Life & Work with Tori Evans

Today we’d like to introduce you to Tori Evans.

Hi Tori, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I was raised in Northern California, in a small SMALL town outside of San Jose, CA called Morgan Hill. I grew up doing everything; dance, volleyball, swimming, piano, track, I think I even played soccer for a few years. Dance was always there, I just wasn’t necessarily always the best at it. When I was around 11 or 12, by some miracle something inside me clicked with dance and after that moment, there was no going back. As much as I wanted to run down to LA after high school to start dancing, I ended up going the school route and received a scholarship to the University of Arizona. Looking back now, I definitely needed that time in college to not only train but to grow as a human. And it turned out to be one of my favorite experiences of life to this day.

Anyway, I graduated early, thank you AP classes, and after the longest story ever(basically I skipped school one day, went to LA, booked my first dance tour and drove back in time to make it to my rehearsal) I moved to LA to start my first dance job ever. It was perfect, a year tour right out of college; I couldn’t have asked for anything more. Made some phenomenal friends and then once that was finished, I moved to LA the following fall. That first year was all about training and learning what it was like to dance in La. I already felt like I had to play catch up as most dancers don’t go to college, so the longest time I always felt behind. My greatest advantage was working at Millennium Dance Complex where I could train and take all my dance classes for free in exchange for working the front desk. Then slowly came the auditions and eventually came booking the auditions. Within that first year, I booked my next world tour with the Indi-pop band, Empire of the Sun, which is where I met some of my closest and dearest friends to this day.

The following year brought another world tour, this time with the incredible Ricky Martin. I was overwhelming blessed to work with both artists back to back. We traveled the world for years and even did a Las Vegas residency at the Monte Carlo for a year. I still to this day haven’t had a nicer boss than him and I’m forever grateful to that sweet, talented man. And then this old soul at heart (y’all, I’m seriously 80 trapped in a 30 years old body) got the craving to stay in LA more. It felt like I was living out of my suitcase and that I never got to experience LA. So the past two years, I’ve put my energy and focus into Tv/Film work and within these past couple of years, I’ve been blessed enough to work with artists such as Cardi B, Mary J Blige, Jason Derulo, Beyonce, Maroon 5, Tyga and on shows like The Price is Right, The Masked Singer and the Kelly Clarkson Show. I still am continuing working in TV/Film here in LA and my dream job would actually be to work on a movie with my boyfriend.

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?
If anyone has lived in LA and has tried to pursue anything in the creative industry (i.e., acting, modeling, dance, etc.) and hasn’t had a rough road, please call me so we can have coffee and chat because I would love to hear your one in a million story. LA is not a forgiving place; it tears you down, gives you some hope and just as you’re being built back up, La comes back for that uppercut. Now, I’m not saying that my road has been riddled with potholes, u-turns and dead ends, but I guess I’m referring the doubts, insecurities, uncertainties I’ve battled within this business even if you are “successful”. I’ve been blessed with the career I’ve had but I’ve been through the auditions where I not pretty enough, not small enough, not good enough. Trust me. I’ve been to auditions where they had to asked me to leave twice, TWICE y’all because I didn’t know who they were pointing too. I’ve even been days away from an opening night to be fired on the spot after months of hard work. You think I would be broken; I have been, but I’ve also gained my strengths from these roadblocks. I’ve grown and continually grow into a strong, talented woman that has lived a life. A life that has had obstacles but have filled the chapters of my life with some, now, funny stories.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
So I’m a professional dancer here in LA and that entails a bunch of different styles. Mainly I work in hip hop and commercial jazz, but I do dance in all the other styles such as contemporary, ballroom, ballet, tap, etc. I’m also a certified yoga instructor at Hot8Yoga. I received my 200hrs fromYogaWorks back in 2019 and have been teaching up until the pandemic. And if that wasn’t enough, I also synchronize swim with the wonderful company, the Aqualillies. They have combine dancers with synchronized swimmers into a dynamite team and over the past decade, we’ve performed at live events from weddings to staring in major music videos and movies such as Hail Caesar, Black is King and more. It’s been an incredible journey these past six years that I’ve been able to travel the world and work alongside some of the best in the business. I don’t think there is one job that I’m most proud of, I would have to say I’m most proud of my work ethic. I like that I can say that I work my hardest on every job and that work ethic has kept me working to this day. So I’m forever grateful to my teachers and family that has instilled in me to not only work harder but be easy to work with. What I say to myself every time I get to go to work is that “I’m happy to be here, easy to work with”.

Do you any memories from childhood that you can share with us?
I don’t know why but this question took me a second to answer. I enjoyed my childhood so much cause I was constantly playing, reading or just running around the neighborhood. My sister is my best friend in the whole world, so growing up we were constantly playing gymnastics, as in, pretending we were in the Olympics while creating our own routines. Having a ton of energy and always needing to be active, we would also just make up our own games. My parents are the most supportive and loving parents out there. They were adamant about exposing us to the world and keeping us informed, so even at a young age we were traveling. That right there is probably my fondest childhood memory, traveling. I was eight years old and crazy as it sounds, my parents took my sister and I to London, Spain, Morocco and Germany all on one trip. Looking back on it, all the trips we took sparked my interest in traveling which is probably why/how I fell into touring.

Pricing:

• Yoga Private Session $100/1hr

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/teetime23/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tori.evans.50
• Other: https://vimeo.com/301524114

Image Credits:
LeeGumbsPhotography DaveSchwepPhotography AshleyMardPhotography MattMcCallPhotography