Daily Inspiration: Meet Dominique Laraine

Today we’d like to introduce you to Dominique Laraine

Hi Dominique, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My mom actually put me in a dance studio when I was about two years old and not to sound cliché but it’s been history ever since haha. When I was younger, I played various sports, sung in choir, played instruments, modeled. I kind of dabbled in everything. But dance was always at the forefront of my life. When I was about 9 or 10 years old, I remember getting the Beyoncé experience tour programme book. Seeing those dancers and Beyoncé was the moment that I decided I wanted to be professional dancer when I was older. I in awe. As soon as I graduated high school I moved to Los Angeles and I’ve been out here for almost 10 years now.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It’s definitely been the opposite of smooth haha, but it’s been exactly what was needed for my journey. Smooth roads don’t facilitate growth and experience. And without those two things, success becomes unreachable. As crazy as it sounds, I’m grateful for all of the blood sweat and tear experiences that I’ve had. I feel like that’s what shaped me to be the woman that I am today. The biggest struggle above all was my relationship with myself. I truly learned that if that’s not healthy everything else around you crumbles. Working on that relationship with your own self and learning how to really love yourself beyond the mask you put on to fake it in front of others is crucial for success in any field, but especially one like this.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I’ve been professionally dancing for almost 10 years now. Back home I would do various performances around the community and got to even do some music videos and halftime games for sporting events. Once I moved to LA was when the dream jobs came in. I’ve been grateful to be able to check some amazing things off my bucket list through what I love and it’s been nothing short of an honor. I feel like the ability to perform is such a gift. But at the same time, it’s also a big responsibility. As performers, we have a huge power that can impact whoever is watching. Whether that’s conveying a message, telling a story, or just creating a lively environment – This is something I don’t take lightly and being able to express any emotion on a platform and captivate a crowd is such a high I can’t even explain. As far as what I’m most proud of, aside from checking things off my bucket list, the biggest highlights in my career are when I have had people message or approach me saying that I’ve inspired them to keep going or inspired them to start chasing their dreams or even just inspired them to be confident. It makes every obstacle worth going through and I feel like as people get older, what are we if we’re not guiding those coming up after us and doing our best to make sure they don’t make the same mistakes we did and to also inspire them in ways that maybe we wish we were inspired.

Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?
I definitely was a different person growing up haha. I really used to live in a shell. Whatever sport or art that I participated in was my form of expression and I found so much inspiration from the things around me. I felt like doing anything creative was for sure my biggest outlet. I was still outgoing and lively when I had to be, but I definitely did love my alone time and really sometimes just love the silence. Outside of those things I was also and still am a big nature girl. Growing up in the south I’ve found so much home in nature and animals around me. If nothing else that was my escape. Whether that was being in water or in force or interacting with the wildlife around me, there were so much bliss in connecting with the outside. To this day, that’s still a huge form of escape for me.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dominiquelaraine/