Today we’d like to introduce you to Leilani De Marco.
Hi Leilani, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I am a 28-year-old dancer from Australia. I started dancing when I was eight and knew straight away it was what I wanted to do with my life. I danced in Byron Bay, Australia from age 8-13 where I began training in ballet, contemporary, hip hop, jazz, musical theatre and even cheerleading. I then moved to Brisbane, Australia where my training continued. I completed my two years full-time course at DLDC in 2012 where I received my Advanced Diploma in Musical Theatre and Commercial Dance. In 2014 I journeyed to New Zealand to star in NZ dance movie “Born To Dance”. I decided after that trip that I would audition for Parris Goebel’s Royal Family and ReQuest Dance Crew in 2015. I was successful at the audition and moved to New Zealand, where I would dance with Parris and her company for the next two years.
In my first year, I competed at SDNZ nationals with The Royal Family and won 1st place, taking us to the HHI World Finals in America where we received a silver medal. Returning back to New Zealand was followed by dancing in Justin Bieber’s music videos “Sorry”, “What Do You Mean” and “No Sense”. I finished the year off by traveling to Los Angeles to shoot Korean artist CL’s music video “Hello B*tches”. After that we traveled to Seoul, Korea for rehearsals with CL for the Mnet Asian Music Awards (MAMA) in Hong Kong. Alongside CL, we performed with 2NE1 and BIGBANG. In 2017, I competed at Dancers Paradise in Mexico with NZX and received 2nd place. In 2019, I traveled to Hong Kong with choreographer Kiel Tutin to be an assistant choreographer for Coco Lee’s World Tour in Taipei, Taiwan. On that same trip, I went to Shanghai, China and Seoul, Korea to dance in Kun’s music video “Young”. I then traveled back to Shanghai, China to work on League of Legends performances choreographed by Kiel Tutin and assisted by me. At the end of 2019, I went to Beijing, China to dance in Diamond Zhang’s “My Way” music video. 2020 obviously was not filled with as much work 🙁 I danced in Nouri’s music video “Yalla Yalla” at the end of that year.
In 2021, I featured in Lorde’s music videos “Solar Power, “Mood Ring” and “The Path”. I then performed with Six60 at Eden Park in New Zealand. In 2022 I returned to Seoul, Korea for Taiwanese artist Tia Lee’s music video “Tia Baby”. I ended the year performing in Taipei, Taiwan for Taiwanese artist Jolin Tsai’s “Ugly Beauty” shows. 2023 has been my best and most favourite year yet and I am so incredibly grateful! Finishing the Ugly Beauty shows then heading back to Seoul, Korea for rehearsals with BLACKPINK for Coachella Music Festival! This then leads me to being on tour with them right now for their “Born Pink Encore” shows. We performed in London at BST Hyde Park Festival and in Paris at Stade de France in July and will be continuing the tour this month in August with shows in New York, Vegas, San Francisco and finishing the tour in LA. After that, I will head home before my plan to move to LA at the beginning of next year to further my career as a dancer/ performer and I cannot wait!!
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It definitely hasn’t been a smooth road for me on my journey. I have faced a lot of challenges and struggles along the way. Many rejections (that have only made me stronger) and most recently injuring myself (sprained ankle with a torn ligament) taking me out of the game for a few months. This was extremely hard on my mental health as I had never been injured and forced to not dance before (which is a pretty good run for 20+ years of dancing). I had to accept my reality and make sure I was taking care of myself so that I could bounce back bigger and better. I am so grateful to have received so much work since my recovery, and it has only made me even hungrier for what I want! I will continue to chase my dreams for as long as I live.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
As you know, I am a dancer. I am known for many of my accomplishments listed in the previous question. I am most proud of my achievements this year and how far I’ve come in my journey, not just as a dancer but as a human too. I feel that my awareness, work ethic and fight to be the best version of myself is what sets me apart from others. I won’t stop until I physically can’t dance anymore. Until then I will do everything in my power to chase my dreams of performing to the world. I’m doing this for myself and my family and friends because I love it!
If we knew you growing up, how would we have described you?
I’m an Aries, so I’ve always had a very fiery personality. I definitely had my moments of being a bit shy and/or doubting myself. I still struggle with feeling insecure (don’t we all) but have definitely grown to be more confident and proud of who I am. My interests were always dance, of course; my family and friends are very important to me and living the happiest, healthiest life possible filled with a lot of love and laughter.
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