Meet Barbara Tosto

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Barbara Tosto. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Barbara below.

Barbara , so good to have you with us today. We’ve always been impressed with folks who have a very clear sense of purpose and so maybe we can jump right in and talk about how you found your purpose?

I was 7 years old when I decided I wanted to be a ballet dancer. I have always been an active kid, I used to play tennis, soccer, swim. When I was at my grandparents house, my grandpa was always playing classical music and I was always dancing around, so one day my mom decided to bring me to a creative movement class. It was then, a year or two after I started, that I approached her and told her “you bring me to a dance studio or I will stop doing everything”. Those classes and those sports, even if they were fun, did not make me happy as dance and classical music did. I later found out my grandma used to love ballet and had books around the house. I definitely believe they have been my inspiration and gave me a hint of what my purpose in life would be.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

Hello, my name is Barbara Tosto and I am a professional dancer. I started ballet in a small school in Sicily when I was 7 years old. While in Sicily I graduated from the Royal Academy of Dance of London and I went all over Italy for summer intensives to get more knowledge and experience from well known teachers and choreographers all over the world. When I was 17 I decided to audition for the Joffrey Ballet School in NY and, after getting accepted, I decided to spend a few weeks of the summer in New York to study at this historical and well known dance school. This has been a dream come true, I felt like being in a movie and from there my path to becoming a professional dancer started. After finishing high school, in 2014, I moved to NY to study full-time at the Joffrey Ballet School, where I graduated in 2018. During those years, I had the opportunity to dance with the Bellini Junior Ballet, in Sicily, at the Greek Amphiteatre in Taormina. Those performances hold a special place in my heart. The feeling of going on a stage surrounded by the amazing Greek architecture, the volcano Etna and the sea as a background does not happen that often and have made the experience even more magical. In 2019 I started dancing with Hudson Ballet Theatre and I am with the company until these days. I have always thought that the most exciting thing is being able to call my passion my job but, during the years with HBT, I realized that the most special thing about it is that you can share that passion and love with the coworkers you end up calling your friends. I have also started teaching since the early days at Joffrey and I am enjoying it everyday more. It is so challenging and rewarding at the same time because you share your knowledge and your stories with children who are willing to learn and improve everyday a little more. As of now, I am working with Hudson Ballet Theatre on a new production that will be performed in late April in NYC and Scarsdale that tells a real and, in some kind of ways, personal story and I am really excited for people to see and experience it.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

The dance world can be really discouraging in many ways and from the early days. I have always been determined in what I wanted to achieve and yes, there have been moments where I wanted to quit and live a complete different life, but the love I have for this art form has always overtaken all my fears. If I have to choose three qualities that have helped me in this journey I would say that those are determination, courage and perseverance.
Things don’t always go how you expect them to go or you are not going to achieve what you planned for right away, so the advice I could give is to not get discouraged after the first “no”, because if you persevere and work hard, good news will come. Do not be afraid to take a risk, because stepping onto something bigger can be scary, but can bring better and different achievements in your life and follow your heart and what makes you happy. If, in this case, dancing makes your life better, do not let anyone tell you you can’t make your dream come true, because that day will come. I am a proof of it, because I had the courage and determination to move to the other side of the world to be able to dance and now I can say that my passion is also my job.

To close, maybe we can chat about your parents and what they did that was particularly impactful for you?

As an only child coming from a super small town in Sicily, where dance is absolutely not seen as a job, but as a hobby you do as a child for fun, my parents have made a huge impact in my life in regards of this matter. If it was not for them, I would not be where I am right now. They have always been supportive of my passion and since day 1 they were traveling around Sicily, Italy and Europe to make sure I would get the best training. I would say that the most impactful thing they did was accepting and supporting my decision to move to the USA when I was only 17 and, even from far away, believing in my dream as much as I did myself.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/barbaratosto/
• Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/barbara.tosto11/

Image Credits

Paul DuBois
Debra King
Martin Nuñez-Bonilla
Sarah Antal
Valentino Genna