Any dancer dreaming of a professional career is most likely working hard in the studio and honing their skills to be the strongest dancer they can be, but in the professional dance world, talent is only 20% of the equation. There are a lot of other skills to master that make up that other 80%. This 80/20 rule where success as a professional dancer is 20% talent, 80% everything else comes from my esteemed guest today, Menina Fortunato.

Menina's mission is to help the next generation of dancers create their dream dance careers. She had her own remarkable career for three decades in this dance industry. She has navigated the demands of both on-camera and behind-the-scenes work while also juggling the responsibilities of being a loving wife and devoted mother of three. Menina has worked on prominent television shows and films including America's Got Talent, Star Trek: Enterprise, DC's Legends of Tomorrow, and she's graced stadium stages entertaining massive crowds with superstars like Britney Spears, Beyoncé, Carrie Underwood, Paula Abdul, and so many more.

Menina and I talk about maintaining motivation as a professional dancer, how our current generation could learn more about rejection and handling negative emotions through mental toughness and some mindset advice for aspiring professionals. And, of course, she'll break down her 80/20 rule and share what that other 80% is all about!

Resources -

Follow Menina on Instagram: www.instagram.com/meninafortunato

Connect with The Business of Dance: www.bizofdance.com

Connect with The Hollywood Summer Tour www.dancehst.com

Connect with Menina: www.meninafortunato.com

Sign up to the Passion for Dance Email List: www.chelseapierotti.com/email

Key Highlights -

[3m 51s] - Menina’s Dance Background

[10m 12s] - Menina’s Favorite Memory Onstage

[14m 17s] - What’s Kept Menina Motivated Professionally

[17m 48s] - Menina’s View on Values

[19m 19s] - The 80/20 Rule

[29m 16s] - Challenges Menina Sees in Dancers Seeking a Professional Career

[34m 45s] - Menina’s Take on Balance and Mindset

[39m 03s] - Menina’s Thoughts on Managing Chaos

Do you have much experience with dance outside of your own culture? Since it's International Dance Day, I want to take today's episode to focus on dance as a source of heritage and identity and how it can truly connect us across our different cultures, but I can't do it alone. My guest today is four-time Emmy Award-winning host and executive producer of the show Bare Feet, Mickela Mallozzi, who is on a mission to experience the world one dance at a time.

In today’s episode, Mickela and I talk about the need to be vulnerable when you're learning something new and how we have to let go of perfection so that we can genuinely be curious and learn from other cultures and experience dance through their eyes. She shares her views on the various cultural foundations of dance that are not often taught, and she shares some great stories like learning the dance with the people of the Garifuna who survived exile only to maintain, thrive, and grow their cultural heritage, including their native dances. I hope you enjoy the cultural exploration of dance in this episode, and let’s celebrate International Dance Day together!

Episode Resources: https://chelseapierotti.com/157

Connect with Mickela on the Bare Feet website: www.travelbarefeet.com

Follow Mickela and Bare Feet on Instagram: www.instagram.com/travelbarefeet

Sign up to my Email List: www.chelseapierotti.com/email

Dancers, this one is directly for you! You can be a mentally healthy dancer who is ALSO mentally tough. Here's the difference between mental toughness and mental health and how you can build your mental toughness.

Learn more at: https://chelseapierotti.com/156