morning before work and whenever I got
home right after work every day the same
thing nine to five or six seven eight
sometimes nine to nine same thing like a
robot great job though I was head of
sales and marketing for a telecom
company making mad money could do what I
want go where I want but after a couple
years of this it gets a little stale
gets a little boring
there’s no fire there was no passion I
had a passion I enjoyed dancing I
enjoyed creating but it was such a
struggle anything to feed that passion
that fire it felt so great but what’s
gonna pay the bills so Plan B go to
school get a good job done I’m sad I’m
happy I’m living the high life but then
after two years of this this is what you
get waking up screaming but wait I just
realized I haven’t fallen asleep yet how
many of you know this feeling anybody
yeah yeah it’s a dark place whenever you
go through life no fire no passion you
feel like you just hit rock bottom but
it’s okay because people say when you
hit rock bottom the only place left to
go
was up that’s wrong sometimes you hit
rock bottom so hard you just keep
sinking and sinking and sinking and all
that’s around you is darkness and that
light that you had inside has been
forgotten about so what do you do you
gotta crawl you had to crawl and you’re
gonna look around why was I like this
wasn’t just the work it was everything
you have material possessions right in
front of you but look around who was who
are my friends what were my other
hobbies what was I doing to nourish this
passion and this fire that I once had so
needed to change needed to make a big
change all right
hello work I quit okay quick my job oh
my relationship just ended why cuz I
just quit my job so shows me right then
and there that work was wrong
relationship was wrong now my money is
running out hey friends let’s do
something indoors yeah we can’t hang out
with you we are gonna do with this you
can’t afford that lost my friends so all
of that in front of me during that time
was in illusion just temporary all right
start again back to basics basic job
working reception you know go from a
certain tie office labels and then
certain tie reception good morning good
morning good morning I’d be lucky if
someone even gave me eye contact it was
but I still found hope and joy and that
little light inside was starting to
ignite again why because I had the time
to see the truth around me and start
going to dance class again to start
listening to music to start enjoying
what I do
but it took a sacrifice I had to
sacrifice a life of fortune I was rich
with material possessions but I was not
rich with emotion or passion or dreams
and it wasn’t until I had to sacrifice
and give everything up and commit to
that things started to become clear
again and a lot of the times people say
I have a dream I have a dream I have a
dream why isn’t it happening to me when
is it my time when is it my moment well
what are you doing for it to happen to
you you got to take that step and mine
wasn’t just a step it was a plunge yeah
dreams don’t just happen you got to do
the work and that’s what I did so after
a couple years of working for my dream
sacrificing for my passion yeah going
from restaurants and steak dinners to
tuna in a can but it’s okay I get to
dance sacrifice anyone ever been to
Canada yeah Canada is cold okay and the
winters are long so I decided to run
away from winter and just like my
passion just like my dream going back to
the roots with work I went back to you
my roots back to Vietnam and Here I am
in this foreign land no plan no idea no
clue I have three months here this was
ten years ago
and I’m looking at what am I gonna do
for three months I don’t speak the
language
I thought I did until I got here I don’t
I do now and yeah it was really back to
basics and I had a lot of time a lot of
time to think to focus I had no
distractions
ya know terrible circle of friends no
toxic work no no distractions around me
to really think about what I was going
to do so put yourself out there all
right I’m gonna step out into this
foreign land I have no idea what’s going
on I have no idea what people are saying
I don’t even know if they’re laughing at
me or with me
usually it’s at me slowly you network
you meet people you put yourself out
there you have to make a fool out of
yourself you have to take that risk meet
that person try to speak to them their
way in their language interact with them
half of the time I failed but it’s these
failures from these risks that I took
that helped me and then getting to get
involved with more of the cultural
aspects of the country and the artistic
aspects of the country meeting dancers
meeting other artists other
choreographers producers and directors
I’m like ah I’ve made it these are the
people that I need to be around they
call me let’s do a show all right I’m
ready
I’m here what’s our show this is my idea
we have 10 dancers here and we have
ribbons coming down from here and I want
lights from back there and then No why
not hmm it’s too risky like yeah but we
can be the first ones to do it let’s be
the first ones to do it
like it’s too risky and then they open
the laptop and like hey look at this
this was on a TV show two years ago
we’re gonna do this and I’m like okay
okay okay okay well we’ll go with it
maybe it’s the first
time my first big job here so I’m not
gonna I’m not gonna push too hard but
then after a while it becomes a pattern
but not with just big events but with
almost anything there was that fear of
taking risks and I’m like where does
this fear come from where did it come
from why why is there this fear of
taking a chance
being creative taking that risk and they
explained to me their education and
after hearing about it I was like oh
that was your education in Vietnam okay
it’s not very different from my
education in Canada
anytime it was oh this boy me he’s
different he’s weird he has too much
energy he’s trying different things yeah
growing up you hear you’re different
and that’s bad and it sticks with you
until you grow up you’re like I don’t
want to be different I want to be liked
by everyone I want to do what everyone
else is doing I want that acceptance yet
deep down inside we want to have a
one-up on everyone yeah we’re willing to
take that risk right so I’ve been
fortunate enough to meet other
incredible people who shared that same
idea people from Vietnam people outside
of Vietnam who have come here and we all
work together yeah we all work together
with different companies with different
agencies and we say let’s do it let’s
make a change let’s do something big
let’s do something amazing get those
wheels going let’s be creative the
energy is so great everyone’s with us
and then they say okay how do we do it I
don’t know I can’t teach you to be
creative right we can’t teach creativity
we can inspire we can help through
laboratories and workshops by giving
people the tools and the skill sets and
the nerve to dare and that’s what I have
after 11 years in this country
meeting amazing people amazing artists
amazing dancers I have hand selected
these incredible talented young kids and
at first it was just me I’m gonna teach
you jazz I’m gonna teach you ballet
hip-hop whatever I’m gonna teach it all
to you I’m gonna teach you how
creativity works I can’t teach you what
creativity is and then they asked me
they’ll teacher can we try this sure why
not oh but it might look stupid yeah of
course it might but let’s try it maybe
it’ll look stupid maybe to look good
maybe it’ll look stupid good who knows
so 11 years now these amazing kids who
had their creativity stepped on for so
many years but still like me they had
that light inside but they just needed
to ignite that fire and now these kids
dare to be great they dare to be amazing
they have the skillsets they have
everything that it takes to try
something new and be different
I would love to present to you you DG
ding ding ding ding ding ding ding ding
[Music]
[Applause]
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
[Applause]
for me
so I just wanted everyone to see with
dreams and passion commitment and
sacrifice anything can happen
I’ve inspired them they’ve inspired me
and I hope we have inspired you thank
maintain our love Giavotella me man
Sabra Wendell I’m gonna leave I’m gonna
make de la Cite hello I’m a nothing wing
like a red cat hello Mila thank you
[Applause]
[Music] [Applause]