Ballerina Turns Career Change Into Gorgeous Gift: ‘I Love Inspiring Little Girls’

Ballerina Bianca Carnovale is traveling the world, dancing in the streets — literally.

“I'm sharing ballet with people who have never seen it before, and I'm reminding people that ballet exists," says Carnovale, a 22-year-old professional busker, who posts her performances on Instagram @BalletBusker.

But that wasn't always her plan.

In the spring of 2020, Carnovale was studying at a ballet academy in New York City. COVID-19 lockdown orders forced her to move home to Australia.

She later relocated to Melbourne hoping to audition for The Australian Ballet, but because of the pandemic, they weren’t hiring.

“There were no jobs in the ballet world,” she recalls.

She worked two hospitality gigs, one as a waitress in an upscale restaurant and the other grilling burgers, while she continued ballet classes online and danced alone in her apartment.

“It was so hard to stay motivated, but I just loved it. I didn't want to give up,” she says. “I was telling my mom, 'I miss performing so much.' And my mom literally was like, 'Well, how about you just perform on the street?' And I was like, 'Mom, that's crazy.' "

But when she told a fellow dancer about the idea, he encouraged her.

She choreographed a piece to “The Dying Swan” and started dancing in the park. “When people walked by, they were so fascinated. So I think that was another reason that really encouraged me to start doing it,” she says.

On Oct. 29, 2021, she officially started dancing in the streets as a “ballet busker.”

“This is my new dream. I love this,” she says. “Ballet has always been something that just helped me, that's always just been for me. I always felt slightly selfish wanting to do it. But finally when I started busking, I was like, 'Oh wait, this can be for other people too. This can actually help people.' "

She especially loves the connections she makes with the audience.

“I had a guy come up to me, and he had tears in his eyes, and he said that his mother had passed away last year and she was a ballet teacher, and I was just able to hold his hand. And I feel in those moments, it's when you realize this is so important, you can really, really help people,” she says.

She currently travels the world, performing ballet in the street three or four times a week.

“Before I even put the music on, I start building a crowd just by being in that tutu, just by sitting there putting my shoes on," she shares. "By the time that I'm finished dancing, everybody's just staring at me like, 'Whoa.' I didn't realize ballet could do that. It's amazing.”

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She recently spent five weeks in New York City, then traveled to Edinburgh, Scotland, for two weeks, then back to Australia before jetting to Vancouver. She plans to be in Boston soon.

When she danced in N.Y.C.'s Union Square, she drew a “massive crowd," she says. “A lady commented on one of my Instagram posts and she said, 'I have never seen Union Square so still and so quiet before.' And I realized, [in] this really busy city, this crazy New York, everyone had just stopped for a second. And that stillness, that's something that never happens in the city. And just that I was able to create that experience and be able to create that for people was really amazing.”

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She sees herself as a role model to young children — she's even invited a couple to dance with her.

“Most little girls are like, 'Oh, that's scary,' ” she says. But in one instance, “these two girls, they were really brave and wanted to dance with me. And so I put some music on. That was really fun — I love inspiring little girls."

Carnovale hopes to eventually travel to developing countries and share ballet with people who have never seen it, and possibly teach classes in such locales.

“My dreams are to be able to just share ballet with everyone,” she says. “I really just want to be able to help people with ballet. I feel I've been given this amazing opportunity to be able to make a difference, and that's just what I'm trying to do with this.”

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