We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Stephen Perez. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Stephen below.
Stephen, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.
Within the entertainment industry, you are taking risks in most if not all decisions you make. Nothing is guaranteed in this line of work and you are constantly riding the line of playing it safe and staying stagnant, or being bold and taking risks to further grow and excel. One of these risks I took was my decision to leave my home town in Australia and move to Los Angeles, to further grow my career in the entertainment industry. The process of getting an entertainment visa is no easy task to begin with. There are hours and hours put into proving that you have the talent and capabilities of working in your desired field. It’s a tale as old as time of people leaving their home towns to head to the entertainment capital of the world, but what sets it apart for international hopefuls is that we really don’t have much or anything to fall back on if the going gets tough. Entertainment visas only allow you to work in your profession and nothing else, you really have to be big, bold and have the tenacity to make your dreams come true. I think this has been the biggest risk I’ve taken but it has certainly been the most fulfilling. The moment you start seeing all the hard work you’ve put in finally start to pay off, it makes the initial fears and reservations about taking the risk feel small.
Stephen, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
From the moment I could walk, I was dancing. There was something about the connection of your body to the music that put me in a world of my own. I guess thats my first love story, I fell in love with dance and never looked back. I knew very early on in my life that I was going to do something grand with my passion for dancing and entertaining. I put the blinders on and trained in as many styles of dance that I could get my hands on and continued to master my craft, couldn’t get enough if it. I was extremely fortunate to book my first professional dance job at 17 years of age, where I was dancing with all the top professional dancers in Australia at the time. From that moment, my journey and career with dance blossomed. Ive danced for music artists such as Katy Perry, Kylie Minogue, Taylor Swift, Little Mix to name a few and Ive been able to travel to all the continents of the world, dancing on all the major stages and stadiums. I find connecting to the audience both an easy and fulfilling thing. To have a connection with the people who are watching and have the ability to transport them from their current world to another reality is why I keep falling in love with what I do, that feeling never gets old.
Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?
The artists way by Julia Cameron is a brilliant book that I think all creative beings should read in their life. A creatives flow of ideas and inspiration is not linear and a lot of us find that we can get into spaces where we don’t feel our most creative self or second guessing what we are putting out into the world, creatively. It uncovers problem areas and gives techniques to open a person’s creative flow. It helped me find an even deeper connection to my craft and also, it makes you feel like you’re not crazy for feeling stuck creatively. like you’re not alone in those moments.
Another fantastic read is the courage to create by Rollo May.
Highly recommend these two books for all creatives and non creatives. These insights can be carried into all avenues of life.
Is there mission driving your creative journey?
it’s story telling for me that drives what I do. If I can change someones emotion, way of thinking, transport them to another world through my performances, I feel like im doing what I was put on this earth to do.
As humans, we need connection to one an other, a sense of community. I really believe that dance gives that connection. There are no words spoken to each other and most of the time there is also no physical contact between the audience and the performer, but something happens in the energy that surrounds both, a connection, a sense of understanding, an immense empathic synchronization.
That feeling is what drives me to perform and create and continue to open my mind so I can do the same for others.
Image Credits
Lindsay Rosenberg Photography