Today we’d like to introduce you to Brendali Espiritu.
Brendali, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
After my first summer intensive studying at the Joffrey Ballet School in New York at the age of 14, I knew I had a shot at dancing professionally. A couple of years later, I moved to New York to study on scholarship at the School of American Ballet, the official school of the New York City Ballet, while finishing high school at the Professional Children’s School. It was a tough adjustment, but I was very focused and hard working and got cast in the principal role for the graduation performance. It was a great opportunity to be seen, and a week later, I got offered a contract to dance with my dream company, the American Ballet Theatre (ABT). I performed with ABT around the world but struggled with an ankle injury that made it difficult for me to dance on pointe, which was the deciding factor in cutting my career with ABT short.
I moved to Los Angeles, got cast in dance and acting roles for film and TV, went back to school, and taught Pilates. For a long time, I stayed away from the ballet world. I couldn’t even listen to classical music. Right before the Pilates boom, Mari Winsor hired me to teach Pilates and got me certified through Romana Pilates. For over a decade, I performed in dozens of Winsor Pilates videos. Pilates was a great way for me to heal my body, maintain strength and flexibility, and help others do the same. I also began a yoga practice, studied aerial silk, other forms of dance besides ballet and realized that once a dancer, always a dancer.
I got a life-changing opportunity to get certified to become an ABT®Certified Teacher of the ABT®National Training Curriculum. It’s an inspiring and positive program that focuses on the well-being of dancers, and a cathartic experience for me. I came around full circle back to ballet, and immediately started teaching ballet in Los Angeles and Orange County, I’ve been welcomed back into the ABT family and taught at ABT’s Orange County Summer Intensive and am currently on faculty at the ABT Gillespie School at the Segerstrom Center for the Performing Arts. I love giving back to young dancers and learning from them. After many trials and tribulations led me to seek a Spiritual practice, dive deep and find my purpose in life, I have the clarity to draw from my professional experience, healing journey, and be of service to my students through my coaching and teaching of movement.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
No, the road had been bumpy with lots of potholes. Dancing was my fun, safe, expressive outlet from the time I was a kid. When I quit, I didn’t have a healthy outlet for unresolved emotional issues, including the remorse of quitting dance and judging myself as a failure and disappointment. I got lost in people pleasing and perfectionism and got pulled out of alignment. I didn’t realize I was depressed until dis-ease manifested in my body and in my personal relationships. I felt stuck and I didn’t have a clear vision of what I wanted, so I went on a mission to take better care of myself and began a journey of self-healing. I tried everything that would help. I was mentored by gifted healers and studied meditation, yoga, energy and breath work, nutrition… then was led to my Spiritual teacher in the Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness, where I became an ordained minister.
I graduated from the Masters of Spiritual Science program at Peace Theological Seminary and completed 3 years of study towards a Doctorate degree. I learned practical tools in taking care of myself first so I can help take care of others. It’s all about self-love, and I had to experience the contrast to the point of realizing I don’t want to spiral any lower. I chose to look up and lighten up. Wasn’t fun or easy, but the more I practiced self-care and did things that made me feel good, such as dancing, meditating, journaling, appreciating my life, surrounding myself with loving people, and eating healthy, I got clearer. I then had the energy and enthusiasm to go about my day. From this place of alignment, life became more graceful and I can be of better service through my work and in my all of my relationships.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
What I really do is teach body, mind, Spirit alignment through physical movement. The mind is used to take the lead in body awareness. Mindfulness helps relax the body and you can focus on creating balance through flowing form, which leads to health and well-being on all levels. In the fitness craze and quest for the “perfect” body, many get out of balance by judging their bodies and exercising with a consciousness of unworthiness. I specialize in Pilates and ballet and focus on the well-being of my students. I teach private Pilates in-home and in-studio sessions in Los Angeles and Orange County, as well as online. I coach dancers privately in LA and the OC. As a coach, I can also do video and online assessments for dancers to work on specific goals with their technique and/or performance. Through group and private sessions, I also facilitate breath work and movement for women who want to reconnect to the power of love within, which is the starting point for any self-healing and alignment to your higher purpose.
What were you like growing up?
I grew up in Huntington Beach and began studying ballet, tap and jazz at age 4 and did dance competitions into my early adulthood. I wasn’t sporty athletic, but was physically adventurous and liked climbing trees and teaching myself acrobatic tricks on everything on the playground. Besides dance, I had an affinity for just about everything in the creative arts- drawing, painting, sculpting, writing poetry, singing, making music, designing my costumes, and reading epic fantasy novels. I’m an only child and introverted, so I created my own world to play in since I wasn’t allowed to play outside with the neighborhood kids. The arts provided a kind of escape for me to cope with emotional stress early on, thank goodness. In some ways, I was shy and had low self-esteem, but dance provided me an outlet to express myself and shine. I was a bit of an overachiever in academic school and stressed myself out by taking too many advanced classes that took the focus away from my dance training, and my dance schedule made studying for school challenging. I pushed myself and got good grades, but I’d have made different choices, knowing what I know now!
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zenbod/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/BrendaLi1
Image Credit:
Kevin McIntyre, Barry J. Holmes
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