Meet Colleen Finazzo | Professional Dancer & Personal Trainer/ Fitness Instructor

We had the good fortune of connecting with Colleen Finazzo and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Colleen, why did you decide to pursue a creative path?
I started dancing at the age of 3 when my mother put me in dance classes. Dance has been in my life now for 27 years and it’s something I truly cannot imagine living without. The passionate, love, and need for dance only became more apparent and grew more as I became older. Through all of the hardships it’s brought me, the joy and love of dance is something that has remained. Watching dancers perform on stage, in front of live audiences, tv, movies, and film fills me with huge motivation and almost an envy to want to be up on that stage with them. It’s a satisfaction indescribable.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
Dancing since the age of 3, I attended The University of the Arts in Philadelphia majoring in Jazz Dance Performance. Something that sets me apart from others is my versatility in dance itself. I studied dance in the styles of tap, jazz, ballet, hip-hop, contemporary, Irish dance, modern, heels, house, and jazz-funk. One of the things I’m most proud of is that I took the step of moving across the country to pursue my career and dreams and that I’ve continued to do that almost 7 years later. So many people I know moved out to LA to pursue a career in the arts or entertainment industry and left only a few short years of living here because they gave up. Pursuing any career in the arts and entertainment industry is not easy and has continuous challenges along the way. Moving to LA I knew there would be challenges, hurdles and lots of rejection. It ended up being a lot more difficult than I realized once I moved out here and really started pursuing it professionally. One of the major motivations that helped me to want to continue pursuing dance and staying in LA were my friends and family and the constant motivation and support they gave me. When I moved here, I got a job working in a high end restaurant in Beverly Hills. That’s what paid my bills in order to pursue what I came here to do. I jumped from restaurant to restaurant over the years and I’m grateful for the experience, flexibility and money. It allowed me to train in dance classes, audition (when I wasn’t signed I crashed the auditions my friends got through their agencies until I was signed), worked out as much and often as I could at the gym, and create friendships and networking opportunities whenever possible. Eventually I signed with an agency, began work as a dancer/entertainer for an entertainment company, joined a tap company, and finally left the restaurant industry for good. Since living in LA I’ve head the pleasure of dancing in China, tap dancing for a major movie doing Foley sound, dancing on a Hulu tv show, and dancing for my favorite choreographer, Richy Jackson, who choreographs for Lady Gaga. There are so many lessons I’ve learned along the way but some main ones that have helped me grow: do not let anyone or anything keep you from pursuing your ultimate dreams and goals; be open and willing to change your path or plan of how you’re going to achieve your goals because a lot of the time, you’ll need to redirect and re-route how you thought you were going to achieve them. For example, when I moved to LA my first goal was to be signed with a dance agency. 3 years later I was agentless, but ended up booking an international tour to China for several months and through that, signed with an agency when I got back. So be creative and open-minded!; my biggest and most important lesson is that your path is nobody else’s and someone else’s path is not yours. I’ve looked around people and friends I know that barely had just moved to LA and were already signed with agents, booking instantly. I kept comparing myself to everyone else and it’s the worse possible thing you can do. Don’t compare and don’t focus on anyone else’s path but your own, because only you can create and bring to fruition your dreams into reality. I’m a passionate, loving, caring, and genuine person who wants to travel the world doing what I love: dance. Health & fitness have also been something I’ve loved for years and I finally received my personal training certification over the pandemic to start pursuing that as well. Challenge yourself always, and do what you love.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I am a huge foodie and love a delicious restaurant with great food and drinks. Hiking is also something I love to do with friends on my leisurely time. I would definitely need to take them on at least one hike and one good restaurant a day. Some restaurants I would go to would be Castaway in Burbank, Perch in downtown LA, BOA steakhouse in West Hollywood, The Penthouse in Santa Monica at the Huntley Hotel, and NOBU in Malibu. From steak to French to American, these places are all unique with incredible views that I love visiting for a delicious meal. Hikes would include Runyon Canyon, Los Leones Trailhead, Wisdom Tree, Stough Canyon Nature Center and Eaton Canyon Falls. Each of these hikes represent LA in their own way, from waterfalls, to ocean views, they’re all uniquely beautiful. Hookah is something that is really popular in LA and oddly enough something I enjoyed doing with my friends back in Philly. Ironically I live on the same street as a hookah lounge that is probably my favorite called Pyramido. It’s not obnoxious, or crowded, the owner is the nicest man you can imagine, the Mediterranean food I delicious, and the hookah is great quality except for the LA prices. It’s one of my hidden gems I always love to take friends to. The beaches in LA are just beautiful, so of course I couldn’t bring my friend out here and not take them. My favorite beaches are Hermosa, Redondo and Manhattan beaches. They’re not touristy like Santa Monica and Venice, the water is crisp and blue, and there’s always tons of restaurants and bars to visit. Something I would definitely need to do with them would be to have a bonfire at Dockweiler beach where you get to have your own bonfire at one of their bonfire pits, cook s’mores, grill and just enjoy the beautiful scenery LA has to offer.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
The love and support that I have received throughout my life has been pretty incredible. Everyone in my family and all of my friends have been there with me and supported me so much along the way but I’d have to say the main people that I want to shout out are my mom, dad, little sister Alexis and best friend Chelsey. My mother put me in dance so of course that’s what started it all. My mom and dad have supported me every step of the way in my dance career and are always so eager to hear the next big audition, or gig that’s happening. My little sister Alexis took after me and was put in dance at around the same age; she’s now 20! She’s on The Diamond Gems dance team at Temple University and she is always there when I need advice on outfits, hair, makeup, and whatever else there is that needs a second opinion. Chelsey has been my best friend since we met in college as dance majors together, and we made the move to LA together 7 years ago. She has been my constant rock in LA and I truly don’t know what I’d do without her.

Instagram: @shufflebot91 @fitbyfinazzo

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/colleenfinazzo/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cfinazzo91/

Youtube: https://youtu.be/seY5v3Byy80

Image Credits
Lee Gumbs