Today we’d like to introduce you to Lawrence Dominguez.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Lawrence. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
So I started out dancing back to when I was 14 years old back in 2004. Prior to dancing, back home in the Bay Area, I was involved with many activities and cultures: martial arts, playing piano, marching band, pacific island culture, Filipino-American youth empowerment, poetry clubs, hip hop culture, and the church youth group.
With my heavy influence, adaption, culture awareness and ability to juggle multiple tasks at once at a young age, it propelled me to grasp dance and be immersed in its entirety. Being from the Bay Area at the time, it felt like living in the Golden Era of Dance, the Bay being a melting pot of culture, arts and dance it was so easy to hop into a scene. I trained choreography and freestyle at the same time. I trained with various choreographers, teams, projects and crossed-disciplined on various street freestyles (poppin, locking, bebop, soul punkin, house, jukin, dancehall, afro, etc.) under heavy mentorship from the best at the time. Over time I started competing in choreography competitions, entered countless battles, instructed for studios and teams, it felt like it was time to make the jump to LA. By the time I was 21 in 2011, I made the move to LA to pursue dance. Equipped with heavy experience and a slightly good resume I continued to hit the ground running where I left off from the Bay. Along with winning more competitions, consistent in the freestyle scene, performing various club shows, I also got a taste of commercial work and working with artists.
As a dancer in your early 20s, you come out to LA with a dream but clouded intentions, for me I didn’t want to become a famous dancer or be seen in the spotlight. I was always a team player, a huge supporter of achieving the goal together, a WE before ME kinda guy. Because of that mindset, I wanted to work alongside various dancers or company’s that I looked up to growing up as a dancer. In the 1st four years of living in LA, I reached that and now play a role to them as an assistant or producer. By the time I was 25 in 2015 instead of taking the same road as most dancers, I decided to use my other talents and explore different facets of entertainment. Using my influence from my youth, I booked various jobs as a tricker, fire spinner, Polynesian dancer and jazz pianist. My time in LA made me realize you can’t come to LA thinking you can take it over by storm, but only contribute to the beautiful mess that makes this city.
Thinking about how can I contribute to LA or my industry, I decided to take over my family business from the Bay and work remotely in LA as at first a tax preparer all the way to becoming an Entertainment CPA. Because most dancers, freelance artists and those who work entertainment have inexperience or have little knowledge of what to do with finances or taxes, I felt compelled to do my part and help them out with it. Coming from entertainment, I understand the struggle of money and how to handle finances. After four years of running the business, I now am a consistent force and one of the go to entertainment CPAs for independent artists, creatives and entertainers. Now 30 years old and nine years of experience in LA, I found my bearings here in LA, how to stay involved with my first love in dance and how to contribute back to it. As of now, you can find me around LA surfing, roller skating, doing capoeira, performing at the club, hiking or working on your taxes….but catch me if you can.
Has it been a smooth road?
Being in LA, you should always expect a bumpy road or heavy traffic in order to get to your destination (see what I did there?). As an independent artist, I didn’t know how to manage my 1st apartment, after that experience I found myself couch surfing, apartment hopping for a long time. For a long time, it felt like I couldn’t find a place to call home. Another huge struggle was in late 2014, I got in a huge near fatal car accident. A bed frame in the road caused me to dodge it but still snag it. My back wheel tire blew out causing me to spin out and roll over twice landing upside down.
Fortunately, I walked out with no injuries but a huge lesson in life to never take anything for granted, life is fleeting so live it fully. Till this day, I have changed my life for the better and always take everyday and moment as a blessing. My biggest struggle was in 2016, in less than a month’s time, my grandpa passed away and my mother gets a stroke. The battle of who’s going to take care of my mom, the house and the family business. With a lot of thought and sacrifice, I took over the business and ran it remotely from LA. With all the downs came huge ups. I am grateful for all the experiences and wouldn’t change a thing how things went down.
We’d love to hear more about your work and what you are currently focused on. What else should we know?
I am an independent artist and owner of a tax firm based in the SF Bay Area. As an independent artist, what sets me apart is my skill set. Well versed in multiple styles of dance, I can easily be put in any job. I direct book jobs for specialty acts. I can be used as a tricker, capoeirista, fire spinner, fire breather, and jazz pianist. Other jobs I have been booked to case study my hobbies creatively such as surfing, roller skating, rock scrambling but with use of smoke bombs, fire spinning and other hazardous things hahaha. So if you ever see some beautiful chaos in LA, its most likely me.
As a business owner of a tax firm, what separates me is the fact that I use to be in the same position as my client forte. I understand the struggles of finance as an independent artist and entertainer. I know the hassle and pressures of talking to a professional who doesn’t understand your line of work. With me, I relate to my clients and give them a safe place to talk about their financial woes and help them understand their taxes. Especially in this time in the pandemic, I feel as if I am a financial essential worker helping dancers understand how to manage their money and alleviate their financial stress.
Is our city a good place to do what you do?
LA is filled with opportunities and hunger for growth. LA is the perfect place to start a business for sure but you have to ride the wave of what you want and sink, that way when you raise up you have your bearings. My advice to the ones who want to come here make sure you have a dream. You don’t need to have a clear concise goal but just follow your dream and see where it takes you. You might get lead down a rabbit hole or make a detour on something you didn’t know was your calling. It’s not gonna take six months or a year to know what life is gonna truly entail for you. But just stay the course, weather the storm….as soon you start saying I hate LA just know that it’s now growing on you. And it’ll fruition to something amazing
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: Instagram.com/LawRentz
- Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000441412911&ref=content_filter
Image Credit:
Daniel DeArco, Mao Kawakami, Mana Ikeda, Sidney Panelo
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