When GiaNina Paolantonio made her Broadway debut in Matilda the Musical at just 9 years old, she wasn’t necessarily thinking about her long-term dance career; she was just doing something she loved. “I had no plan,” Paolantonio tells Her Campus. “I started working at 9 years old, and I don’t think any 9-year-old knows what they want to do. They just know their hobby.”
But that early break quickly opened the door to more opportunities. After Matilda, Paolantonio appeared as a principal ballerina in The Greatest Showman, toured with Mariah Carey, danced for the Brooklyn Nets Kids Dance Team, and later became a familiar face on Season 8 of Dance Moms. None of it followed a carefully mapped-out plan, but there was one constant throughout: “Dance has taken me through everything,” Paolantonio says.
Choreography and teaching, in particular, weren’t career paths she imagined for herself early on. “I never wanted to be a teacher or a choreographer,” Paolantonio says. “It wasn’t what I thought was in the cards for me.” Still, over time, her relationship with dance began to shift from performing to creating — and that’s what ultimately made her the massive social media success story she has become today.
With more than 4 million followers on TikTok, Paolantonio is best known for her videos in which she choreographs dances to popular and on-the-rise songs, even partnering with artists and music labels to help boost their songs’ virality through these videos. Some of her most popular videos feature dances featuring artists like Jennifer Lopez, Billie Eilish, and Sombr.
Understandably, Paolantonio is in high demand, but she’s learned to be selective about the projects she takes on. Rather than chasing what’s trending, she’s more focused on whether a collaboration actually makes sense for her creatively. “You have to brand yourself in a certain way,” Paolantonio says. “If you don’t align with that brand, or that artist doesn’t align with your career, you shouldn’t be partnering with them.” That mindset has also allowed her to step outside her comfort zone when it felt right to do so.
She recalls working with eclectic artist Jessie Murph on “Blue Strips,” a song that wasn’t exactly in her wheelhouse. “I love her music, [but] it’s out of my comfort zone to teach to, just because it’s [got a] country twang,” Paolantonio says. Still, the connection was there. “I loved the song, her image, and her as a person. She’s such a sweetheart, so I just got in the studio and did what I do best.”
Paolantonio says her favorite dances are often tied to songs that feel natural from the start. “When it comes easy, it’s more fun,” she says. Sometime it’s a nostalgia factor, like her dance to Lopez’s “On The Floor.” Others stand out because of their structure. “I really loved choreographing to ‘That’s So True’ by Gracie Abrams,” Paolantonio says.
More recently, Paolantonio has started teasing a new creative chapter: Making her own music. While she’s keeping the details under wraps for now, she’s happy to tease what’s to come. “It’s going to be a little bit of a gag at first,” Paolantonio says. “I just think no one’s expecting what I’m going to drop.” What matters most to her is honesty. “Everything I write is a dead-on, complete true story,” she says. “It’s part of my life. I’m not one to write music about a made-up story.”
Looking back on her career thus far, Paolantonio says her definition of success has certainly shifted from when she was just starting out. “As a young girl, I thought success was booking the job,” Paolantonio says. “I’ve learned over the years that the definition of success is longevity.” Thinking back to her Broadway days, she muses, “Who would have thought — living in New York, doing that — I’d now be in the complete flip-flop realm of California doing what I’m doing now,” Paolantonio says. “That, for me, is success.”