Today we’d like to introduce you to Shantel Grasdal Ramos

Hi Shantel, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.

I started as a professional dancer and performer 10 years ago in Vancouver, Canada. Over the years I have had the privilege of working on a wide range of projects, with a wide range of clients, such as Amazon Prime, Riot Games, Bose, Hugo Boss, Neutrogena, and Walmart. I have also been able to work with artists, such as AP Dhillon, Melo LV, and Dana Shine.

The biggest factor that helped reach these heights, is relying on my training, and feeling confident in the product (Me) that I have curated. Hiring teams want to feel confident and at ease that you will be able to help them at the end have a professional, polished result. Reminding myself that, helps ease those nerves that ultimately come from putting yourself on display in the audition room.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?

Any road you take will always have trials and tribulations. Some from your own doing, others from factors you can’t control. Injuries, self doubt, having the wrong look, nerves, high expenses, strikes, you don’t have the right technique, the right skill level, rejection, rejection, rejection. You name it I have dealt with it, and likely so has every other dancer and performer.

There is a small anomaly of performers that have had an easy smooth road, and I think that is amazing for them, but there is a sense of camaraderie that comes with performers knowing we are all in the same boat. Knowing that that this industry is tough, and unstable for all of us. With that being said, you just have to minimize the variables you can control. Make sure you’re trained in as many styles as possible, make sure you are strong enough to do whatever a choreographer or director may throw at you, make sure you’re doing proper warm ups, and cool downs, eating properly. Minimize the variables and leave the rest up to fate.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?

As a dancer, my most fulfilling jobs are usually working with musical artists. I love being able to make their vision from music come alive in a physical expression. It adds to creating a full scope of ways to enjoy the art you’re experiencing. With that being said, I recently did a commercial for Hugo Boss that has quickly become my all time favourite job I have ever done.

I have always loved fashion, music, and dance, but when it came to fashion I would normally enjoy it separate to music and dance. Being able to marry all those expressions on one job was a dream and a lane in this industry that I had not realized I had been craving. The moment I started on that job I very quickly thought to myself, “Oh, right. This is exactly what I am supposed to be doing.” The team was so collaborative, the movement direction was exactly what I felt I had been training to do all my life, and it did not hurt that I got to walk away with some beautiful pieces from Hugo Boss.

I find that dance and fashion are very complimentary art forms, that do not often get to melded together. Over the decades, there have been times when they were notably intertwined, and I believe we have entered a renaissance of them coming together in very big ways again. More fashion houses are using dance in their commercials, print, etc.

I am excited to hopefully work on more jobs like this in the future.

We’d be interested to hear your thoughts on luck and what role, if any, you feel it’s played for you?

I would say luck is 50% of the job. Like I mentioned before, you minimize your variables by training, taking care of yourself (mentally, physically, etc.), you learn how to work on different teams (you might be asked to be collaborative on one vs the next you are told exactly what to do) you network with the choreographers you want to work with. You do all that you can, but if production is looking for 6’2” model looking dancers, or a petite blonde dancer, or you look like the lead actress of the production so you would be a perfect stand-in, all those variables won’t matter as much.

I recently worked on a Neutrogena commercial that I was booked on solely due to me looking like the lead actress. I did not even audition for this job. I was directly booked based on my headshot. It had nothing to do with my talent, training, etc. and everything to do with the luck of looking like the actress they just so happened to decide on for this particular commercial. Sometimes that is just how it goes.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_shantel/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@shantelgrasdalramos

Image Credits

Evan Morash @Createvstudio