Today we’d like to introduce you to Alexandra Gosiengfiao.
Hi Alexandra, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
Alexandra is a professional freelance ballerina. She is also a content creator influencer on Instagram, sharing her life as a ballerina, her love for fashion and beauty, spreading inspirational quotes and good energy to others through her platform, and all of her other passions that inspire others. She also is a ballet instructor and is well celebrated by a lot of her amazing students that have worked with her through the years. She is also a brand ambassador for HUM Nutrition, Ettika Jewelry, Movement WatchesAccessories (MVMT), Felina clothing and a variety of North Carolina coastal cities (Carolina Beach, Kure Beach) collaborations for travel and advertising. Upcoming collaborations include Temecula Life and Kim CLOTH fashions. She currently is based on the West Coast, Temecula, California.
At the heart of her true passion and pursuits, Alexandra has encompassed and pursued ballet. At a very young age of 2 years old, she attended her first ballet performance of the San Francisco Ballet’s The Nutcracker”. Attending “The Nutcracker” became a tradition for the family thereafter each year. At the age of 4, her family moved to Southern California which began her journey learning ballet. Her mother always wanted to dance ballet but took up piano instead, specifically classical piano. She inherited the same love of classical music because even at an early age, she would regularly listen to classical compositions with her mom. Ballet only increased her love for music and classical music increased her love for ballet. Her mother recalls that she was definitely not a typical toddler as she was able to sit through a full-length, 2 Acts ballet program – no fuss. She was instantly enamored by the experience watching ballerinas perform to a live orchestra. Alexandra’s mother recalls , that as a toddler, she sat so comfortably in the mezzanine section of the San Francisco War Memorial Performing Arts Center for 2+ hours all to her heart’s delight enjoying every aspect of a ballet performance! Eventually, she began her ballet training at 6 years old after her family move to Temecula. Her mother attempted to put her in gymnastics at first, but she was quite bored. She then started with a small, local ballet dance studio called Artistic Dance Academy and performed her first on-stage dance at just 6 years old with a live audience. After a couple of years, she trained with The Ballet Studio, owned and directed by professional dancers, Mark Erickson, Tiffany Koepke, and Dana Nelson who all have graced the stage with well-known ballet companies or productions. Alexandra credits her true pre-professional training to her amazing ballet instructor, Ms. Dana Nelson whom she eventually followed and moved to a new studio, Academy of Ballet Arts (ABA) and also began training with Mr. Jose Chavez. It was through training many years with Ms. Dana Nelson, that she became fully committed to pursuing a ballet career. Alexandra went through rigorous and intense pre-professional training throughout her entire childhood and teenage years 6 days week while also balancing a regular school schedule. Eventually, her training led her to numerous opportunities every single summer training for 4-6 weeks at a prestigious summer ballet intensive camps. She attended reputable summer intensives such as, Joffrey Ballet School in New York City, NY, American Ballet Theatre’s location in Austin, TX, Boston Ballet in Boston, MA, the Washington Ballet in Washington D.C. , Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre in Pittsburgh, PA, State Street Ballet in Santa Barbara, CA, and Ballet San Jose in San Jose, CA.
When she graduated high school in 2013, she auditioned for Ballet San Jose in hopes of receiving acceptance into their trainee program – a comparable and recognized ballet internship. As a Trainee, you are expected to participate in classes and rehearsals with the ballet company during the day, and attend a very full-time ballet school schedule in the afternoon and evening; it’s a very intense schedule. When she auditioned in 2013, she missed the deadline for trainee applications, so she ended up attending Ballet San Jose School for a year at second highest level, Level 5B. In the middle of the year she was invited and awarded a scholarship at the school’s Level 6/Trainee level . These classes gave her the extra push and full desire to become a professional company member as she danced with the trainees and professionals of Ballet San Jose. She developed at a greater pace and learned so much as a dancer during that season. As the season ended, unfortunately, she completed the school year with a stress fracture. She was then invited to take class with the company, hoping for a trainee offer. She did not get the trainee contract, however they gave her the option to try again through attendance to their summer intensive. Knowing this news, she also auditioned for State Street Ballet’s trainee program in Santa Barbara and got into their summer intensive program. Because the 2 programs overlapped, she made the decision to train at State Street Ballet, in hopes to receive a trainee offer. She ended up with a trainee offer with State Street Ballet, but she headed back to Ballet San Jose and completed their full summer intensive program. The Artistic Director of Ballet San Jose was former Principal Dancer of American Ballet Theatre, Jose Manuel Carreño. She was selected by Mr. Carreño and was one of only 5 trainees being offered in the 2014/2015 season. Her life as a trainee was very strenuous and extensively stressful, but further catapulted her skills and artistry to a higher level as a ballerina. She recalls working and dancing almost everyday from 9am-9pm. Her ballet training stretched into the weekends on Saturdays. She was selected to dance in many special performances alongside the ballet company. It was quite the experience for her. She learned a tremendous amount of classical ballet technique and artistry throughout the school year. With the grueling training schedule and multiple performances, she eventually suffered another injury at about halfway into the season which halted her training for almost 2 months. Stress fracture #2 kept her in a boot and halted much of her training. She was devastated and was forced to take a break from dancing. She had to leave her disappointment out of the classroom and still attend classes to simply learn and watch. She was committed to learning intently and carefully while watching the company take class and perform. Once again, this slowdown truly pushed her desire even more to achieve her dream as a professional ballerina. She knew she would get back on her feet after healing and would continue her training and it couldn’t come any sooner. She learned patience and greater self-care. She also learned that her trainee journey would end at Ballet San Jose after the season ended.
With high hopes and a renewed spirit to continue her training and professional experiences, she accepted a Trainee offer with State Street Ballet, under direction of former American Ballet Theatre dancer Rodney Gustafson, Artistic Director, and Trainee Director Megan Philipp. Here, she danced as a trainee for two great seasons. She was casted in mulitiple Company performances and gained even greater experience. As a Trainee, the pursuit for an actual dance contract with the Company would be the next step. She also began researching and submitting her audition materials resume to various companies around the country. State Street Ballet was not hiring after her second season, so the search for a dance contract as a professional member and not a trainee, was on. Her parents, especially her father, started researching different opportunities and professional ballet companies. It was her Dad that came across a brand new ballet company located in North Carolina, the Wilmington Ballet Company, US International Ballet Company. After multiple submissions elsewhere, she decided to submit her resume/dance materials to the Director. One week later, she interviewed and received a professional contract offer as a Founding Company Member of US International Ballet back in 2017. She made the bold decision to move 3,000+ miles away to begin her professional career in Wilmington, NC. She joined as a founding company member, when Elizabeth Hester was Founder and the company was led by artistic directors and Italian ballet stars Walter Angelini and Ines Albertini and Ballet Mistress, Debra Berger. She is forever grateful to have made this move. She chose to dance for a smaller company versus a big ballet company. In her first season with the company, she was casted in multiple Soloist roles. The multiple opportunities to do this as a newly appointed company member is a rarity in a larger ballet company. Immediately within 2 weeks of arriving, she was asked to dance a solo variation as Mercedes from Don Quixote at the Company’s first gala. Her solo roles continued on through the season with primary solo roles including the Fairy Godmother in “Cinderella” and the Wicked Witch of the West in “Wizard of Oz”. Just before her 2017/2018 season came to an end, she was immediately offered a promotion to the only First Female Soloist in the company. She was elated at the multiple opportunities given to her as a Soloist. From 2018 to early 2020, she danced in key roles as the Lead Cabaret Girl in “Vampires”, Dew Drop Fairy in the “Great Wilmington Nutcracker”, Queen of Hearts in “Alice in Wonderland”, and Hippolyta in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”. It was truly a dream come true for her being able to perform and dance in these leading roles. She absolutely loves performing dramatic characters and having had the opportunity to truly develop her artistry throw these principal roles that she was cast in.
In February 2020, the Ballet Company transitioned leadership from Elizabeth Hester to Aunika Browne as the Executive Director and Debra Berger, Interim Artistic Director. She was promoted to their leading artist of US International Ballet, and at the same time, that is when the world was put on hold due to the pandemic. Lockdown was imminent and she had just begun training with former Professional Ballerina, Stella Johnson and even begun coaching with Prima Ballerina, Galina Panova, for the Principal role as Giselle. Alternatively, the Company learned how to teach and dance online in their living rooms for weeks on end due to the pandemic. As the entire dance world came to a halt and online dance classes became the norm, ballet was not the same. As she was entering the season as their Leading Artist, everything about ballet and performing was still unknown. And yet, they all pushed through online, the masks, the spatial distancing in ballet. She definitely became a stronger dancer by having to wear a mask while dancing. This became the norm for some time and perfecting her breathing, dancing and strength all resulted from a year and a half of lockdown! She did not have the opportunity to dance as Giselle in the ballet “Giselle” due to the pandemic; however, when her season resumed in-person she did perform two Principal roles in the 2020/2021 season. She had the opportunity to dance as Snow Queen and Sugar Plum Fairy in “The Great Wilmington Nutcracker”, and performed the Principal role of Ursula in the Company’s production of “Little Mermaid”.
She was truly honored as the Leading Ballerina with USIB. This is a dream role and a role that she dreamt of as a young ballerina. As a ballerina, it is understood that this is an endless art and the process of learning and mastering the craft and skills are life-long. Ballet requries years of development, and never is never short-term or overnight! Alexandra has dedicated her entire life to the passion for ballet. She is absolutely grateful to all of her ballet instructors coaches. She has received invaluable advice and instruction that can never be replaced. She still remembers all of the advice that her teachers repeatedly shared with her from the age of 10 to all the corrections that that her Directors gave her at 18 and beyond. During her time with USIB, aside from the dancing, she was also given the opportunity to teach the professional company as well as the affiliate ballet school. Here, she also gained a tremendous amount of experience working and developing the business administrative and marketing side for the Company. She assisted and created much of the social media content for the Company and helped to increase the awareness, visibility and business for the Company. Her expertise grew and helped the Company to thrive on social media. Alexandra also actively networked with local businesses and the Arts Council as the Company’s representative. She organized multiple donor events, created the donor Company program and continued to help build collaborative relationships with the community local businesses for events and partnerships. She also was selected by the Company to be the Instructor for a grant-funded Community dance program called, “Dancing On Air”. As the “Dancing On Air” instructor, she commuted to 2 neighboring towns in the next county teaching ballet at 2 different community centers – introducing and teaching ballet to children ages 4-18 years old. These children were never exposed to dance previously especially the art of ballet and lived in rural parts of North Carolina. It was an honor for her to spread her love and passion for the art of ballet to those who have never experienced dancing ballet. She also had the opportunity to rehearse set choreography on her community students so that they could participate in their very first Nutcracker performance. At this ballet performance with the community children, Alexandra performed as the Dew Drop Fairy. It was a very rewarding experience for her to give back to the community and build lasting friendships in he Arts with these communities. Alexandra’s community work, her collaboration with the Arts Wilmington brought recognition from the City. She was invited to share her success and personal story and was featured in Wilmington’s premier women’s publication, Wilma Magazine. The article was first online then selected by the editor the following month to be featured and printed in the September 2021 issue highlighting her journey to becoming a professional ballerina.
In the summer of 2021, she came to a cross road with the decision to leave her company. Due to the Company transitioning Directors and the overall vision and direction of the company changing, she decided to resign. Her gratitude is endless from this experience as she had a numerous takeaways and experiences dancing professionally with USIB. She desired greater alignment with her professional and personal goals and desired to continue her path as a professional dance artist and ballerina. She also stepped away from the Company during that summer due to COVID which forced her to focus on wellness. However, in her recovery and rush to return to dance, she found herself injured which was then determined to be a ligament tear, specifically a Lisfranc injury. This was due to the strenuous dancing she had that summer for a performance. This injury was the most challenging for her to overcome and put a halt to her pursuit of ballet during the past 3 years. The injury took both a mental and physical toll on her and she realized self-recovery and wellness was required. Alexandra took a step back completely from ballet to ensure the proper healing and full recovery. She was also met with unnerving news that ligaments have a more challenging time healing and that it was questionable about the way it would heal and because her injury was diagnoses at 4 months after the initial trauma and stress. She was told by her doctor to allow the foot to rest and heal naturally and properly and that she had missed the window of time for her ligament to be surgically put back together. She was able to dance but couldn’t dance to her maximum for a length duration of time. It was very emotional for her to step away full time, as a ballerina you get so used to dancing 6 days a week and for that to come to a halt, that is when this chapter really tested her as this took not only a physical, but an emotional and mental toll on her. The past 3 years, she has been through a major recovery and rehabilitation journey and process. Fortunately through the injury, she was still able to dance and perform as a freelance Professional Ballerina. She danced in opportunities that continued to highlight her talent and strength as the Artist she is. The amazing part about these opportunities was that she was adapted and modified choregraphy all through her Lisfranc Injury. Her work as a freelance Professional Ballerina has included performing in her original choreography for the Wilmington Community Art event called, “Art In The Arboretum”, she also performed in a collaboration choreography “La La Land” which inspired Pas de Deux as the Principal role of Mia in, “Wilmington Dance Festival”, in Wilmington, North Carolina. The choreography collaboration and performance of “La La Land” was recognized and picked up by an independent film company Honey Head Films to film. As a Soloist Guest Ballerina , Alexandra performed recently at the “World Choreography Awards” in Los Angeles, CA.
Alexandra continues her work as a freelance ballerina. She is thrilled to finally be completely injury-free and super healthy once again! She is dancing full-on and continues to rebuild her strength and endurance. Her 3-year journey to heal was invaluable in all areas of her professional career. She learned that her faith in God, her passion, determination, dedication, perseverance and love for dancing has maintained and kept her on track even though her injury and the outcome of such injuries put an end to further dancing. Alexandra really believes she defied the odds here and that this is a miracle from God as she is now 100% pain free, full-on strength and is able to dance beyond any level of her previous abilities. She is amazed and remains confident that her passion for ballet and the continued drive that she has for performing remains within her should – it is second nature to her and here to stay no matter the circumstances. She believes she has been given another unique opportunity to take her career to another level, a new chapter in her ballet career that goes further beyond her expectations. She is ready to confidently dive back into dancing, performing and inspiring audiences again with her love and passion for dancing,
Alexandra continues her pursuit as a professional, freelance ballerina taking on special projects that highlight her artistry. She is also truly passionate about teaching, coaching, and inspiring the next generation of young dancers with her love passion for the art of classical ballet through sharing her training, expertise knowledge, and experiences in her career. She patiently waits for her next opportunity with abundance of seeds being planted and is opened to the abundant overflow possibilities and the opportunities – whether it’s continuing the freelance work or dancing for a ballet company again. On top of this she is an influencer content creator and has a myriad of brand ambassadorship opportunities and collaborations that continue to pop up opening the doors to more than she could ever imagine. She welcomes opportunities to collaborate and work with brands and companies looking for someone unique like her to work with.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
I believe the first obstacle I faced was in my years of training as a teen, body image was always a challenging subject to touch base on. Ballet has gotten better in recent years about bringing more diversity to the frontlines which is great, but I did have my share of negative body shame comments towards me. I will never forget when a ballet company tried to tell me to lose weight through the words of “you need to work on a better diet.” It was difficult growing up because I felt I didn’t see anyone like me and I felt pressured to look a certain way in order to get the job. It was not until my mid 20’s I realized that a woman’s body really changed over the years, and also because we dance daily that really transforms the body. I remember cross training like crazy because I felt pressured to look a certain way, I was never the most skinny in my class, and was always veered more towards the muscular side, which is something I have learned to accept over the years. I believe being a ballerina you really learn how to loved yourself, every aspect and you learn how not to allow one person’s feedback, criticism, for opinions define you. We are in control of our mind and body – and that’s something I have learned through 23+ years of ballet. I love that ballet is more diverse now. I am honored to be a 3rd generation Filipina American ballerina.
The second obstacle – the injuries. I have had my share of injuries through out my life, 2 stress fractures, tendonitis in both knees, an undiagnosed hip injury, and lastly my Lisfranc Injury. They all pulled me away from dancing at some point, the Lisfranc was most definitely the most challenging. My knee tendonitis went away and the stress fractures healed quickly due to bones healing faster. The Lisfranc injury was the most challenging because ligaments don’t repair as quickly as bones do.I learned to really take it day by day. My faith in God, my passion and love for ballet really carries me through. If anything I really learned that I am not a quitter and I really go for it. I have strong desire to no give up and that’s why I still did not walk away from ballet and dancing after this injury,
The 3rd obstacle – the intensive competitive aspect of ballet. I am not a competitive person but on many occasions I have worked around many competitive dancers. I dance because I love ballet not because I want to compete. I believe it’s important to support one another and create a positive environment for one another so that we can all thrive and grow together. We all bring unique individual strengths and abilities to the table and I believe we cannot be compared to one another but only celebrated.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I am most proud of being a Professional Freelance Ballerina, a Ballet Instructor and coach. I offer coaching sessions to aspiring dancers and am able to teach group classes as well as master classes/workshops as well. I also am an influencer and content creator, I offer collaborations with brands and businesses looking for a ballerina influencer like me. I believe my many years of experience and background as a ballerina sets me apart and adds a uniqueness to my social media brand and platform.
Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers?
Connect with me on Instagram: @alliegoglam
Pricing:
- Inquire for availability and pricing for ballet coaching/teaching.
- Inquire for availability and pricing for Influencer/Content Creator Collaboration.
- My email is: connectwithalliego@gmail.com
Contact Info:
- Instagram: alliegoglam
Image Credits
Photo: 1,4,5, and featured photo – Mark B. Steelman Photo: 2,3, 11 – Holly Lynch All other photos original created content by me and my Instagram page.
