeklong camp where students from across the State of California operated an emulation of our State Government. We learned how government works and how to start movements for positive change in our Nation.

The take away from all of this is that we – you and me – need to use our voices to fight for positive change. If a dozen or more instafamous performing artists took action to support this legislation to fix the tax bill, or gave shout outs to the Choreographers Alliance – change would happen. Use your social media following to change the world, not just to promote yourself.

What I Learned

Create Coalitions. One person may be able to have some influence, but many people together in a coalition creates a community voice. Put a hashtag or a link in your bio on social media and post from time to time about positive social change.

Can you imagine the impact if performing artists across the dance industry started supporting the @choreo_alliance on Instagram? It does not matter if you are a choreographer in SAG today – we know these choreographers, and need to show our love for them. They are building and maintaining bridges to opportunities that you may cross in your future. If SAG sees tens of thousands or millions of supporters for the Choreographers Alliance, they will act.

Step up and follow the @choreo_alliance and support them. At the very least, you will be supporting an effort to change an injustice for people you love. Who knows, you may also be laying a foundation to see your future work on a film or television listed in the credits, and receive residual payments for your art. Dancers get this level of credit today, but choreographers do not.

Legislators have open doors. My father was able to attend public meetings and set meetings legislators at every level. You simply walk into a council meeting and find out when the public comment period is – normally it is at the beginning of the meeting. You have 3 minutes to speak out. But more importantly, it’s an opportunity to see and be seen. After my father’s talks on the issues related to Artists in public schools and the disparity of treatment from Athletes, legislators wanted to meet with him to discuss remedies that were underway and receive feedback. Change can happen if you show up.

Did you know that Rep Judy Chu only has 4710 followers on Instagram. Her district is north and east of Burbank, CA, so as you can imagine, lots of performing artists live there. These are communities that are more affordable for dancers, yet still not too far of a commute for auditions or class. She has not posted about this law yet – don’t you think that she will work harder if a few thousand people follow her, DM her, and support her?

If we support Rep. Judy Chu with this law, these deductions will be returned for performing artists allowing deductions for those earning up to $100,000 in income. Even those making over $100,000 would be allowed to deduct the first $30,000 in expenses from their income. The suggested law is only one page – go read it! https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/116/hr3121/text That will make a difference of hundreds or thousands of dollars to help you pay rent, eat, and train between jobs.

What You can Do Right Now to Make A Difference

Choreographers AllianceIf you want to be a professional at anything, you need to recognize that you are part of an industry and participate in industry related groups like the Choreographers Alliance. Moreover, you need to be aware of the laws that pertain to our industry and take action to support legislation that is designed to help you! This is what Breaking Barriers taught by Liz Imperio is all about. What would it hurt? Do you think that you will lose followers if you ask them to help you fight for your fair rights as a performer?

Post your support for the Performing Artist Tax Parity Act with #PerformingArtistTaxParityAct

Follow @choreo_alliance – like and repost when you can.

Follow Rep. Judy Chu – message her your support and give her legislation a shout out (you can post the link to this if you want).

Dec 08 2018
1

Director Brazil Launches One Take Sparks

By | Dance, Family, Friends, Vlogs, Work | No Comments

I have been working with Director Brazil – Helton Siqueira – on my videos since I started my YouTube channel in 2013. Brazil and his longtime friend Will Willdabeast Adams invented today’s popular class video format in the dance scene around Los Angeles, California in February of 2013. Shout out to Will for introducing me to Brazil. Being a member of immaBEAST has been a great learning experience for me. Not only have I learned how to train hard, but how to be a citizen of the dance community, a better person, and a better professional. Brazil gave me the experience in front of the camera, knowledge about YouTube, editing, and other things that I would have not been able to get from just doing jobs.

At first, my video channel was a way for sharing what I was doing in dance to family and friends. As my channel grew, I started to experiment with how to monetize my channel. Now my channel is different thing for me. It’s a place to curate my development as a dancer.

One of the things that you do not see much in dance videos today is one take videos. For a million different reasons, one take videos are rare because it’s incredibly hard to get everything right in a dance shot. Sometimes the camera angle is better in a particular run, other times the lighting is better, and a lot of times the dancer is better at different portions of the dance on different takes. You can do a lot to cut videos and add effects today to make videos look great. But it’s a bit harder to try to get it in one take.

One of the benefits of shooting over 100 videos with someone is the relationship and trust that develops between the director and the artist. So many of my videos were made better by Kalyne Lionheart who is an amazing editor. Between Brazil getting footage and Kalyne doing the edits, they turned out amazing. If you want to work with a great team, Brazil-Lionheart Productions is the way to go. They have so much experience.

Brazil has always been an innovator. When we set out to shoot 4 videos in a day, we knew that we were in for a long day. It was over 100 degrees in a warehouse in downtown LA the day of our shoot. When we started shooting, everything just clicked. We shot the first video 4 times and we honestly thought that every shot was great. So we stopped. That was when Brazil came up with the concept of One Shot Sparks – a series of one shot dance videos with no cuts. It is so different from the class videos you see everyday, or your typical concept video. So, we went with it. All of these dances were one take videos.

There are four videos in this series. The first one dropped on September 16, 2018. I danced to a song and an artist that I really love, Jade Bird. The choreography is special to me. One of my favorite people to work with is Cat Cogliandro. I love her work and am blow away by what an amazing woman she is. This video was my contemporary solo for the 2017-2018 season. It is very different than competition pieces that you see. It celebrates the spirit of Jade as an artist, and I really found a lot of sincerity in the dance. Thank you, Cat! Something American will always be one of my favorite dances ever. I appreciate you giving that to me.

The other three videos are choreographed by me. I have been working on my choreography for the past couple of years. I am teaching 5 classes a week and setting pieces on junior and teen dancers. I booked my first choreography job with a major TV studio this year (Thank you Disney and Bizaardvark). I hope that I will get more of those.

Thank you so much Brazil. You picked a great location for the shoot and made it all work for One Take Sparks #onetakesparks – 

Aug 21 2018
2

Summer Craziness

By | Competition, Convention, Dance, Family, Friends, Travel | No Comments

Hey Guys, sorry I have been a slacker at posting. The school year ended with intense finals and preparation for our DPAC Studio Nationals. If you take AP classes, you feel me. I left home the day after finals and literally only spent 9 days at home all summer!

My summer started out by training with ImmaBeast and preparing for Buildabeast. I had the blessing of working with the Immabeast team which consists of all young professional working dancers on pieces choreographed by the amazing Janelle Ginestra and Will “Willdabeast” Adams. If you have attended Buildabeast, you understand the amount of heart, soul, and preparation that they put into their company pieces. As usual, Buildabeast was extraordinary and the training in many hip hop and contemporary styles was over the top.

ing In Janelle Ginestras ClassI literally left Buildabeast on Sunday and flew to Las Vegas for Hollywood Connection Nationals with my studio (DPAC). It was a very special Nationals for me as I danced for the last time with my long-time dance partner Trevor Quesada who graduated this year. I cannot express how awesome it has been to dance with Trevor over the past 7 years. We did great at Nationals and I was a Icon Dancer of the Year finalist. When I won Junior Dancer of the Year at age 10 for Hollywood Connection, it literally changed my life. I am so grateful for Bill and Kimberly for creating Hollywood Connection and the amazing faculty that we have the opportunity to train with. Our Duo won top overall duet and top senior contemporary!

After HC, I was able to go home for 2 days to repack for Hollywood Vibe Nationals. I have been a company member for Hollywood Vibe since the second year of the program and, like HC, Chris and Anne with the help of company director Liz Imperio put on an amazing convention. For me, Hollywood Vibe Company has become a family for me. I have had the opportunity to dance in cities across America representing Hollywood Vibe and be mentored by some of the best faculty choreographers in the world. They truly build dancers and they have contributed to my growth as both a dancer, an assistant, a choreographer and enormously as a person.

After HV, I was able to go home for a week and do the DPAC summer intensive. Johnna Clark brought in some exceptional teachers such as Peter Pinnock and Hayley Roderick!

Alexandra Sparkles Lund BellyacheAfter the intensive, we traveled back to Los Angeles where I had the opportunity to work on filming Mitchel Federan’s choreography to Bellyache. Mitchel is such a talented choreographer and is an amazing person to work with on a shoot. Not all people who teach the steps can make them look great on film. Not to mention Jon Hernandez with the dope cinematography!

After the shoot, we headed down to San Diego for a week of training at DancerPalooza and to start my marketing internship with Capezio. It was the first year that Randi and Hefa produced Noizey – the hip hop intensive. I had the opportunity to take from many of my favorites. As I write this, I am in New York City continuing my marketing internship. I am also looking at colleges while I am here.

I will be dropping a bunch of work on my YouTube channel http://www.youtube.com/sparkleslund so subscribe to get notified. I will also be putting a bunch of my favorite class footage on my Instagram page http://www.instagram.com/sparkleslund – so follow me there too if you are interested.

School just started up again on August 16th – my junior year. I cannot imagine what 2018-2019 will look like. If it is anything like the year I just had, it may be a little crazy.

Mar 08 2018
2

Hollywood Connection Burbank

By | Competition, Convention | 2 Comments

Hollywood ConnectionHollywood Connection in Burbank was fantastic this year. It was the first time that Dellos Performing Arts Center (DPAC) has returned to HC since 2014. I am pretty sure that Hollywood Connection was the first competition that I ever went to. Hollywood Connection was the convention that awarded me my first National Dancer of the Year Award in 2012, an award they call Icon of the Year.

Hollywood Connection is also owned in part by my first talent agency, MTA. They were my first agents, and sent me out on my first auditions as a 10 year old, launching my professional dance career.

In so many ways, going back to Hollywood Connection was like a family reunion. As Icon of the Year, I spent a year touring with them as their DOTY. I can gratefully say that those many weekends of working with Executive Director Kimberly Rhinelander, Executive Director and Agent Bill Bohl, Jazz teacher Lindsley Allen, Lyrical Mitchel Federal, Jazz Funk Brooklyn Jai, Musical Theater Bonnie Story, Tap Jason Kalish, and Hip Hop Gigi Torres shaped by love of dance and introduced me to the industry as a professional dancer. This core group was teaching there back in 2012-2014 when our studio first introduced me to them. I am so thankful for the encouragement and opportunity to do what I love.

This year was an entirely new set of firsts for me. DPAC has allowed me teach 5 classes a week at the studio. This led to me choreographing a hip-hop solo for a 12 year old dancer, and assistant choreographer to our production hip-hop dance. Watching your choreography on stage for the first time is a completely different experience. I had no clue how the judges would react to the dancer I helped train do perform the choreography that I created. It worked out great! They loved it and she won!

On a personal level, I accomplished one of my goals for this year as a dancer. If you know my mom and dad or my mentor Liz Imperio, they are into strategic planning and goal setting. One of my goals for the year is to get a double platinum or Titanium score (perfect or nearly perfect score). It is the highest award that the judges give for dances. I am happy to say that five of my dances were given Titanium scores at Hollywood Connection. I was overwhelmed.

As a 15 year old dancer, I am now one of the youngest of the Producer (Senior) group – 14-19 year old dancers. I did not expect that I would be good enough to compete with older dancers who have had many more years of training. I went back and looked at a post I wrote in 2014 when I attended Hollywood Connection as an 11 year old. Like this year, I had just stepped up into a new age group then too (guest star, 11-13), as an 11 year old and was intimidated by the awesome dance of the 13 year olds. That year, my friend Danielle Esposito came in first and I got a second.

My contemporary solo, choreographed by Cat Cogliandro was the highest scoring senior solo of the weekend. My duo partner and long time friend Trevor Quezada was awarded the highest overall scoring solo. Trevor graduates this year, and has been accepted to some great dance programs for college. I am glad he won. This is our last season together, and I want him to go out on top!

Trevor and I choreographed our duo together. We put the piece on stage as an exhibition dance at Jackie Sleight’s LA Dance Magic. We were not scored at LADM, but were able to get the judges notes and make changes to the dance. As a result of great feedback and hard work, our duo was the highest scoring dance of the weekend at Hollywood Connection. Sharing that moment with Trevor was special. It is a celebration of 8 years dancing together. Our duo piece will live in my memory forever, and I am excited to tour with it this year.

Whenever I write something like this, it makes me think about how much so many people have supported me as a dancer, my parents, DPAC, countless teachers, mentors, choreographers, Capezio, my manager Nelson Diaz, and my agents at MSA and BBR. Love you all so much – and thank you again Hollywood Connection for a great weekend in Burbank.

Jul 28 2017
2

Buildabeast Re-Cap 2017

By | Convention, Dance, Work | No Comments

Buildabeast was a huge success this year! For those who are new here, Buildabeast is an animal convention……lol…..annual convention put on by the owners and co-founders of ImmaBeast: Willdabeast Adams and Janelle Ginestra, aka: Mama and Papa Beast. I have been training under this newly engaged couple for going-on 4 years and I have learned so much. They ask us to bring improvement to every class. One thing for sure, they brought enormous improvement. Will and Janelle have probably improved more in the past year than any dancer or choreographer that I know. It’s a blessing to witness and completely inspiring to work with immaBeast.

With that being said, let’s get into the recap.

with Mallory Jul

Our whole team began rehearsals weeks ago, to ensure a phenomenal show. On the Friday before the event started, our crew arrived at the venue in Pomona to block the show and smooth out traditions. We rehearsed from Friday until Monday, and then on Tuesday, the event that we had all been looking forward to finally began! The first class was taught by Laura Edwards, followed by Noelle Marsh, etc.  That night, we had show rehearsal once again.

The next day, class, etc. After a long day of classes, we had rehearsal for a very special concert that I will get to later…. The next day, same schedule, except now it is the night of the concert for none other than Jordan Fisher! I met Jordan the first time I auditioned for immaBEAST back in 2014, and we’ve kept in touch ever since. He is killing the music game right now so make sure you check him out. The next day, we had a super early rehearsal before class even started and after that rehearsal I took a real good nap. I mean a girl’s gotta rest right? After my “recharge” I assisted Allison Holker which was so life changing! We ended the day with the spectacular Sean Lew’s class. Then it was finally the night of our much-anticipated immaBeast showcase!

Our show opened with the world renowned Chapkis Dance Company. Their set was absolutely insane and set the bar very high for the rest of us. Seeing their greatness just motivated the rest of us to dance our best, which we sure did! The show went great and we finished off the night with a fun after party DJ’d by the one and only DJ Marv.

The final day consisted of the heart and soul of Buildabeast: AUDITIONS FOR 2018 IMMABEAST! We had to audition Will’s combo from earlier in the week so everyone had a chance to practice before-hand, but the extra time also raised the standard because everyone rehearsed the combo to perfection. The audition was stressful, but overall a great experience. The last part of the day were the immaBeast awards, where I received “On the Rise” which means I show “constant improvement and really on the way to greatness” – once I got a “Girl On Fire” award – feels the same.

with Jordan Fisher

This week was so very inspiring and I can’t wait for next year. – To see the faculty members – click to check out this post –

Next Up……..

DPAC has their annual summer show at the Clark Center called Eat, Sleep, Dance, Repeat. That is a must see event for locals! Tickets at the door – 6 PM Curtain Up.

I am looking forward to working with #teamcapezio at DancerPalooza! Watch @capezio on instagram for the live streaming all weekend during Beat Street. I will be interviewing Tate McRae, Melinda Sullivan, Emma HellenKamp, Kalani Hilliker, and photographer Jordan Matter. You will also be able to watch behind the scenes of my photoshoot with Jordan! Of course, I will also be doing spot interviews with my other favorite dancers and choreographers – some special guests guaranteed!

 

Jun 23 2017
1
Buildabeast 2017

Road to Buildabeast 2017 – inside scoop

By | Convention, Dance | 2 Comments

Now on its third year, Buildabeast 2017 #babe17 is set up to the the biggest and best hip hop convention on the planet.

If you follow my blog, I have written about the first two Buildabeasts here. The short recap is that the first event was held at the Marriott Burbank, a popular dance convention hotel. It’s one of the largest convention spaces in all of Los Angeles and Buildabeast sold out the first year. Last year, they moved the event to the Los Angeles Fairgrounds facility – Sheraton Fairplex and convention center. The place is massive. Last year, they sold out half of the building. This year, they are taking over the whole building and will be running two stages!

Here is a little inside scoop – the theme for Buildabeast this year is School.

You will see all of the immaBEAST  company members following a costume plan. Wednesday is Rubix Cube day. All of us will be wearing colors from the Rubix Cube. Thursday is Black and White with immaBEAST turquoise flair. Friday is sports day, and if you know Willdabeast – you can imagine that there will be a lot of Golden State Warriors gear!

immaBEAST Tricia MirandaIf you have not already purchased you ticket, be sure to do so now! They are not sold out yet, but it looks like they are on track to sell out soon. Buy Buildabeast tickets here. BTW – the Convention hotel at the Sheraton Fairplex is sold out. Reach out to the Buildabeast staff to get information on the secondary hotels. There are lots nearby. Don’t camp – its too hot in Pamona.

Eight of the faculty members have been announced. But here is a quick list : Brian Friedman, Tricia Miranda, Twitch, Allison Holker, Hollywood, Andye J, Laurie Courtellemount, FrankieJ, Amanda Grind, Robert Green, Andrew Winghart, Willadabeast, Janelle Ginestra, Taiwan, Jade Chynoweth, Noah Tratree. It is an excellent blend of the top working choreographers and teachers along with some of the greatest dancers in the world who are now teaching – Jade – Noah….. and you can be sure that Taylor Hatala and Sean Lew will both be teaching too.

Oh – and another inside note – the Friday night gala is amazing and will be full of celebrities. Bring your fancy clothes. Aside from hundreds of the top choreographers in the game – there will be some superstars. For example, Usher showed up last year.

The entire immaBEAST team has already started rehearsals for different pieces. I will be in a ladies piece choreographed by Janelle Ginestra. I have never danced with such extraordinary dancers in my life. Love Love Love. Gorgeousness

Of course, when Buildabeast is over, the immaBEAST auditions begin. Every year, Will and Janelle rebuild their team from scratch. No current team member is guaranteed to be retained for next year’s team. I have loved being on the team as a lilbeast, and now teenbeast. The training, friendships, and career development have been extraordinary. I will be busting my butt to make the cut.

Help Teen Beasts Get Dinner At Mastros!

Our company video this year is awesome – the teenbeasts and lilbeasts each have their own. Will told us that he will buy dinner at Mastros for the team that has the most views. Please watch our video.

First ImmaBEAST audition

 

 

Jun 19 2017
1
JANELLE_GINESTRA Sparkles Lund

Janelle Ginestra Choreo to Marian Hill Down

By | Dance, Stuff I Like, Uncategorized, Work | No Comments

Janelle Ginestra Crushes This Choreo to Marian Hill – Down

If you follow me on Instagram, you know that I was training last week in Los Angeles. Every Monday we have IMMABEAST company class, and the rest of the week I took class at Millennium and IMMASPACE. IMMASPACE has really begun to attract some of the hottest choreographers on the planet that are innovating in dance. (download IMMASPACE app here to see class schedule). It has become a special place to train, not only because of the great choreographers, but the IMMASPACE itself has developed a special character. Most of all, the general dance public does not know about IMMASPACE yet – so the dancers that it attracts for training are typically a combination of IMMABEAST dancers and that choreographers’ biggest fans. The room caps out at 60 dancers, so there is lots of room to move.

Of course, when you think of IMMABEAST, you think of Willdabeast. But when you dig in, you see that IMMABEAST is as much about Will Adam’s fiancé Janelle Ginestra as it is Will. They are truly partners in everything. Like yin and yang. It is outstanding to witness. Each of them make powerful contributions to the dance industry in so many ways, but most importantly – they help dancers like me to get better and to focus on the things that will help drive success both personally and professionally.

Stylistically, I think that my style of dance is closer to Janelle’s than it is to Will’s. Ginestra blends the hard-hitting style of hip-hop with contemporary movements of powerful female bodies. You feel like a strong woman when you dance to Janelle’s choreography. Some hip-hop is so strong that it drops the femininity that women bring to dance. Janelle’s style lets girls be girls, and lets boys be boys. I love it.

About Marian Hill

Marian Hill is actually two people: Jeremy Lloyd and vocalist Samantha Gongol. The two hale from Bryn Mawr Pennsylvania – outside of Philadelphia. They met in junior high, and really became relevant artists in 2015 when the release of their single “One Time,” leading up to their debut album; Once Act in 2016. Apple gave them a big boost when they debuted their iPhone 7 + AirPods to this song, “Down” during the Atlanta Falcons and Seattle Seahawks playoff game. The commercial featured Lil Buck gravity dancing to “Down.” The combination of Samantha’s iconic voice with the creativity of Jeremy’s electronic musicality makes for excellent dance music. (If you need some good solo music – check this out. If you have not seen the YouTube video for “Down,” you gotta check it out .

The director for the video was Jack Begert of Psycho Films  – produced by Sam Canter and Tyler Sobel-Mason. What they did with the elevator was truly outstanding. Awesome work in post production too! Graphics editing was WOW!

Janelle Ginestra did an outstanding job developing choreography for the song. Its quirky, artistic, and both hard and soft at times. There is a lot of intricate movement with hands, and great opportunities to play with the choreography as a dancer. I loved the class and am so excited that Janelle featured our group in her class video.

Check it out here – I come in at about the 2:44 min mark – Front Row, Far right – yellow shirt.

If you like my posts, please share and subscribe.

Jun 17 2017
2

Summer Has Started With a Roar

By | Dance, Stuff I Like, Travel | No Comments

The last day of school was Friday, June 9th. We celebrated the graduation of seniors from A.G. High School that I have danced with my whole life. It is astonishing to see them move on to the next chapter of their lives. As for me, it was a 6 a.m. departure to Los Angeles for a……long…..one day music video shoot for Dylan Diamond. We were on location for most of the day on location of “Pimp My Ride,” at West Coast Customs – will share when the video comes out. It was great to work with so many immaBEAST dancers. Our small group was Jordyn Jones, Natalie Bebko , Phoenix, and Jason Hancock. It was fun to meet celebrity YouTuber Logan Paul.

After driving home on Sunday, I returned to LA again on Monday for immaBEAST company class with Cat Cogliandro. It was transformative. I cried a lot. THANK YOU! After a busy school year, I needed that therapeutic release. I was so stoked by her combination of movement and message that I took her class again at Millennium on Wednesday – ahhhhhh – so good.

I am falling in love with Ventura Boulevard – the amazing restaurants and my favorite shops. Last night after immaBEAST class I was able to reconnect with my good friend Kennadi Boese and her mom for dinner at Granville. The angel hair pasta with chicken is soooooo good. It really hit the spot. Of course, YogurtLand near Laurel Canyon is the best way to finish a long day. I absolutely love where I live and all of my friends in AG, but it is especially wonderful to have more friends and my special places in Los Angeles.

For the first time, I will be presenting my original choreography at Hollywood Vibe Nationals competing for Teen Dancer of the Year. It’s the next step on my journey as a dancer to gain skills and confidence creating choreography and collaborating with so many amazing people who influence me. Through the process of finding your own style, you realize that you are a product of the great dancers and teachers that you work with. Dance is truly a craft that is passed from generation to generation. Thank you to all of my mentors, especially Brooke Lipton, Heidi Asefvaziri, and Janelle Ginestra. You are all goddesses and you shine a light on my path.

Sorry School of Rock. I would have been great to work with you today. Wish it would have worked out. Many thanks to MSA for the effort. But when one door closes, another opens –

Hat By Burton on MelroseThis month is Pride month in Los Angeles. Instagram worked with luxury designer Paul Smith to convert their famous pink wall into a rainbow to celebrate Pride. It made a perfect backdrop for my monthly Capezio photo shoot, and I found the most fantastic hat at the Burton store.

I will be on location at DancerPalooza this summer as a spokesperson for Capezio. I will be webcasting live interviews with the world’s greatest dancers – can’t wait! Be sure to follow Capezio’s channels on Instagram and Facebook if you want to see what that is all about. I will be around their booth whenever possible.

Mar 17 2017
3

Simrin Player Sets Example For Dancers

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One of the great things about being a dancer is, quite frankly, other dancers. From the very beginning, my love of dance has been fueled by the relationships that I have because of dance. I would not have ever become a two time DOTY unless by best friend Camille asked me to switch from my ballet studio to DPAC. I wanted to be with my friend as much as I wanted to dance.

This is still true today. I love dancing at my local studios – DPAC and SLO Movement Arts. The teachers and the other dancers make it a joy to dance. The same is true when we have immaBEAST rehearsals in Los Angeles on Monday nights. They are like family reunions where we all know each other and support each other.

If you know anything about the top dancers in America today, you definitely know of my immaBEAST teammate Simrin Player. (http://www.simrinplayer.com/) She has done a million amazing things as a professional and competition dancer – you can see her bio here http://www.simrinplayer.com/bio.html. If you were alive during the Justin Bieber release of his Purpose album, you saw Simrin as the lead in that piece. She crushed it.

Simrin Needs our Help! As dancers we are citizens. We need to get involved in our community and help contribute to those in need. Our art and our celebrity gives us a voice to do good.

She writes on Facebook – “This year I have been researching the water injustices on the Navajo Nation. Approximately 69,200 Navajo are forced to haul their water due to a lack of water facilities. I have created a GoFundMe account where all of the profits will go to a nonprofit organization (The Navajo Water Project) dedicated to improving the percentage of homes with running water and electricity. I would greatly appreciate any donations.”

Please Visit This Go Fund Me page! Support Simrin as she does her part to give back to the community.

https://www.gofundme.com/water-for-the-navajo-nation

For being awesome – I here by give Simrin the Girl On Fire Award!