Blanca Li
Even if you may not have heard directly of her name, it is likely you will have already seen Blanca Li’s work. Ever watched the music videos for Daft Punk’s Around the World, Kanye West’s Heard ‘Em Say, or seen Beyoncé’s Mrs Carter tour promos? All works by choreographer, dancer, and occasional actress Blanca Li.
Born in Granada, Li took flamenco dance lessons as a child and went on to be a part of the Spanish national rhythmic gymnastics team. At 17, she moved to New York, where she trained as a dancer, was exposed to the birth of hip hop, and even started a flamenco rap band. Then in 1992, the plucky Li moved to Paris without knowing a soul in France, and joined a cabaret in Place Pigalle, soon establishing her own contemporary dance company. She laughingly recalled that it may not have been very good French that she was exposed to, but she learnt it anyway!
Since then, Li has gone on to choreograph for a vast array of major art institutions and projects, including the Paris Opera Ballet, the Berlin Ballet, the Metropolitan Opera, the Opéra Bastille, arts festivals, and more fashion shows than you can shake a baguette at.
Not considering any one thing to be the key to success, she muses that what’s important is a sense of determination and continuity—”It’s a question of getting up every morning and doing it!”—which we think is also great advice for mastering a foreign language.