I am Maria, an
Italian-Finnish Pilates instructor, ballet teacher and former professional
ballet dancer. Let me tell you a bit of my story.
As a small kid I loved
moving, especially swimming, and at the age of nine I discovered ballet, which became
– and still is – my passion. I knew that I wanted to become a dancer from a very
young age, and when I was sixteen, I moved from my home country, Italy, to
pursue a professional dance education at the Theater für Musik und Theater in
Munich.
After graduating I immediately started to work as a full-time
professional ballet dancer. My very first job was in Finland, at the Finnish
National Ballet and dance brought me then to different countries in Europe, such
as England, Switzerland, and Germany. But my heart remained in Finland, so I decided
to return and worked again for a few years in the Finnish National Ballet.
Even if I truly loved ballet,
and dancing for a living had always been my dream, I felt that company life did
not suit me that well. I was too stressed about being casted and being good enough,
rarely satisfied. So, after some years my life took a different pathway.
I started to teach. Teaching
immediately felt like my thing, it reflects my personality, as I love to
interact and help other people. I can live dance from a different perspective,
one that I enjoyed much more. I love being able to guide students, see their progresses,
their motivation. Teaching became my
main job since 2018, while still performing occasionally as a free-lancer, without
the expectations and stress of working in a ballet company.
