Dancer Alessandra Mai Vinh from Italy to the Biggest Stages in the United States
Alessandra Mai Vinh, born to Vietnamese refugees in Verona, Italy, is a gifted dancer and choreographer.
She started dancing at the age of 13 inspired by her music and dance icon Britney Spears and by the age of 19 she was already working professionally on Italian national television and with big Italian productions. From a small town in Italy, at 22 years old she moved to NYC and now she lives in Los Angeles where she works with globally renowned brands such as American Express, Lyft, Budweiser, Netflix, and Starz to name a few.
Her ambition, talent, and unique heritage give her an edge that is hard to find. Alessandra attributes her identity and way of living to the interplay between her Vietnamese heritage and her love of Italian culture. “I’m Italian, I’m Vietnamese and between” she says.
How is L.A. treating you?
Alessandra: Los Angeles is great! It gives me a huge sense of freedom and it pushes me to think outside the box. I feel inspired by its people. Los Angeles is a tough city, it pushed me to grow quickly. Growth is good.
What has been your most impactful aha moment of the last few years?
It has been realizing that we are not our job. I used to connect my self-worth to my career and that made me miserable at times. If you are not centered, it’s easy to get distracted in a city where everyone is doing and running around.
What kind of project do you love doing?
I absolutely love doing live shows, it gives you that sense of anxiety and excitement that on-camera projects don’t give you. If I mess up choreography in a music video, I can reshoot the scene but in a live show, I just have to go with it.
I also love doing fashion shoots because I get to bring my dance expertise to the shoot and bring the clothes to life. If you didn’t know, I’m obsessed with clothes!!!
When you are not dancing and modeling, what do you like to do?
I love reading books about etiquette, psychology, and essentialism. And I enjoy hosting Italian dinner parties.
How is your relationship with social media?
I have a love/hate relationship with Instagram. It makes me feel inspired and at the same time, it makes me feel that I’m not doing enough. But, enough of what??!! Do you see? Social media is good at confusing us. Overall I do like it because thanks to Instagram I got to make some incredible friends and booked some amazing jobs!
