Today we’d like to introduce you to Larissa Thayane
Hi Larissa, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I was born in a small town with only 100k people called Campo Mourao in Brazil.
I started dancing at my friends garage with a group of friends at 8 years old.
At 14 years old i moved to a city called Curitiba, 500k from where I was born, by myself to study at one of the best ballet and contemporary schools in Brazil. i graduated at Escola de Danças Classicas Teatro Guaira in ballet and contemporary. I also joined the University of Dance (Faculdade de Artes do Parana).
4 years later I got hired to work at the Youth Company of Rio de Janeiro Theatre where they performed all over Brazil. One of the highlights of my career was to perform at the Kennedy Centre with the National Symphonic Orquestra in Washington DC, USA at only 19 years old. That was my first trip to USA.
In 2005 I started dancing salsa and samba de gafieira. Shortly met Kadu, my dance partner till today. We worked together in Rio de Janeiro Brazil and in 2007 we moved to Brisbane australia.
Since 2007, we spend up to 46 weekends in the year travelling to teach, perform, choreograph and judge at the world’s most important dance events and competitions. We also choreographed for So You Think You Can Dance Australia and judged at the World Latin Dance Cup in Miami.
In 2013 we found the K&L Dance School in Brisbane which taught over 200 students and Casa do Zouk congress in the Gold Coast, Australia which attracts over 500 participants every year!
In 2014 I founded the Brazilian Zouk Dance Council (BZDC). The Brazilian Zouk Dance Council serves, supports, and promotes all aspects of Brazilian Zouk. BZDC encourages the growth of Zouk throughout the world. The Council is supported by its board of directors – Gilson Damasco, Renata Peçanha, Alex de Carvalho, Rodrigo Delano, Kadu Pires, Larissa Thayane, Rafael Oliveira, Jaime Aroxa, Phillip Miha, Bruna Kazakevic, Rachel Ramalho, Ruana Vasquez and Freddy Marinho. In 2014 the first BZDC oficial Brazilian Zouk Jack and Jill took place at Casa do Zouk in Australia, since then registered competitions are gaining popularity all over the world.
In 2017 I moved to Los Angeles, USA, where I live till today with my husband and our 2 children.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Many challenges but the biggest was to move away from home at only 14 years old and having to learn how to live in a bigger city.
Moving countries was very challenging too, specially australia being so far and with such a different culture from Brasil.
It took us a long time to adapt to Australia and and learning English. Also, Australia is so far away we would only go back to Brasil to visit our friends and family once a year.
Then I move to Usa and had to start all over again adapting to a new country. My dace partner moved with me initially but after two years he married a Spanish girl and moved to Spain. We are still partners and we have been learning how to work together from a distance, we meet at different events in different countries and try our best to keep connected. We have been dancing together for 20 years which help us keep working together.
The challenge I face today but which brings me a lot of love and joy is to balance life between my career and my kids.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I am a professional Dançar specialised in a dance styled from Brasil called Brazilian Zouk. Distance style has been growing all over the world and I have been dancing it and working as a professional zouk Dancer for the past 20 years.
I think I’m proud of my Dance partnership with my friend for 20 years which is the oldest partnership in this style in the world. I’m proud of have been the founder of the Brazilian Zouk dance council which helps inform educate and promote the Dance worldwide. I was able to bring the whole concept of Jack and Jill competitions to the community which helped the level and quality of the dancers improve worldwide. It also helped promote the dance through the competition.
Risk taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
Leaving my family behind and going after my dreams was was one of the biggest risk I took. Then starting over at different countries .
Bringing the jack and Jill competition Setup to the zouk community was also a big risk, but I believe there was a lot of good in it and the community needed something to focus on to help students understand the importance of improving the quality of their dance for a safer dance and more enjoyable.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.kadularissaonline.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/larissa.thayane?igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/larissathayanefrisbee?mibextid=wwXIfr&mibextid=wwXIfr
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@kadularissakldance?si=03sZD6qJTzty2M3C
