Meet Olivia Vannucci | Dancer, Choreographer, & Creator

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

Hi Olivia, how has your background shaped the person you are today?
I grew up in Minneapolis, Minnesota and am so thankful for the entire community I had growing up. My mom put me in ballet class as soon as I could walk, and dance has been my entire life since. I spent the first seven years of my training at a classical Vaganova ballet academy, which in my opinion completely shaped the dancer I am today. Training exclusively ballet for 20+ hours a week taught me so much discipline and provided me with such a solid base of technique that serves me so well today. I have such a deep love and respect for ballet, as well as such a vast knowledge around the style and its history. At age 10 I got my first pair of pointe shoes and fell in love, I got to be a part of Moscow Ballet’s Nutcracker that same year, and at that point I knew for sure that dance was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. Not long after that, my friend at school invited me to an open house at her competition dance studio – I went, took class, was introduced to every other style of dance, and just like that, fell in love all over again. I danced competitively in jazz, hip hop, tap, contemporary, heels, musical theatre, pointe and more at my home studio Summit Dance Shoppe, until I graduated high school. Continuing my ballet training at the same time, I was a member of the pre-professional company, “Invitational” at the studio. We had ballet class every day and learned repertoire and original choreography within the concert dance realm. We also learned about dance history, anatomy, and nutrition – I was even able to get credit for it as a class at school. I can’t say enough about how special that program and my time at the studio is to me, so many of the opportunities I’ve been given out here in LA were because of connections I made during my time there. I’m so thankful to all the teachers and staff for everything I learned from them to become the versatile, well rounded dancer I am today.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I think that everything that I create is centered around dance and movement. Whether it be choreography, dancing, film making, or photography, it all stems from my need to move and create movement with others. The versatility in my training shows in my work, all of my choreography is a fusion of technique, musicality, texture, athleticism, and detailed, challenging movement. I don’t like to put anything in a box or put a label on it – dance is dance, I’m not just a ballet teacher, or a hip hop choreographer, or a dance team coach, I’m all of those things at once and I’m proud of my ability to create in such a wide variety of styles and levels. My work is also very personal to my life and the experiences I’ve had, I love storytelling and many of my films and dance pieces are inspired by something that has happened or is happening in my life. I choreographed my first dance at 12, and started teaching and assisting class at 14, and I haven’t stopped since. Choreographing and teaching come very natural to me and feel like second nature, I learned so much about how to teach simply from taking class from teachers I loved. I taught at various studios throughout high school and love to choreograph for them when I come home to visit. When it comes to dancing, I love a challenge and I don’t think there’s anything I wouldn’t take on with bright eyes and a determined spirit. I’m a perfectionist, I will never stop doing a combination until I get every count and movement down to a T. Perfectionism is a blessing and a curse, it takes a lot for me to be satisfied with something I’ve done, but because of that I have been able to overcome challenges thrown my way because everything in me knows I can do it, and I’ll work as hard as I can to do so. Getting to where I am now definitely hasn’t been easy, I’ve had to push myself out of my comfort zone over and over, and remember why I started dancing and finding the joy in it every day.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Since my best friend is also a dancer, I would definitely want to take them to all my favorite open classes and studios. My favorite places to take class are Stomping Ground, Genesis Studios, Millennium Dance Complex, Playground, and Lume Dance’s open classes at Evolution Studios. Aside from dance, I love fashion and thrifting so I would take them to all my favorite spots like Vintage Vortex, Iguana, Crossroads, American Rebel and of course Melrose trading post every Sunday. Lastly, some of the best places to eat in LA in my opinion are Pao Oak in Thaitown, Granville and Los Amigos in Burbank, and of course my post rehearsal essential is a Taro Tea from It’s Boba Time.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
There are so many people that I am thankful for, but without the support of my family I wouldn’t be where I am today. Whether it be my mom spending hours rhinestoning my costumes to perfection, my little sister coming to every competition to cheer me on, or my dad driving an hour in traffic to bring me my tambourine I forgot for my Esmeralda variation, I truly couldn’t have done it without them. My mom, Patty, is also a dancer and taught at my studios growing up and I owe so much of who I am as a dancer to her. I’d be doing relevé balances in the kitchen and she’d walk by and shout “turn out!” or “shoulders down!”. Through ups, downs, injuries, wins, and failures, she was and still is always there to lift me up and keep me moving forward. I also want to shoutout my teachers and mentors I had growing up, Anne Koho, Linda Muir Finney, Geoff Higgins, Stephanie Wise, Luke Olson-Elm, and Allynne Noelle. There is so much to say about each of these people and the impact they had on my life and dance career, I am so thankful for the lessons they taught me, each of them played a unique and special role in shaping me into the human and dancer I am today.

Instagram: oliviavannucci

Image Credits
Wes Klain, Jenna Penticoff, Josh Rose, Winnie Mu, Lee Gumbs