Happy 4th of July! To my American family, you recieved me with arms open. I am grateful to have spent all these years surrounded by all of you. A Frenchman striving to grow in the U.S.A. I cannot wait to continue this journey with you. #4thofjuly #america
📷 @junseobyoonnewyork Is ballet going to survive the pandemic? 🤔 The Royal Academy of Dance was founded in 1661. 1665 – Great Plague 1720 – Great Plague 1770 – Great Plague 1889 – Flu pandemic 1918 – Spanish Flu… …1981…2009… 😐 I think so! The ballet industry is suffering right now, but let’s remind ourselves that in the 19th century, dance plateaued out before Diaghilev (an art connoisseur) arrived and changed the whole game, with one word: creativity. My point is, it will take a creative push to figure out the solution…and I think our industry is stocked with creative people. Let’s hang on!👍
Happy Mothers day! A mother’s love is the fuel that enables a normal human being to do the impossible #happymothersday #happySunday
If you don’t practice, well… You can’t expect to win! #backatit
Today my granddad passed at almost 94–what a celebration and an irony. He is probably laughing right now and saying “I told you so.” This man smoked “Gitanes Mais” (the worst cigarettes), and ate ridiculous amounts of chocolate. He drank espresso while simultaneously holding a sugar cube between his molars, waiting for the coffee to slowly melt the cube so he could get his shot of sugar. He did everything that the book of health condemned and yet lived to 94 years. I once made the mistake of calling him an old man when I was a teenager and mocking him from a distance, as I used to love bugging and poking at him. At the time, he was barefoot while I was standing outside on the gravel, and he told me he would kick my butt if he caught me. I laughed, thinking I outmatched him because of my youth, my speed and strength from ballet (he was around 67 years old then), and also because I was wearing shoes and he was barefoot. Well, he ran after me and finally caught up to me after he chased me three times around the house. In my defense, I kept turning around to see if he was catching up, which he was, because every time I turned around, to my astonishment he was closer and reaching my soon-to-be-doomed fate. He was like Jesus walking on water; his feet barely touched the gravel. As fast as Carl Lewis, his skinny and aerodynamic legs caught up to me, and it all ended with a good old fashioned spanking. The last time I saw him, he asked me “did you bring some” while holding two fingers to his mouth. I was confused. He continued: “Cigarettes you idiot!” He was a great grandfather. He was not sweet, but spicy, and we had this incredible relationship. He was a cultured man who read several books per week. He taught me to recognize mushrooms, and find them from the forest. He taught me how to recognize birds, by their look and sound. He taught me yoga (in the early morning, after forcing me out of bed). He taught me to be spiritual, to recognize wild animal trails on our hikes, to learn the behavior of honey bees. Knowledge was his thing, and he loved to pass it along. So to you Grand Pere! I celebrate you and congratulate you on your amazing life 🙂 R I P
Today my granddad passed at almost 94–what a celebration and an irony. He is probably laughing right now and saying “I told you so.” This man smoked “Gitanes Mais” (the worst cigarettes), and ate ridiculous amounts of chocolate. He drank espresso while simultaneously holding a sugar cube between his molars, waiting for the coffee to slowly melt the cube so he could get his shot of sugar. He did everything that the book of health condemned and yet lived to 94 years. I once made the mistake of calling him an old man when I was a teenager and mocking him from a distance, as I used to love bugging and poking at him. At the time, he was barefoot while I was standing outside on the gravel, and he told me he would kick my butt if he caught me. I laughed, thinking I outmatched him because of my youth, my speed and strength from ballet (he was around 67 years old then), and also because I was wearing shoes and he was barefoot. Well, he ran after me and finally caught up to me after he chased me three times around the house. In my defense, I kept turning around to see if he was catching up, which he was, because every time I turned around, to my astonishment he was closer and reaching my soon-to-be-doomed fate. He was like Jesus walking on water; his feet barely touched the gravel. As fast as Carl Lewis, his skinny and aerodynamic legs caught up to me, and it all ended with a good old fashioned spanking. The last time I saw him, he asked me “did you bring some” while holding two fingers to his mouth. I was confused. He continued: “Cigarettes you idiot!” He was a great grandfather. He was not sweet, but spicy, and we had this incredible relationship. He was a cultured man who read several books per week. He taught me to recognize mushrooms, and find them from the forest. He taught me how to recognize birds, by their look and sound. He taught me yoga (in the early morning, after forcing me out of bed). He taught me to be spiritual, to recognize wild animal trails on our hikes, to learn the behavior of honey bees. Knowledge was his thing, and he loved to pass it along. So to you Grand Pere! I celebrate you and congratulate you on your amazing life 🙂 R I P
Happy Thanksgiving everyone from Chicago! I am temporarily back in my adopted home city to film a very exciting TV series I can’t wait to share with you. Minus the regular Covid testing into my nasal cavity 😵 I am having a blast dancing, jumping and representing Ballet. Thank you @the.elitesmith for prepping my legs. 🙏 @aaballetcenterfordance for the studio space. #ballet #thanksgiving #BigLeap
Congratulations ballerinagolovina for placing in the YAGP. What an experience this year. We had a plan to focus on clean and proper ballet placement, while facing some of the toughest female variations, and you delivered. Thank you @yagp for making this year fun for young ballet dancers in the US despite Covid’s challenge to the future of ballet. Thank you!
Congratulations ballerinagolovina for placing in the YAGP. What an experience this year. We had a plan to focus on clean and proper ballet placement, while facing some of the toughest female variations, and you delivered. Thank you @yagp for making this year fun for young ballet dancers in the US despite Covid’s challenge to the future of ballet. Thank you!
The @officialinxs short film is out today. I want to thank the entire team that I had the pleasure to work with on it. The film will be out for 48h only. To purchase your ticket go to my bio and click on the link. 🌻🌻🌻 below is a note from phenomenal director @amytinkham1 Also special ❤ to Selena & Allison ORIGINAL SIN— a film featuring the music of INXS Excited to announce the World Premiere of my film and passion project, ‘ORIGINAL SIN-The Seven Sins’, that will be premiering tomorrow, July 16th on @veeps at 4PM PDT. What was meant to be a live show featuring the music of @officialinxs before the world shut down, turned into a short film with @universalmusicgroup, PETROL, and the epic band @officialinxs. Sadly, it also happened to be the final passion project of Chris “CM” Murphy, Australian entrepreneur and INXS’ longtime manager who passed away before we completed the film. It is a bittersweet affair, but boldly carries the beliefs of both Chris and I, that love wins, even in the darkest of times. I am so proud of this project with all the challenges it presented us, and the family (truly) and friends that stood by this and me ’til the end. With co-direction, cinematography and editing by @wyattstromer and @scottynguyen_ , choreography by Scotty Nguyen, @bailey_swift_ and Autumn Miller, sfx and graphics by @oliviasebesky, starring the incomparable @autumnmiller, the brilliant @trevorjackson5 , & the elegant @fabricecalmels produced by @samantha__e7, @selenamoshell and Allison Calleri of @mikkomiaproductions music by Trevor Jackson, Wyatt Stromer, @ida_redig , @georgealicemusic, @londongrammar, @trickyofficial, @ericstromerofficial and many more. Mixed by generous and amazing Grammy Award winner Chris Jenkins @chrisj1254. Thank you @tonyselznick and @juliemcdonaldmsa of @msaagency, @steveyarena @dawsey72 and @brettmikels for the love. And to @officialinxs for the music. @originalsin_inxs #AllYou’veGotIsThisMoment
I am 50% white and 50% black. And here is my mother and my brother. What I have learned from my mother is to never show weakness. She calls it a disservice to oneself. This world is not kind to the weak; from the animal kingdom, to natural disasters, the weak will always suffer the greatest. My mother came to France without education and with my brother. My father fell in love with her, and they had me and my sister soon after. My father was a jeweler and during the late 80s and 90s in the French economy, with my father providing our only income, our family was in dire financial trouble. Our house was repossessed by the bank, and there were many days I went to bed hungry, hoping I would fall asleep fast to forget my hunger. My mother is the reason why we stayed strong. She would not accept this as our fate, and during her 30s she took classes to earn an education while working multiple tedious jobs, including opening a parking gate of a flower shop, and while helping my father with his job. This woman who had no education and a fair amount of reason to be a victim never gave up. (She broke down at times at home, but she would immediately regroup and go on). She became an example to my family and others in our surrounding community. Even to this time, people ask her for advice about anything, and I myself continue to do so. Through her I overcame the challenges of being an outcast in the ballet world and decided to continue to pursue my dance dream, regardless of all roadblocks. I came to America alone without speaking the language, to live on a dime, to overcome the fear when I was homeless, to fight and earn money as an artist, to be who I am today. Today I teach and support my students, protege/kids, and teach them grit. I hope and wish to be a quarter of her strength. Happy birthday Mum! I love you so much ❤❤❤
What do you fight for? 📷 @cherylmannphoto #lifegoals #purpose
In health, in business, in life, there is no quick fix. All you have is hard work, optimism, and honesty; common sense and a plan. You can make a plan, but it doesn’t always work out. So then you have to make another plan. Your life will be full of ups and downs, like a roller coaster. The ups will be great; the downs will be hell. And when you’re down, you need to plan how to climb out. As you age, the downs are less tragic, less painful and less hurtful, because you’ve been through them before. — @mayemusk (excerpt from her book)
