We recently connected with Alisa Seleznova and have shared our conversation below.

Alisa, appreciate you joining us today. Are you able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen?

As a 27-year-old young woman, I can say that I do have a full-time creative job that makes my living. I do what I love every day and it feels amazing. My very first little income was prize money at the competition at a young age which gave me an understanding that dancing can be rewarded. Then I started to teach little kids ballroom dancing back in Ukraine. I enjoyed doing that very much, especially when I see the result of how these little students worked hard at the dance studio and later showed their progress on the competition floor.
Later on, we’ve been fortuned to get an amazing opportunity to work as a featured ballroom couple on one of the largest cruise ships Independence of the Seas on the biggest cruise company in the US, Royal Caribbean.
We were a part of a big production show called “Invitation to Dance”. We were enjoying traveling the world and dancing which makes a perfect mix.
Then our dancing path brought us to the US. We were offered a position as dance instructors in one of the studios in Arizona. After being here in Phoenix, AZ for the last 3 and half years this place became our home, we met so many amazing people and made many friends.
Our dance journey is still as exciting as before. We are so looking forward to seeing what is coming next.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My name is Alisa. I am originally from Ukraine. I’m a professional ballroom dancer, I’ve been dancing for 20 years. I got into ballroom dancing when I was seven years old, it was a small dance studio at the school I was studying at. My mom brought me there and since then I never stopped dancing.
My dance partner Ivan and I will celebrate our 10th anniversary of dancing together this summer. We’ve been competing all over the world in the UK, France, Netherlands, Poland, and Ukraine. We are competing all over the US now and we are very happy to have such an incredible opportunity.
Ivan and I moved to the US three years ago and we are working with students of all ages.

Ballroom dancing is a very complex type of discipline. It offers a big variety of benefits, you can learn how to be in control of your body, how to keep balance, how to keep your posture, how to express your feelings through the dance movement, etc.

As dance instructors, our goal is not only to teach people dancing steps but make them feel confident on the dance floor, and help develop their performing skills.

We provide the following services: private dance lessons and coaching, and group classes. We choreograph wedding dance routines, we perform dance shows at the events by request. We dance ballroom competitions with our students. It’s called Pro-Am competitive dancing, meaning a professional dancer/teacher dancing with an amateur student.

We teach our students to use their body muscles correctly to avoid any type of injury, which makes them feel confident and free while they dance because they can rely on their knowledge and body muscles. You can learn essential principles that make your dance journey much more accessible even at the very beginner level.

I am very proud of all of my students who show commitment and passion for dancing. They are all incredible. I love to work with all of my wedding couples, I appreciate their trust in me to choreograph their special dance for a such special occasion.
All of my social dance students make me proud as well.
And last but not least I’m proud of my competitive student Andy Fitzgerald. He has been dancing for two years and has been competing in the Pro/Am division for one year. I’m incredibly proud of all his achievements, it’s amazing to watch his progress.

We specialize in all the ballroom styles (waltz, tango, foxtrot, cha-cha, rumba, samba, etc.). We also teach social styles like salsa, bachata, merengue, and swing.
All people have a different approach to dancing, some people want to help their coordination, some people want to be able to feel comfortable going out to dance, and some people want to go to competitions to shine bright on the dance floor.
Our goal is to satisfy our clients’ requests and show all the possible benefits that dancing can offer.

Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?

I have no regrets that I haven’t learned about some aspects of dancing earlier in my career because I strongly believe every knowledge comes at the right time and at a certain level of professionalism and readiness. I would really recommend looking for inspiration and new resources in all demonstrations of art. I dance professionally in International Latin but I find tons of inspiration in ballet, flamenco, jazz, and all kinds of dancing and music. I think as a creator it could be very useful to learn from other creators and incorporate different forms of art into your chosen discipline. It can bring you to a completely different level of understanding of your body, mind, movement, musicality, and forms.
You can find inspiration in very unexpected places, you just need to be ready to accept it.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

Artists and creatives influence the culture in the modern world. Culture is a big aspect of everyone’s life, just as eating food. We don’t even realize how many products of art people consume every day. Even just watching TV shows or movies, you can appreciate tons of creative work, like music, costumes, directing, etc. Easy enough you can be a part of the creative ecosystem by attending a dance class or gallery exhibition, going to the theater, or watching a dance competition. You can also support local artists and events. And just simply spread the word about them. Creative communities are everywhere and you can find and fit in the right one.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://khdlslznv.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/khudoliyseleznova/
• Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/khudoliyseleznova/?_rdr
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alisa-seleznova-84aa231ba/
• Twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/khdlslznv
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQXmkt1grRheinqbZjQRDxw
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/ballroom-dance-lessons-with-ivan-and-alisa-phoenix
• Other: TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@khudoliyseleznova

Image Credits
Vladi Pavlov