Which cartoon character would you like to be?

Well, I always wanted to be Tarzan. It was one of the first cartoons that inspired me the most because seeing this character moving into the jungle, kind of like a dancer, it really inspired me so much. I always wanted to be Tarzan- all the time and I watched this cartoon so many times, still, now it’s like wow, I want to be him.

If you would wake up tomorrow and for some reason, we don’t know, but you are filthy rich. Money is not a problem anymore. What would you do?

Well I come from a very humble family and we never had so much and they always helped us to go through everything and sometimes it was really tough, even for them to grow up and to let us be ourselves. So if tomorrow I would wake up with so much money, I would give all the money to my family because they gave me a lot and also I would travel the whole world. That’s what I would love to do.

Okay, fair enough. Helping out and traveling. That’s a solid plan.

Now let’s talk about some insights of the dance world, I mean that’s the reason why we came here together today. When you started out and you did your first performance, basically when you had the audience applauding for you, what went through your head?

Yeah, that was crazy. I was so young. I was like six years old, that feeling was crazy! Okay, people are applauding me, and they came to see what I’m dancing?! It was crazy and it was beautiful at the same time. Then I thought in my mind, okay, I want to do this.

My family had a dancing school and there were many teachers, so we started there. Me, my brother and my sister. My mom was like, okay you are here every day, so dance and do something instead of just being here and hanging out.

So, we started dancing and they discovered that we were kind of talented and then they decided to put us in this dancing group. And we were dancing everything like; ballet, jazz, and Latin. Yeah, it was cool. Then they did the first shows of the school, and it was amazing. Then we understood (me, my brother and my sister) that this was something that we wanted to go on with.

Are they still dancing?  Are they also professionals?

My brother is still a professional dancer, well I’m a professional dancer but my sister, she never really became a professional dancer but she always danced. Okay, sometimes she’s still teaching but she’s doing another job now. So yeah…

That’s cool. You actually have a twin brother or?

Yes, I have a twin brother. It was amazing growing up together and doing something that we truly love.

Did you also do shows together or were you ever hired together in one company?

For example, we got jobs only because we were twins. They wanted to see us as twins.

It was really cool working together but then our ways went kind of apart, because he was super booked in one country and I was booked in another country for other companies. Sometimes it was really hard to work together, but we always try to get together and do things together.

Is there something like a ritual that goes through your mind before the curtain opens?

Yeah, every time, since few years, I do this ritual. I close my eyes and touch the stage with my hands and feel the vibration of the stage. “I’m doing this, I’m here right now and I’m feeling it.“

Okay, well that’s an interesting one.

Talking about your dance education, what was the most mind opening moment that you have had? You know, when you learnt something and there’s this “AHA“ moment.

You know, mostly when we become professional dancers we always think like, “oh I reached the maximum level of being good”, but we actually never reach that level. So, every day we learn something. I think working with different choreographers is where I learnt a lot as a dancer, they inspired me so much and they helped me to go through this journey.

It’s not an easy industry and it’s not an easy business, so yeah, I think I learned how to be humbled and not to think I’m the best, because if you get to that level then you will not reach anything. Actually there’s always someone that is better. Especially when I was younger I thought “I’m so good”, but then I started to do big auditions and that’s when I realized, “okay you have to learn a lot to get there”.

You were talking about influence. Who were the three most influential people in your life?

1. Well I would say my mom because she always pushed me. Even if it was so hard and sometimes it was exhausting to go through all this journey, but she was always the one that said “okay Giovanni, you can do it, you have the talent and you have the strength to do this. So, go for it even if you’re gonna be alone all the time or meeting new people in a different country, or just do it because if you will not do it you will regret it.” She has always inspired me and I learned a lot from my mom.
2. The second person, well there are a few people that inspired me so much; but I have to say my brother. I learned a lot from my brother, even if we are twins, we are so different and to see another way of thinking of a person that is exactly like you. It’s crazy.
3. The third person, I think my dad is also a great person but I would say all my family members. They are all amazing. Really, I’m so lucky to have them. They always supported us in every way.

Who would you like to meet?

I would love to meet Michael Jackson, he was my idol when I was a child. Seeing him moving was crazy. I mean he’s an idol. He’s the king of music for me.

So then, tell us about your biggest professional mistake…

I don’t think I have made many mistakes in my profession but trusting the wrong people is something important. They sometimes brought me in situations where I didn’t feel comfortable. Especially in this industry you must be very careful of what you say because people can get super jealous. As an advice … be yourself, be conscious about what you do and what you say and just keep things in a balanced way all the time. That helps a lot.

Okay yeah, that’s great advice.

Did you ever experience these dark moments?…where you basically wanted to give up, or you lost your passion?

Absolutely, yes. It happened a couple of times where I wanted to give up. I didn’t want to do this job anymore because I was so overwhelmed of what was happening around me. And mostly because I’m a very sensitive person and when things happen like for example: You don’t pass an audition or people think that you don’t deserve that place or, you know…then you start thinking, “okay that’s not my job anymore, I don’t want to do this. I don’t want to have this feeling anymore.” That has put me down and I was like okay I want to stop dancing. I was working so much and I was really overwhelmed with jobs. I was traveling a lot and I was meeting new people constantly.

I was working for all kind of jobs like for example: TV jobs or productions or musicals and sometimes I was doing all these things at the same time! 

Also, meeting people that you know already you’re going to have to say goodbye to… that’s kind of sad- that you will not see these people anymore. You know, after such a long time this happens to you. It’s like, “Okay, when this is going to end? When is this feeling going to end?” Somehow, we want to have this crazy life but somehow we also would love to have a normal life with a balance, but at the same time … I’m like, “I love my life!” You know, I’ve been through this for ten years now and I love it.

Let’s talk about moving from your hometown and your country to pursue your career. I mean how do you handle that situation? We already know now that you are a very sensitive person and also very family orientated. How do you handle that situation?

It was hard, It was super hard. But I was also together with my brother, so he helped me, we helped each other. I mean I was also very young so I was not really thinking too much that I’m going to leave my family. But now I realize that it was tough. At that time it was more like “okay, let’s do it. Let’s go!” It was an adventure. I didn’t even know what I was going through or literally where I was going to. So, I was like “okay, let’s see and if things are not working out I go back home.”But things then went well and I stayed abroad. So yeah, it was very hard leaving my family and missing all the birthdays and celebrations while I was working in the theater. For example, I have a niece and a nephew and I didn’t see my niece when she was born because I was working. But then I think “okay, I decided that this is my job and it’s my passion and it’s something that I have to go through.” It’s hard, it’s hard to be away from your family for a long time but now I’ve got used to it. But, at that time it was also hard being alone and not having someone that you can really trust. It’s hard.

How is it to work on a cruise ship as a dancer?

My first experience on a cruise ship was crazy but at the same time it was also nice because I was working with my brother, so that helped me a lot. On the cruise ship, you are in a different world, it’s not a normal life. Living 24/7 with other people for seven months or even more. It’s crazy and for me it was the first time leaving Italy, that was also the crazy part, because it was my first paid job. When we got to Berlin in Germany for the rehearsals I thought, wow, oh my god I made it. But that was only the beginning of everything. And then we got to the ship, and it was just “wow!!”.

The first day I wanted to leave, I wanted to escape from the ship because I only wanted to dance but on the ship you also need to do other things like fire fighting training or safety trainings and crowd management.

But it was a great experience in the end because I learned so much. You also learn to meet yourself and other people from all over the world, and it’s amazing because you really open your mind.

I used to be a stage technician on the cruise ship myself for quite a while and there were something like over 40 different nations working and living together in this small space, all these different religions and it’s peaceful in a way, that made me realize for the first time, you know, when you watch the news or whatever and you see how many political issues are going on in the world and then you compare it to this combined space, well… we can live peacefully together. That taught me also quite a lot there.

Dancing on the ship was amazing because afterwards I did shows and I was like okay if I’m going out of the ship the shows are going to be even more nice than the shows on the ship but actually the shows on the ships are amazing, you can dance in a professional way and around the stage are people that are actually making the show work in an amazing way. Like technicians, light designers, directors and creators and it’s amazing working there and being a part of this. It’s cool, it’s really nice.

I heard from some people it’s like bad to have their cruise ship experience on their cv.

When you want to work for land based ballet companies they would go like “oh, you worked on the cruise ship…. Hmmm!” You know, I never understood that concept. 

I mean, some of my friends were facing these problems. They joined the ship, well, first of all, because it was a job, or they wanted to do the experience and they just did it for a year or so, after that they wanted to apply in a normal theater and some directors said “Well, when you have your cruise ship experience on your cv, you don’t have to apply here.” I never understood that because most of the shows are amazing and some cruise ships are better equipped than land-based theatres. 

Yeah, absolutely, and I think it’s stupid to think like this because some of the best dancers I know, I met on the ship and I’ve been working a lot outside of the ship and I can say that the best dancers are on the ship. First of all, getting on the ship is super hard, you have to pass through crazy auditions, because on the ship you don’t only dance one style, you dance everything. 

So you have to be good in everything and to be good you have to go through so many auditions that it’s crazy! So the dancers that are on the ship are amazing and it’s quite stupid to think otherwise. I mean for me it was actually the opposite. 

Because after the ship I started working outside, like in normal theaters like crazy and it was amazing for me going to the ship and then starting working in theaters. For me it was like the easiest thing ever because being on the ship is hard but at the same time it’s amazing, you know it’s like it’s this uh crazy contrast that makes the ship life super nice and cool

Like if they would ask me again to go on the ship I would go immediately right now, because it’s amazing. Everyday, you wake up in a different city. Exactly, that’s the crazy part and it’s amazing because, you get paid to do this, to dance and to travel the whole world and then you, literally, wake up in a different country every day. It’s like, where am I today? The Caribbean ? Italy? Thanks to this I got a chance to travel almost the whole world, and yeah, I’m getting paid and getting paid…. is amazing.

Talking about pay, can you throw us a number here?

Well it depends, I did jobs where it was really well paid and jobs where it was not well paid. I think we all need to go through this and learn, what and how much worth you are. Because us dancers, we are worth a lot because we study a lot to get there and when I see people that actually don’t understand- this is stupid, because we really study our whole life to be on stage and if we don’t get the right amount of money or the right salary then it’s like … okay, I don’t want to do this anymore. You know, I see also people giving up because of that but I always say, don’t give up. Because there are other doors that they can open.

What is a good salary for being a dancer? Because it is also important for us to raise awareness within the entertainment industry and also people in general to value our work.

I think 3000 euros would be a fair salary, because we work a lot and to be a professional dancer, it takes a lot of power. We work so much so we need to have a fair salary. For example, if I break my knee tomorrow I cannot work and it’s crazy to get back in shape and back to that stage. We are always so scared all the time. For example, I don’t do any crazy sports, because I’m scared of breaking something, that I cannot work, so I think 3 000 Euros per month should be a fair price.

What do you think is the most underrated job in the entire entertainment industry? Who is not getting enough credit?

I think, I would say technicians. We people, that are on stage, we have to thank them, because they are actually giving us the opportunity to be on stage. We only go on stage and we show our faces and body, but who is behind us? Who is actually doing really the job, we are just having fun on stage.

Your life as a performer, what is it that you are happy for?

Well, actually now during corona period, it’s kind of hard to say that, but I’m very happy.

I am happy because I reached that level, I did a lot of things and now I can be happy. I’m happy with what I did and with the people I worked and the places I’ve seen and now I’m really happy that I’m also teaching, that gives me a lot of a nice feelings and to see people learning my stuff, my choreographies, it’s amazing for me because I have been on the other side all the time and now I am giving advice to people that are starting dancing and it’s amazing for me. I see it like a cool thing.  

We also can talk a little bit about your current creative process, what you’re doing right? Now, so we are here in Munich and, yeah well, corona brought us all to a full stop but you were lucky enough to get a place here in one of these beautiful dance studios…

Yeah, it was crazy because like one and a half years ago I was working on tour for a production but they stopped everything and the closest city was Munich so I was like okay, I need to see what I can do here and then I applied for different dancing schools but at that time no one was really able to give me a job and then suddenly they called me because a friend talked with the school and they were like… okay, there’s a dancer who wants to work and wants to teach, so they called me and then suddenly I got lots of classes and it was super cool because they trusted me and they didn’t know me and I was a total stranger for them but they trusted me and I’m super happy that now people are coming to my classes and it’s really amazing for me. It’s a blessing that every time I finish my class I am super thankful. 

Oh that’s amazing and is there a particular style that you teach, what is it?

I mostly teach jazz, modern, lyrical jazz, hip-hop and dancehall. 

Yeah okay, this maybe a really basic question, but also I mean, how do you choose your favorite dance style? There must be a moment in every dancer’s life when you say like “this is my style”. I know, I always ask myself… well, I don’t ask myself, but it’s a good question.
You know, you can be a ballet dancer in one of the biggest German theaters or you can be a show dancer for Katy Perry. Yeah, you know, there’s something along the way. Do you have any thoughts on that? 

Of course yeah, but I mean.. for example I love to be in musicals but I also love to be on TV, so the things that I did on TV they were amazing and I was always so happy. I mean I’m still that. I always worked with great choreographers that inspired me so much but my best style, it’s like… I like for example that when I’m teaching I like to mix things because I come from a background where I learned everything. Now I like to mix everything ,for example, latin with jazz, with hip-hop and with modern.  I think I mostly like to mix things and I don’t have a specific style. Also for me it was really hard sometimes to understand where I belong, you know, but that’s why I did everything.

I did the ship, I did musicals and I did TV, I’m teaching because I’m always so curious for everything that happens around me and that makes things more interesting.  

Sure, is there still a role outside that you miss playing? You know, that you always said like…I always want to be part of that show but you never auditioned or you know, something…

No I don’t think so… I did things that actually I really loved and I really felt it like.. wow!! Every time I got a job I felt so grateful. It was for me always like the first time, you know, I was like “oh“, feeling like I was a kid…literally being in another world. So for me it was always great, you know being in every production I did, in every job I did. I don’t think I have any regrets, I was like..oh I wanted to do this job!

Well that’s a fulfilled professional life!! That’s an amazing goal. 

We have also one signature closing question. If you had the chance to put anything on a billboard what would that be?

What would you paint on it?

I love circles, I would just paint circles. I love circles because they are like..I don’t know… a moving thing, and I see like movement all the time in circle, so I would just paint these things.

Perfect that’s an amazing ending for the circle!

Hope you enjoyed this show of Velvet Legends and thank you to my guest Giovanni!

Thank you.