We recently connected with Maja Keres and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Maja, appreciate you sitting with us today to share your wisdom with our readers. So, let’s start with resilience – where do you get your resilience from?
I believe I did have to work on my resilience, and somehow grow it. But I also believe that a lot of it stems from where I’m from, how I grew up. As a child, I lived through 4 years of war in Yugoslavia. Thankfully, the city of Rijeka where I’m from, wasn’t under many attacks, but I still remember moments of my own fear, confusion, my family’s fear and prompt reactions, terrifying images from the TV. It’s not only the war, but the country after the war needs to rebuild. It takes time. A lot of time, and money. So I didn’t grow up having a lot of things, but I grew up making the best of what I had. I think that continued on as a strong trait of my character and something I learned to do to survive. However, life in the entertainment industry in the States, and especially LA, gave me some different lessons where I needed to build my emotional resilience due to cultural differences. And I’m still learning, but I do believe my upbringing set some true resilience in me, and my own life choices upgraded that resilience to the next level.
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
My name is Maja Keres. I am a dancer, choreographer and a dance educator originally from Rijeka, Croatia, but I’ve lived in Los Angeles for the past 8 years now. I’ve also lived in New York City for a year or two before moving to LA. I came to the United States pretty “late” in my age, according to some standards, I’d say. Even though back then, I thought that at 27 I’m too late for the game, I actually not only proved to myself that it is never too late, but I was also even glad that I did move at a later age because my mind was in a different place, more mature, more experienced, and I had a better knowledge of who I am than when I was 20. I also just got my Master’s Degree back in Croatia (History of art and English language & literature) so it gave me (but mostly my parents) some security, however I realized that’s not where my heart is at the moment, and I went to follow my dance dreams. I’ve been dancing for some time back then and working some big gigs (for that area) which there weren’t many. But I’m so grateful for those experiences no matter how small they may seem looking from the US standard of production, they were where I formed myself as a professional that I am to this day. Fast forward 10 years later, and I have danced with some of the biggest names in the entertainment industry, toured the world dancing with Justin Timberlake, Coachella with Billie Eilish, Grammys with A Tribe Called Quest and Busta Rhymes, music videos, commercials, TV shows, movies…. the list goes on.
For me, the most exciting part about my craft is that there is always more to learn. And I never intend to stop being a student, regardless of my age or role, new knowledge excites me. I love that dance is such a blend between athleticism and art, and I love that it is so personal. As a choreographer, it excites me to explore the connection between music and body, I see it as a beautiful symbiosis that is again so individual. As a teacher, I love challenging my students regarding musicality, but I also make sure that I’m supporting them in their own process and progress and check in with their minds. I do believe that even though dance is so physical, of course, that almost everything that we can (or cannot) do – stems from the mind. Which applies to life in general. I have been teaching a class called Musicality & Mindset in Choreo, at Movement Lifestyle in Burbank, California. This class is a choreography based class for professional and advanced dancers focusing on connecting the music, body and mind. I am very passionate about teaching and have been for a long time. I am one of the co=founders of K2K Dance Center back in Rijeka, Croatia where we just celebrated 10 years of existing. Even 10 years ago, K2K dance center was founded with a strong desire and a mission statement to focus on the quality of the education. So, I guess that has always been something I am very passionate about. For the past two years, I am also one of the teaching faculty for Nexus Dance Convention.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Curiosity Versatility
Patience
These qualities I think are still very impactful in my life in general, because as I was curious for knowledge (on every and any topic) I started following my heart and that feeling of when something sparks inside of me. Which then brought me to being versatile. Not only in dance, but in life. I have so many skills other than dance, from playing piano, to sewing, knitting, playing sports, etc. and not only it adds to my skill set on Casting Networks lol, but as a creative, I believe it helps me so much to broaden your views and see things from different perspectives and in the end to boost my inspiration. Patience, as the last quality to address, is something that I naturally have (thankfully) and I am very proud of my ability to be patience. An advice to give anybody who is either starting their journey or is in any stage of their life (also advice to myself whenever I forget this) would be that patience in combination with determination/focus and trust creates miracles.
Awesome, really appreciate you opening up with us today and before we close maybe you can share a book recommendation with us. Has there been a book that’s been impactful in your growth and development?
I am such a bookworm, so I will have to mention more than one book, and try to keep the selection small. There are few tiny books that are some of my favorites, that I can always go back to and I always get something new out of them.
One of them is “The Alchemist” by Paulo Coelho, for sure my no 1 book of them all. It is such a beautiful and esoteric story, filled with quotes and wise thoughts. I think everybody understand it differently, which is also beautiful, and for me, every time I read it, I find a new gem hidden in between the lines. My favorite quote from that book is hanging in my living room, and it says “And, when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.”
Second one is “The Four Agreements” by Don Miguel Ruiz. This short book is so easily read and the 4 agreements that it writes about I often think about as a reminder in many situations: Be impeccable with your word, Don’t take anything personally, Don’t make assumptions, Always do your best.
Last book I want to share goes along the lines with the quote from The Alchemist. I just ran into it recently (in a perfect set of circumstances, and perfect timing) and I hope it impacts you as much as it did me. It is actually the collection of books of this author, called “The complete Works” of Florence Shinn,
Contact Info:
- Website: www.majakeres.com
- Instagram: @majakeresh
- Facebook: Maja Kereš
- Youtube: mkeresh
Image Credits
Eli DiFiore, Chris Singer, Dani McCormick, Jared Kahn, Tina Kadoic
