0:00 it's like that it's like that dramatic stuff oh the camera go yeah [Music] yeah welcome back everybody to another great episode of careful boys we have with us Christian Farina okay we also have Ed park over there by the way hey thanks for having me and Jason the new Harry yeah Jason so we got a hot seat episode right now we're gonna go ahead and ask Christian some hot questions uh the way that it works is we like to ask increasingly hot questions as we go along but traditionally we start with Bart who'll ask you the coldest possible thing you've ever heard in your life okay right now uh-huh you're not gonna say ████ anymore your mouth is now your butthole
0:50 and you have diarrhea what sound does it make go okay there couldn't have been a wrong answer to that that's great that's very nice that's a nice diarrhea son great icebreakers do I gotta do that the rest of them yeah speak in Diary of form no so you you didn't grow up in La I didn't I grew up in Wisconsin yeah what part what part uh grew up in Milwaukee and then moved about like an hour out in like Waukesha area so when you came out here did your parents come with you or were you just like I'm gonna make it in LA yeah it was one of those situations um so actually my parents ended up getting a divorce when I was a senior in high school uh perfect timing it was
1:40 like an affair like crazy ████ going on and so they were dealing with that whole situation I had previously been a dancer was doing that going to high school and stuff um I didn't really have a college plan yet um but since my parents were doing all that there's a lot of stuff that happened financially um I didn't have plans for school and I had to like make the decision and I was like if there's one thing I love and know I can do in life it's dance so I literally packed up two suitcases flew that I lay and just started figuring it out how old were you I was 18. at like when you're on the year like I yeah you just turn your light I was 18 I finished out high school they were having like the family situations and stuff and I was like either I can stay here in Wisconsin which I didn't really want to be um and kind of just like have a little
2:31 pity party go to Community College or something or I was like I can go do something with my life so I moved out here um yeah and started figuring it out so when you got here what was that like did you know people did you know did you have jobs laid out for you like what was it you were just like at LAX like here I am kind of actually so I didn't know people out here um I had this girl I saw she like posted on Facebook I kind of knew her from like competing with dance stuff she used to live in Chicago but she had lived in La I saw she was looking for a roommate I was like hey can I move in there's a two bedroom there's a couple and then I took the other room shot I literally got dropped off they picked me up moved into this apartment I slept on an air mattress for two and a half years wow uh yeah I had no jobs planned um was she
3:21 like yo how are you gonna pay rent it was like I obviously didn't prep for all this family stuff to happen so I wasn't like making money or anything I ended up like using the connections I worked for a dance competition I first moved out here um I made up my own job I was like I will film and edit for you this was before like social media was getting big and stuff and I didn't want to do a regular job so I was like hey I'll come I'll film the dance stuff I'll make like reels so I taught myself how to edit and all that so that's how I would make money because I'd travel on the weekends and do that one of the first people I met when I moved out here the girl's boyfriend um was an assistant to Philip Shabib oh the dancer yeah and I like somehow Philip is like a really big dancer super talented I had no clue who he was but he was like hey we need an extra person on set to film a little video you down to
4:11 help so I went and helped and I met one of the best people I probably could in the dance industry yeah absolutely and that's like how I met you guys too like somehow it just worked out where I found the right network of people right away um and these people were a lot older than me like clearly like 30 years older thank you it kind of like mentored me and stuff you got pretty lucky but at the same time you had to take that that leap of faith you had to do the courageous thing yeah to come here in the lucky situation right and that's what people don't know is like a lot of the times they'll just be like they'll play it off as oh that's some girl that just got lucky but then you still had it I was like I was on air mattress for two and a half yeah you have to hustle I have a picture of my room like it literally was I actually stacked to it air mattresses that's
5:01 luxury Comfort hacks no but seriously I had like nothing I just figured it out um the biggest thing I was like okay I know I love people and I love meeting them I'm just gonna meet everyone I can and try to figure it out there wasn't really a plan B I feel like situations like that in life help you get there when there's not really another option um yeah what's the scariest a situation or just like a uh like added on together when you were here like as a circumstance where you like ████ uh there's this time where rent was due but this paycheck couldn't come in I don't know if I had to go back home or like what was a serious compounding circumstance that you experienced there was one circumstance I mean definitely like those first couple of years was tough because I wasn't booking anything
5:51 also when it comes to dance I was trained in something completely different than what is typically booked out here out here it's more like commercial stuff you got hip hop I never I never really trained in hip-hop stuff I also wasn't like the sexy girl heels video type what kind of dance were you doing like tap dancing like more traditional stuff like contemporary type of stuff um let's continue the Last Dance [Laughter] girl China sing in the rain it's like that it's like that dramatic stuff oh the camera go [Music] I was a little bit cooler than that but
6:43 then I met these guys and they were doing like cool hip-hop ████ and I was like hey let me learn that and that's actually how I booked the first national commercial yes but I don't know circumstance I'm trying to think of this if there's like you hit rock bottom ever when the ████ was hitting the fan the hardest yeah yeah I mean I think that was like that I think like the second month of me living out here it kind of was like what the ████ is happening because my family life was insane back home and I kind of just wanted to escape from that I also moved out here like in August I didn't know people leave um during the holiday months oh so all my roommates had left is that no one's really like from here from I yeah I didn't know the city yet I didn't have a lot of money I didn't have a car um thank God I had an apartment but when
7:33 everyone left to like go home to their families and stuff it was like November December January I basically stayed in my apartment for like two months straight I barely left and I feel like how we were talking about when you're alone yeah like I swear I was kind of like mentally going insane a little bit because like there's so many unstable parts of my life and I was there alone it kind of like it was the culture shock like what's happening quarantine before quarantine yeah basically but did you have friends like come out to visit you during that time no because I've been in that situation too my first year moving here same thing everybody went home for the holidays and I wasn't gonna go home I stayed here and I did the Harry Potter marathon first and then luckily I had a friend who didn't want to to be with their family for the holidays so we just
8:23 chilled down my life yeah I feel like you slowly just meet people I mean it's a mixing pot of people so it helped over time like I started building my foundation and family out here but I feel like initially that yeah it's just tough you know we do create a second family out in L.A a lot like there's like always like well I mean like I wish you I knew you guys back then well you you've been to one of our friendsgivings and ████ but we always try to create something because half of the team was out of state yeah and and it's the same reason because there's so many people here for entertainment like we're actually local like we born and raised here in this area and and I always forget how many people come here for work right and then they they're at their actual home is like far away yeah yeah you know what's crazy is like did I meet you within that time that you were uh you met I had probably been out in La
9:13 for maybe a year so I was actually still struggling a good amount when you guys met me I was pretty good at putting a front on it but I feel like that's why I attached so much to your group and like looked up to you guys I think it's so weird because she didn't show I didn't shame you but I feel like that's also part of it too that got me through is like I wasn't gonna settle and like live in that state like I was like trying to like you know surround myself with people that I want to be like and I am not let that consume me you know yeah but it was during that time that's crazy I had no idea yeah because she really like when we met her we were like yo she's so cool because she's her sense of humor is super open and she's just so goofy and I would have never thought that was like a hard time yeah who who's your role model in your family is there someone in your family
10:03 that like did well and you're like and that kind of was your inspiration to crush it um or is there everyone like a Wisconsin loser no no I I know my family had issues really like each member of my family is great there's just like some stuff that happened I really look up to my dad because he was a lieutenant um and in the military or no uh police officer he's a lieutenant he kind of was like the hero in that sense and he um he retired early and he was the one he drive me an hour and a half to Studio to dance every day when I was in school so like I owed that to him uh he was very supportive with that but I feel like right now if there's a superhero in my
10:53 family it's probably my sister um my sister kind of did the same thing there's a lot going on at home so she ended up moving to Atlanta she got pregnant pretty early um she has two kids now um and she got pregnant before she got married she like went through a tough time with that um her son is autistic her first kid she had and she was young so just seeing her like raise him and like be strong and kind of like take care of everything in that sense she also was the person that like I kind of escaped and ran out here and chased my dreams but she stayed home during all of that and kind of mediated everything so she's pretty great is she your older sister yeah she's my older sister she's probably like four years older than me yeah yeah damn is this hot Cedar tissue scene small mild tissue seat
11:44 damn so what um how long you been in La for I've been here almost six years now so during that I guess climb right like you're obviously achieving a lot of things that you came out here to do do you ever kind of feel like oh ████ I'm doing what I wanted or like you know do you ever take a moment to like look at that or like yeah I I fall for like that I've done and the opportunities that I've done because it did take a while to start booking and stuff but once I did like there have been so many things I've always dreamed about that I've just like checked off the list and when you're in that moment it's kind of like if you guys know how it is but it feels a little bit surreal like this is happening but like just taking a step back and be like this is what I wanted
12:35 and I worked for this and now I'm getting what I deserve I also think it does get hard too because when you start booking you're in that mindset you kind of like keep striving for more which I think is great but also like along the way just appreciating what you've done but I've accomplished a ton and you know I'm grateful for that what was it what was it like uh seeing yourself on TV for the first time yeah that was crazy it was so cool it was big ████ you to everyone at home [Laughter] yeah I was just gonna ask what your friends back home think but no it was so like doing TV stuff when I was on World of Dance that was the first TV show did I actually um my dad for a minute like he supported dance but I feel like he fully you know I was having a tough time out here and you know wasn't really booking a lot of
13:26 stuff yet and I don't think he really saw dance as a career but um he ended up flying out and watching a live taping and like you know he's like in the crowd like sitting next to JLo and he's like okay if you kind of started to see what I was doing so I think that was a really cool moment for me in my career that's cool through all your accomplishments um do you deal with imposter syndrome what do you mean by that sorry if I feel them uh imposter syndrome is where um you're just kind of like what the ████ am I doing like I don't deserve this like how am I in this position with all of this greatness or do you feel you're in the right I'm I'm in the right spot because I feel like when you you work your ass the goal before you're there and then
14:17 you achieve it is different than like things just happening um you know it's not like everything was great and like I had a rich family and I came out here and I'm dancing and like wow I got all these jobs and now these connections like it really did take a lot of work and a lot of time to make things happen so I don't think I've really had much of that I have had like sometimes like like what the ████ am I doing you know what I mean because I I feel like doing so many different things like social media and then stuff but I never think it's in a negative sense so then referring back to your ████ you to Wisconsin did you have did you have a lot of people discourage you from coming out to LA and saying this is a crazy idea this is dumb like yeah I I didn't really listen to it people that come from other places especially a place from Wisconsin they they see what
15:09 they're around you know Wisconsin is very much a place where you know you grow up with your family you go to school go to college you get married to your high school sweetheart you have kids Three Doors Down from your parents like everyone kind of stays there so I definitely think people were a little bit like what is she doing um but I didn't listen to any of that because you know at the end of the day it's my life I'm gonna chase what I want and make the Wisconsin loser I mean there's other people that did stuff but I think just like majority that just wasn't for me not the lifestyle I wanted when you got into social media and then you started your Tick Tock and then that blew up did you ever feel the pressure of having to like keep doing content and constantly having to make stuff for that yeah I feel like burnout is definitely a thing you guys know how it is even though you're crushing it you know uh burnout is a huge thing
15:59 I don't know I think so we're being crushed um for a moment and got tired yeah we're crumbling it not crushing it I feel like constantly just being on camera and creating content I mean you know how it is like always being on camera and stuff I think I learned that a lot with the injury when I fell off the roof and I had dance taken away from me and I didn't really feel like creating because I wasn't like doing much um I feel like you need that break sometimes like I can't always be on camera like sometimes I just want to live a little bit so I feel like there's a balance you know treating it almost as work and then having my down time because you can't burn yourself out that's can you rewind a little bit you fell off a roof oh
16:56 um I was in Miami at an Airbnb and there's a rooftop like a little ladder to get to the rooftop I'd go up there and like look at the city every night um there was one night I was coming down the ladder and my hand slipped and I fell 15 feet backwards on the concrete um and I broke six Bones on my arm just okay my shoulders sprained my back it was Christmas Eve I was in the hospital um so it was about like a year of recovery so during that year I was that I mean talk about another hard time like that for me because you know me I was like go go I was constantly doing things like I love that um I love working hard I love dancing I love making things happen for it all to be stripped away I was kind of like what is going on you know a little bit of like what's left and having to like figure out how to deal with that at and
17:46 appreciate other things in my life besides like being successful and working hard and dancing stuff but yeah I fell for roof yeah what was the uh what was the thing that got you out of that like because I know how that's like to be injured and you can't dance and you're just watching everything move past you as you're just chilling what got you to keep going after you got better um it was actually really tough and I feel like I'm still kind of in that phase um even though you're 100 healed yeah no think it's um more the mental aspect of it because when you have everything shipped away and you see these people succeeding and doing stuff I didn't do anything for a year and I'm just I am that type of person like you know I want to do things I want I have big goals and things I want to achieve in my life so for that to be paused it definitely was really tough I also got a little bit
18:37 comfortable and then just the big leap it feels like okay let's get back into this let's do all this extra work to get back all like these tricks and stuff and get my body back to that um it definitely was like a hard transition I feel like I'm still kind of going through that but definitely on the up of it to like get back to like constantly doing things because we don't do anything and get comfortable it's hard to get back into it at least for me personally yeah it's almost like a domino effect like you got to do one and it's snowballs right but then if you just stop then like to get that it's like an old car you gotta remember remember best friend in life like when you have that momentum and it's going good yeah like to build it back up it takes time and yeah also for Kristen like she's in my opinion like she's doing when she was
19:27 like really really doing everything that's way more than an average dancer would do anyway what do you mean by that can you paint a picture of like what dancers do because I I think dancers dance a lot so there's some dancers that are more involved in like auditioning and just doing like hard work and then there's other dancers who are proactive about going out and just collaborating with everyone that could possibly partner with them and then there's others that are doing social media and more focused on that she was just all of the above yeah and all the time and a very like oh yeah before you uh like if I had something to offer I'm like hey Christian there's this job I should be like yeah let's do it let's ████ do it and like it's not one of those people that goes tell me the rates and tell me what I have to do like she's like all right what day go get her like like I'm down that's bad I used to hit her up all the time because I'm like you I got the perfect person for you because you know sometimes a lot of people don't know what they want when they need a dancer and it's like Kristen's perfect then because she's training in all styles
20:18 like I was creating I was collaborating like it was like a superhero type thing like I'm really proud of that way I used to live and I'm getting back into it though you know what I mean I also feel like that's kind of just like an innate quality in myself so do you ever feel like you're never stretched too thin oh no I definitely get stretched thin sometimes but um yeah just learning when to step back I think that comes with age too because also when you knew me you know I was like 19 20 that kind of age like the older I get like there's definitely priorities you have to take care of yourself but I feel like that's a great mentality to have in life to just like go after what you want and do cool things a lot of people read lineup up until their 50s and and then they die like redlining I think that personality like it's it's like so fun that you
21:09 don't know your limits so everything is yes yes let's go let's go and then you don't really know like you're you need a little rest or mental break sure yeah because it is fun like everything is like I remember when we were redlining it was three hours of sleep at night and then but then everything was just so exciting that you and also it feels bad to say no because your friends are up for it or like the money's so damn good and you never had a taste of that before and I do miss it I miss redlining yeah yeah but what does redlining mean or like pushing yourself to uh beyond your limits every day and you think you could do more and more that's amazing every single hour of your day and your week and your month to the point where you like like let's say if my mom wanted to have dinner with me and we live in the same city I'm like you need to tell me
22:00 four weeks in advance it's impossible like there's no way I can what do you mean you want to have dinner like this Saturday you might be hopping from one gig to another or doing two gig simultaneously at the same time but you know I complain less during that time I felt you know much I probably had no time to complain I also got you to where you are though and I feel like there's a healthy there's a balance yeah yeah and that's what I learned from the end it was two extremes like I was doing that extreme thing that we're just talking about like go go go and then to complete nothing for a year so now I I appreciate that experience and why that happened because it taught me that I do need I need to take care of my body and slow down and kind of can balance both of those things yeah do you only climb ladders with gloves on now just to make sure you stick better are you afraid by the way after that
22:50 no I mean I still went to Mexico yeah right she's still doing giant Ash water slides yeah yeah that's good yo Mexico theme parks are on another level dude Park on water parks it's crazier though things are just crazier yeah I feel like there's no rules out of everything you did I think you're in a great position to give advice to uh like new dancers coming to town because I feel like in your first years you did exactly what everyone was too afraid to do yeah everyone's too scared to like meet the amount of people you met and do the amount of work you did like it was it that's the fastest and most I've seen anybody like do everything at once yeah yeah you really I think a part of it too like I always give advice to people that are moving out here especially dancers is like finding people that are the best at what they do and just learning from them like offering even like free work and just surrounding yourself by that because you learn so quick from it and
23:42 also ████ the regular path like I think that's what Philip helped me and you guys help me because there is this structured out dancer path you know you move to LA you get your agent you go to the auditions self tapes that was not me at all and it's like doing what you want to do and kind of like creating your own path into becoming like whatever you want to be is that a cookie cutter [Music]
// end of tape