Episode 632 - Danielle Burgio
Danielle Burgio is a lifelong Martial Arts practitioner, stuntwoman, and actress featured in the recent Netflix zombie film, Army of the Dead.
When I started Martial Arts, I was getting frustrated. And when I realize the power that I actually had, that I thought I knew I had, I did not experience it until I kicked that pad. I believe that all of us have that power inside of us. I think the majority of people around the world don’t recognize how powerful we really are…
Danielle Burgio - Episode 632
It was the passion for Martial Arts that brought our guest today into doing stunt work, and she’s done phenomenal work. Danielle Burgio has been featured in a lot of movies and TV Shows that we’ve all loved such as The Amazing Spiderman, Army of the Dead, The Walking Dead, The Matrix, and so much more.
Danielle Burgio's diverse talents have led her down an exciting path from Broadway dancer, to top Hollywood stunt actress, to filmmaker. Aside from her super photogenic dog, Danielle talks about her career in Hollywood as well as her lifelong affinity to the Martial Arts.
Listen to learn more!
Show Notes
In this episode, we mentioned Bas Rutten and Samantha Win
Find out more about Danielle Burgio on IMDB or visit her website at www.danielleburgio.com
Follow Danielle Burgio on Instagram @daniburgio1111
Danielle Burgio
Show Transcript
You can read the transcript below.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Hey there, how's it going? You're listening to whistlekick Martial Arts Radio Episode 632 with my guest today, Danielle Burgio. My name is Jeremy Lesniak, your host and founder here at whistlekick, where everything we do is in support of the traditional martial arts. If you want to know more, if you want to go deeper, see all the stuff we got going on. Start at whistlekick.com, this, we're going to find everything. We're doing links, products, services, you name it, it's there. And one of the things over there is our store. It's part of the way that we monetize. What are you going to find in there? Shirts and hats and apparel as well as a constantly shifting inventory of protective equipment, uniforms, and other training accessories. So, check that out, use the code PODCAST15, going to give 15% off anything you find in the store. The website for this show, it's completely separate, whistlekickmartialartsradio.com. We bring you two episodes each and every week, with the purpose being connecting you, educating you and of course entertaining you to traditional martial artists. So, if that means something new, if you find value in that, consider helping us out there. A bunch of ways you can do. You can make a purchase, share an episode, you could follow us on social media. Of course, you could tell people about us that's really important mark, grab a book from Amazon, we're adding more all the time. You could also leave a review on Apple podcasts or Spotify or Google podcasts. Or you could support the Patreon, patreon.com/whistlekick. Place to go for that. You can get in for as little as $2 a month. At $5, you get exclusive audio episodes. $10 gets you bonus video. $25 gets you book and program drafts and it goes up from there if you want exclusive one on one time with me. Oh, you can get that too. You want me to train you, you can get that too. So, check it out. Patreon.com/whistlekick.
Now you may not recognize today's guest by name, at least not at first. But I will guarantee you recognize a good deal of her work. I'm not going to spoil it. You may have read ahead. You may have googled or something. But this woman has been involved in some really amazing martial arts projects. And that's why she's on the show talking to me today. And you get to listen that conversation. Had a great time. We get to learn all about her life, her unconventional start, her appreciation for the arts, and so much more. So, let's do it. I'm so excited. You have a picture of your dog.
Danielle Burgio:
Absolutely.
Jeremy Lesniak:
You have an immensely photogenic dog.
Danielle Burgio:
Thank you, she is. She really is a little supermodel.
Jeremy Lesniak:
My cat is the same way. She is... Honestly, it could be any day now. She's 21 and a half.
Danielle Burgio:
Oh my god.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Yeah. Yeah. And it can be the worst lighting. I can pretty much hold the phone in the opposite direction and it still comes out as this phenomenal shot. That you know I post on social media and yeah, she's adorable.
Danielle Burgio:
What's her name?
Jeremy Lesniak:
Zuza.
Danielle Burgio:
That's a good name.
Jeremy Lesniak:
I can't take credit for it. She, you know, one of those stuck around after a relationship.
Danielle Burgio:
Yeah. Got it.
Jeremy Lesniak:
How is it with Ripley?
Danielle Burgio:
Ripley, my COVID baby. She's my COVID baby.
Jeremy Lesniak:
[00:03:14-00:03:16]
Danielle Burgio:
Yeah, she's actually in that photo. I think she's nine months. Okay. Yeah. And now she's a year and a half.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Nice. It was COVID, boring. And you said, you know, I need the chaos of a puppy.
Danielle Burgio:
I'm not going to say it was boring. You know, I had quite a lot personally going on right before COVID hit. And I was like, the last thing I was planning on doing was getting a dog. My previous dog actually passed just weeks before it hit. And I was definitely not getting another dog. And then COVID hit and it was like, I sort of found myself alone and more than awesome. This is just getting super personal. My husband and I split right before the pandemic, and then the dog died. And then the pandemic hit. All my friends and family and therapists were like, maybe you should get a dog. And I was like, I'm not getting a dog because that's crazy. And then I got a dog and you know, yeah, I mean, I met her I just sort of opens my mind to the idea. And literally, she pretty much just appeared. And it was like, I'm madly, you can't say no. And thank God, I had her. I mean, you know, at that time, I think we were all convinced the pandemic was going to last... Some people talk about two weeks and I remember I was saying this is going to go on for at least like two months people and they were like mad at me. And then we were all surprised that, you know, it went on as long as it did. So anyway, thank God, I had Ripley because she was the best companion and having puppy energy and training her and working with her and doing all that it's been really great.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Well, I checked out your Instagram before we did this and she was all over your Instagram. And I was like, oh, a dog owner, a dog lover.
Danielle Burgio:
A lover. Yes, yeah. I'm an animal lover in general, not just dogs. I love animals, but she's the closest thing I can have to a wolf. So...
Jeremy Lesniak:
Actually, I rank or I rate the quality of my days by how many dogs I get to interact with.
Danielle Burgio:
Oh, I like that. That's a good barometer.
Jeremy Lesniak:
2,3,4 Dog Day, you know, when I did it at the Humane Society, you know, 10/15 Dog Days, those are good days.
Danielle Burgio:
Nice. Nice.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Yeah. So, this can either be, you know, we have a decision to make right here. We either keep going, we'll keep talking. Or if we need some sidebar, some parameters, some, whatever answer questions kind of thing. You know, we can/we'll edit this part out.
Danielle Burgio:
Yeah. Whatever you choose, let's keep going. Because I'm pretty open about anything.
Jeremy Lesniak:
And, you know, it's prerecorded. So, you know, I mean, you're no stranger to having things edited and doing shots over and over again, I'm sure. But, you know, if we need any of that, we can certainly do that.
Danielle Burgio:
Okay. Yeah, I just say if I say anything that I go retract that? I'll let you know. Otherwise, I don't have much to hide.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Okay. Well, this, I don't know. Is this your first martial arts specific show that you've been on?
Danielle Burgio:
It is.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Okay. Well, thank you. You know, we had some discussion internally, you know, and I have an open book too. You know, when the opportunity to talk to you was presented, it was okay, how do we tackle this from a martial arts perspective, because we're a martial art show. And we have to be true to our audience in our mission and in furthering the arts. And then I got a look at the work that you've done. And I went, oh, there's our connection. I mean, this is obvious. This is so obvious, some of the things that you've worked on. And honestly, people you've worked alongside who have been on the show.
Danielle Burgio:
Yes, absolutely. I have had a connection to the martial arts community. A quite a strong connection to the martial arts. And I should say, I mean, I think this is the first time and definitely the first time in a long time. But back in the day, when I had just finished doing matrix, I did do a couple of like magazines, a couple of martial arts magazines, and things like that. So, I was really heavy in that world at that time, which is not really, my world that I necessarily grew up in, or whatever, but it's been a big part of my life. The community's been a big part of my life. And the teachings have become a big part of my life, even though I haven't followed traditional steps that most people would.
Jeremy Lesniak:
And that's okay, you know, I'm not going to name names, but it doesn't take a lot of research to realize that some of the people that in our world, in the martial arts world lift up as these are amazing martial arts actor, celebrities. actually, are closer to your path in mind, where they train on set. And it becomes a movement discipline. And then from there, some of them will go off and become a little bit more traditional in their approach, but some of them don't.
Danielle Burgio:
Right. Yeah, it's two different worlds that overlap. And there's that intersection, I think, and I'm probably on the outside of that intersection. But there is that intersection where people that are heavily in you know, real true martial artists, and also our actors, stunt people, you know, do it on screen, I should say, bring that art to the screen. So yeah, and then obviously, that's where I live so...
Jeremy Lesniak:
When I take a look, you name dropped, you dropped a movie that actually quite a few people in our world think of as pretty legitimate and even genre advancing martial arts film, The Matrix...
Danielle Burgio:
Yes.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Were you in the first one?
Danielle Burgio:
I was not in the first one. I actually was just... When I saw the first one sitting in that theater like everyone else going, “What is up there on the screen? Wow. I want to be Trinity.” I had been thinking about getting into the stunt work, but I had not actually done it. And I think that movie actually was a big push for me to say, “Oh, there’s something that I want to do”. And then I worked on the sequels the second and third.
Jeremy Lesniak:
You went from seeing the first one in the theater like the rest of us and not being involved in martial arts or stunts or film.
Danielle Burgio:
I love that point. I was in the film industry. Okay. I started as a dancer and an actor. I think at that point, I had been just starting to learn some martial arts and working with some stunt people who were encouraging me that passed because they were like from your dance skills, you would pick this up really well. And this would be a good avenue for you, we need more people like you that can do all these different things. And I picked it up quickly. So, it was very early on my path. But I had not yet worked as a stunt person.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Okay. So, to reframe the shocked statement, I'm about to make you went from in a few years seeing the movie to in the second movie, doubling one of the main characters?
Danielle Burgio:
That's correct.
Jeremy Lesniak:
That's kind of crazy.
Danielle Burgio:
It is kind of crazy.
Jeremy Lesniak:
And, you know, this is the point where if it was a new movie coming out, people would be listening to this and they'd be gone. Well, Jeremy, you know, that doesn't mean that she was any good or anything, but I'm going to guess that we've all seen just about all of us have seen all three matrix movies. And while there are plenty of things people will point out and criticize. It's never the stones, it's never that work.
Danielle Burgio:
Right.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Wow.
Danielle Burgio:
It was a very special project to be a part of. And, I have to say that, you know, the majority of what people see on the screen in the matrix franchise, really, is primarily actors. I mean, that I can't even take credit for a lot of the great work that you didn't see up there, because the directors were so adamant about training the actors. And that's all working together as a team to get the actors on that screen as much as possible. So, a lot of that really, actually was Korean, which is rare, you know, people a lot of actors say they do their own stuff. We know that's not actually true. But in the matrix franchise, it is very true. So, I mean, my work is on screen, but I got to give props to carry on. And she worked really hard.
Jeremy Lesniak:
She's great. And anybody who's seen those films knows, and if you haven't seen those films lately, audience, you know, go back and check them out again. I want to go back, though. On this show, we typically go through people's journeys, you know, your journey is different, but you mentioned dance.
Danielle Burgio:
Yes.
Jeremy Lesniak:
And anybody who spent any time you know, in even mid-level dance, and martial arts knows that there's a fair amount of similarity in the way classes are presented the intensity. When I have to describe a martial arts form, you know, what in Karate is called a Kata. Or maybe it's called a Pomse or a pattern. I describe it to people who don't know, martial art is... Well, it's kind of like a pre-arranged dance, you know, it's like some choreography, and they're like, oh, okay, that makes sense. I can wrap my head around that. What was your dance background?
Danielle Burgio:
So, I started, you know, I started young, just doing a little bit of everything. Right, a little tap, a little jazz, a little ballet. And then as I got older, I got a little more into musical theater. That's how my career started. I was on Broadway in New York. And that seemed to be a good place. For me, I really have a personal love for modern dance contemporary dance, which is much more similar probably to a looser ballet, like, it's much more disciplined in that way, which I think has the similarity with martial arts at that high level of discipline. So that was sort of a place that I kind of love to be, but most of my career was in musical theater, but a little bit of everything. So, I've always had to kind of adapt my style to whatever was required, which is, I think, what helped me so much when I did switch over into stunts, and started doing more fight choreography, as opposed to dance choreography. It's a very like monkey see, monkey do mentality. Let me see if I can shift and change my body to the style that's required. I think that was one of my strengths.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Where did that desire to shift and change come from? Most people don't end up doing something well, and then say, you know, I'm going to throw this out, or at least put it aside and try to do this other thing over here that I don't know how to do. And then when I get done with that, I'm going to do this other thing and you just went through a bunch of different kinds of dance. And one might assume, okay, well, I'm going to go do dance, I'm going to be a dance instructor or I'm going to do Dance Choreography on sets, right? There are so many places, you could have taken that. But that wasn't where you cut it off. So why?
Danielle Burgio:
That is a very good question. I think it's just my personality is very... I'm always looking for the next, you know, the next challenge. I just want to keep learning and growing and shifting and changing and moving. And I felt like I had my success in this in the dance world. And there was something that I never felt that feeling of like “Yes, I've done it”. I achieve my dreams. And I'm done now, there's always that what's next for me. So, I actually moved to Los Angeles from New York because I was really in the dance community deeply in New York. And I wanted it actually shift towards acting. Now I was really looking to go more into, I got a taste of doing some film and commercials on TV in New York. And I thought, this is what I really want to do. So, I wanted to move to LA where at that time, that's really where the work was. And I felt like I needed to meet a whole new group of people because New York felt like knew me as a dancer. So, I moved to LA and wanted to pursue being an actor. And that's when I was introduced to some martial arts community and sent of the action actor community.
And I went through that. There was something that just really enticed me. And they encouraged me to start learning some martial arts, which I had never done. And I just loved it, like my body loved it, and my mind loved it. And it just felt like something I wanted to go after. And so, I kind of dove in, I think there was a part of me that was done being a dancer. So, and the fact that I was offering my own TV series or movie at that time, you know, I was ready. I was ready to just... I felt like it was something I had done as a dancer, and I did it for a good number of years and had success. And it was like, “Okay, well is this is all there is. Like yes, I was on Broadway, but I was in the chorus. I just don't know, I wanted more.
Jeremy Lesniak:
But as far as he felt he could have.
Danielle Burgio:
Yeah.
Jeremy Lesniak:
It's time to make space for something else. I get that.
Danielle Burgio:
Yeah, there was a pull towards the film industry. There was a pull towards, you know, it started with martial arts before it actually became standard work. Oh, so in the beginning, it was the martial arts that really drew me in. And I loved it. I loved how it felt in my body. And I remember thinking, like, I've always been a pretty confident, strong person. But when I started doing martial arts, I remember the day that they were like, okay, kick this pad. And I was like, “Yeah, okay, I'll kick it”. They were like, “No, no, kick it as hard as you can”. And I was like, “Oh, I can't kick hard like I'm a dancer” and I'm not afraid I'll kick that pad. And they were like, “you can kick it so much harder. Why are you holding back?” And I was getting frustrated and more and more frustrated. And then when I realized the power that I actually had, that I thought I knew I had, but I didn't experience it until I kick that pad. And they showed me how to really kick it as hard as I really could and how to kind of kick through it. Something I got very excited, was like, wow, I felt like I tapped into some kind of power, I unleashed something. And I realized that I did have a lot of power inside of me that I wasn't necessarily accessing. And that was really addictive.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Sure. If I was a therapist, and longtime listeners know that sometimes we have episodes, actually, I recorded one earlier today where he kind of had a little bit of a therapy bent. But if I was wearing that sort of a hat, you know, we could poke at it and say, you know, was there something from your childhood or whatever, where, you know, you were craving that?
Danielle Burgio:
Absolutely. Yes, I will. I am always happy to go down. And yes, I mean, I think all of that's connected. But I also believe that all of us have that, inside of us where I think the majority of people in the world do not recognize how powerful we really are. And stepping into the getting the opportunity to step into that power and having somebody mentor you towards that. And that's what I think martial arts is so wonderful. And I encourage every one of my friends that have kids, I always tell them, if you do one thing, please get your kids into, you know, some form of martial arts so they can learn that, you know, and there's so many good things to learn from it and discipline and body movement and being in touch with your body and all of that. And the confidence that it gives you which it's funny to me because obviously its people think of it as like a fight form. So, you're learning to fight, but in reality, I think it makes you much more peaceful person and a person that is much less to engage in a fight. Ironically, as it circles.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Yeah, actually, episode we recorded earlier, it'll come out probably about three to four weeks before this one airs. We talked about that very subject this idea that martial arts, the irony of learning to fight and defend yourself makes you a more peaceful person. Yeah, it seems so contradictory.
Danielle Burgio:
Yeah, but it's so true. So, all of that kind of happened. And I think that's what, you know, sort of set me off. On my new path.
Jeremy Lesniak:
I've had the opportunity to work with a lot of martial artists. And some of those people that I've had the chance to work with were pretty early in their martial arts career. And a lot of them come in with some other form of physical discipline, yoga, some coming in with, you know, combat of, like boxing. You came in with dance. And sometimes those movement patterns can be really a hindrance, because your body is used to moving in certain ways. You talked about hitting the path. And I would imagine that some of the adjustment they made for you hitting those pads was based in changing what you were doing as a dancer that might, “kick to a martial artist kicking?”
Danielle Burgio:
Absolutely, yes. And I was so many habits as a dancer, that once I crossed over, it was really hard to break certain habits. Now, you know, other aspects, like you said, like choreography and things like that. That was like, oh, this is like second nature to me. But then there, you know, years and years of training my body to hold a beautiful line and to point my toe, and to never turn my hip over. Like you always have your hip turned out. As a dancer, you very rarely, like turn the hip over. That was, you know, really challenging for me to wrap my mind around that. I needed to like, you know, adjust the position of my hip in order to do a proper kick. Or to, you know, not make things look so pretty, especially when it came to choreography on camera, and that those are some pretty big challenges I probably still have, you know, I have people like Jeff Amata in my head. “Oh, stop making it look so pretty”.
Jeremy Lesniak:
I get that. No, if we were to watch your choreography, were to cut it all out and string it together chronologically, maybe? Not necessarily, but would just connect with what you've done on camera with fight scenes? is there is there a scene or a film that you are most proud of that you felt like you were able to best represent the intentions of the choreography, the director, the story?
Danielle Burgio:
And to be honest, nothing comes to mind to say, you know, yes, this one because again, like the matrix, you'd go, you have issues in the matrix. And they go, yeah, but carry on did so much of that. And there were just little bits and pieces of me here and there. And of course, yes, I'm very proud of that. But there's not like one fight sequence that I can point to and say that one. And a lot of other things I've done like I did a great roof top fight. When I doubled the electric character in the Daredevil movie. A lot of that was just kind of getting tossed around. So not necessarily martial arts, my bigger fight scenes that I've done probably like that fully play out. That's all me. We're on a lot of lower budget, films and things like that.
Jeremy Lesniak:
So, that's okay.
Danielle Burgio:
Yeah.
Jeremy Lesniak:
If there's one group of people that loves their low budget film, it's awesome. Yeah. I mean, I really think about if we were to go back and actually, early on in the history of the show, we asked, I asked most of the guests for their favorite martial arts films, and most of them were bad ones. Yeah, budget ones, and even the first ones, you go back, you watch Billy Jack, or, you know, I'm going to commit heresy. Now enter the dragon. No, these are not great movies, but they're great movies. Right? So when you think about some of these films that you were on that, you know, the audience may not know about, you know, give it give us some names. I bet some of the people out there will have seen them.
Danielle Burgio:
Oh, I honestly like the couple of ones that come to mind are ones that I don't want anyone.
Jeremy Lesniak:
That's new.
Danielle Burgio:
I'm like, there's one movie out there in particular that I'm like, just please never ever watch it. But again, like I got to fight [00:24:35-00:24:37] in that movie, which is really cool. You know, he's such a sweetheart. And I mean, you know, only on a movie, could I actually knock him out? I did a lot. I think a lot of fun that I had doing martial arts. Actually, there was an old TV series called Birds of Prey. And I doubled. I was one of the doubles for the main character on that was like a kind of... Forgot her name on... It was like the Cat woman character, he had like two or three main doubles. And I would come in and I did a lot of fight choreography on that series, which was fun because you know, we really got to dive in. And I had there was such a great team of people, martial artists and stunt people that were really talented. And so, you know, fighting seven guys at once, kind of thing with, you know, just lightning speed choreography. And with a little bit of a super hero angle. You can really take things to another level. So, I think a lot of that was probably some of the stuff that I'm the proudest of. I think there's some of that. There's like, I have stunt reel out there somewhere. And there's some clips from Birds of Prey on that.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Nice, nice. It's a TV series that I haven't seen. It's an all in one that seems to have a bit of a cult following. Yeah, that was quite a few years ago. That show, was this 2002 to 2003?
Danielle Burgio:
Yeah, yeah. Early. Yeah, that sounds about right. I'm dating myself. Don't take that, okay.
Jeremy Lesniak:
None of us, none of us are getting younger, and we're not getting out here alive. So, I think that's quite okay.
Danielle Burgio:
It's okay, you know, I'm embracing my age these days. And I have to say that I feel in a lot of ways that I'm in the best shape of my entire life. I can attribute that to... I think as I've gotten older, I've made it such a priority. You know, I think when I was younger, I took a lot of things for granted, I could just eat whatever I wanted, and not take the best care of myself and still, you know, seem to be okay. And as I've gotten older, I've gotten very serious about what it is I put not just in my body, but on my body and the way that I treat my body and wanting to stay strong. And especially after the years of, you know, getting knocked around. And it's even being a dancer was pretty brutal on my body. And then you know, martial arts and stunts and all that, it takes a toll if you're not being good to yourself. So, I've learned self-care, I've learned how to take good care of myself, and I've taken it very seriously. So, I attribute it to that.
Jeremy Lesniak:
We've had a number of stunt performers on. A lot of them follow a more traditional, they get involved in martial arts want to turn it into a job, wake up and realize that there aren't very many options. We conventionally you know, plenty of people have done weird things to turn martial arts into a job. You know what, what I do here is a good example of that. So, we've heard these stories, we've heard about the abuse on the body, we've heard the physicality and the toll that it takes. Are you starting to look at roles and say, I don't know if I want to do that? I don't know if it's worth the consequences?
Danielle Burgio:
Absolutely. I've phased myself out of the stunt work a few years ago now. It's been about five years, since I've really taken like a big stunt job. And it's been a couple, maybe three years since I just started saying no to all stuff work. Now that being said, I have some stunt coordinator friends who don't take no for an answer. So, I have, you know, taken a little job here and there where they're a little bit easier. But mostly because I'm again, I'm in a new phase of my career where I want to transition. I've done that, I had my success. Now, I'm focused on what's next. Part of it was to protect my body. But a lot of it was just the long-term goal of protecting my body to sort of pivot my ambitions and direction into an area where I'm not hitting the ground as often. But that said, I'm still pursuing an acting career. So, I tend to get looked at for roles that are physical, so I don't mind. I actually love the physicality of it. I just don't want to be doubling the actors anymore. I'll hit the ground as long as it's for myself now. So, that's a sense way that I draw. Yeah, because when you're doubling, you take a lot harder... You become a bit more disposable. You know.
Jeremy Lesniak:
That's the word I was going to use, but I thought it might be offensive.
Danielle Burgio:
You know what, it's not really because I think stunt performers know that's the gig, right? Like, you're going to do something dangerous. Somebody might get hurt; they can't afford to hurt the actor, that's going to shut down production. So, we bring you in, and hopefully won't get hurt. But if you do get hurt, you're replaceable. That's part of the job.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Are there any stunt rolls that you would say, you know what? I have to take this one? Is there a film, or an actress or a director that if they came calling, you would say, you know what? I know I've been saying no, but I've got to do this.
Danielle Burgio:
Well, funny enough, right? Right. After I said, okay, this is it, I'm going to say no, on this date. It was like a certain birthday, I said, on this date, I'm going to say no. And I swear, like a week later, someone called and said, we're looking for a double, they were doing the new Terminator. And they wanted to double for Linda Hamilton. And, you know, it's a big film, again, iconic role. It was everything I wanted to do. And I really had to think about it. And I was like, if anything was going to pull me back, it was going to be that. And I said, “No”. And it's not like they were offering me the job. They really were wanting me to audition for it, and throw my name in to be considered. So not to say that I would have gotten it. But I was like, “Okay, here's my big test, what am I going to say?” And I said, “No, I'm committing to my plan.” So yeah. Luckily, nothing else has come along to tempt me that much. But I think my answer would be no. Yeah.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Now as you move ahead, and the let's, let's say the heart of what brought you into martial arts, stunts, has faded out. What is your connection with martial arts like now?
Danielle Burgio:
Well, I honestly, it would be a dream come true. If I could do a movie and get to do my own martial arts on camera, that would be the ultimate dream, I would still love it. It still feels good in my body, although I have, you know, since the pandemic, and all of that happened as well. I'm not having been in the gym and training and sort of lost touch with some of those people that I used to do that with. I have a dance studio in the back of my house here that I built during the pandemic, because I was missing so much being able to, you know, work my body the way I wanted to. So, kind of lately, I have circled back to the dance, which is interesting, because for almost 20 years, I didn't dance at all. I was fully just on the other side of it, and all my training was martial arts. So, I have circled back around, but I would love an opportunity and a reason to dive back in and get my body moving again in that way, because it does feel really, really good to me.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Let's talk about that. Return to dance, because we have people who come into the show. And you know, they trained as a kid, or they stopped training when they had kids, you know, for whatever reason, they have to set martial arts down for a time. And then something happens, a year, five years, 20 years, sometimes more later, and they pick it up again. And I hear all different responses, you know, guilt, and this was a part of my life that was missing. And anything in between that you could imagine. What was it like to pick up dance again?
Danielle Burgio:
Yeah, it was scary in the beginning. And I thought, am I too old to be doing this? You know, can my body still do this? Frustrating because my mind knows what to do. But my body was not cooperating. But then slowly, but surely, things started coming back online and the muscle memory started kicking in. And you know, and I had to had to work for it. But it all came back. And that's when I can say now, I actually feel stronger than I was in my 20s. I think because I had to work so much harder at it to bring it back. But it felt really good. It felt like home. And I thought wow, it was one of those things like you don't really miss it. But you didn't realize that you missed it until it came back and then I went, “Wow. That's actually been really missing from my life”.
Jeremy Lesniak:
What is your dance practice look like now? Is it something you're doing frequently?
Danielle Burgio:
I'm getting more frequent about it. In the beginning, I built the dance studio and I thought okay, now what do I do? The Zoom classes were really frustrating because like the sound is never right. What I love about being in dance class is that is the energy of the other people. And then being pushed. When I went back to dance, I found myself into a professional, like a level three professional class, which was full of 20-year Olds that were at the top of their game. And I was like, “Okay, well, this is really humbling”. And it was great, because that energy pushed me to, you know, want to keep up. And then you've got people watching you, because you usually do it, like you'll learn the query or you'll do warm-up, you'll do the choreography, and then you'll do it in groups. And everyone's watching you. So, you're pushed to do your best. And I find on a zoom class that's really missing sorely missing. And even though I have a nice space in my back, it's not as large as going to professional dance studio. So that was a bit challenging and frustrating. And I had to work my way past that, and kind of find my way. So luckily, I do have that same teacher that was the level three class is still occasionally teaching on zoom.
So that's nice. I can do her class and get my basics in because you know, there's all the drills at the beginning or warm up, where you know, you do your time dues, and all the things that you do to stay strong and get centered and grounded and warmed up. And then you get to flow and with the choreography and have some fun. So, I still have that structure. But then on my own I wasn't quite sure what to do. In the beginning, I started just putting on the music, I have a dance hoop. And so, I started actually putting on music and dance hooping, just to get my body moving and energy like on my own without anybody there telling me what I needed to do. I had to take on the responsibility of doing it for myself, and it felt a bit awkward in the beginning. And then slowly but surely, I let the music play and start to just lose myself in the music and get into my body and start you know, putting my body into more and more challenging positions where I have to really use my core strength and my flexibility and my everything to move but then just sort of organically like kind of let it flow. So that's what I've been doing a little combination of some classes here and there. And then me really being free. And letting that explosive energy fly out of my body, let you know that my body just move and explore and do crazy thinks. And that feels good. Because I didn't move my body a whole lot during that beginning part of the pandemic.
Jeremy Lesniak:
You're not alone.
Danielle Burgio:
Yeah, it was really challenging to try to find that outlet, really challenging.
Jeremy Lesniak:
When you talk about that explosive energy with dance, I'm wondering, did the last 20 years where you set dance down and you know you were picking up martial arts and doing stonework has had any kind of an influence on your freeform movement?
Danielle Burgio:
Huge, huge, because I don't think I understood that explosive energy part when I was a dancer prior to learning martial arts and now that's something that I think it's so important for dancers to embody. There are times where things are soft and slower and then at times where you know that energy really does need to explode out of your body. That's something I definitely learned from martial arts that now I feel more in my personal movement and choreography and all of that. Yeah.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Any new skills coming? If dance and all the various flavors, there were a set of skills, we put them down, picked up martial arts for a while, in a sense, you've put it down was done in the movie implementation side of it. I don't get the sense that you slow down very often where much of the times that you do you just reluctantly... So, what is the next physical challenge that you're picking up?
Danielle Burgio:
So, the challenge that I've been picking up lately is a less physical and more mental. I've been moving into writing and producing. So, I have a feature film that I was actually.... We were literally in pre-production like we were going and everything just sort of I recently fell apart. So hopefully sooner rather than later, that'll be back on track. So, it's very mental. So, I've had to really root into my physical practice on my own, because my physical practice has always been a part of my career. And now my career is more, you know, mental. But I need that balance. Like I realize how important it is for me to be that physical. So, I'm still dancing. But the hooping thing actually is something that I've taken up now as just like a fun, physical outlet. There's a lot of things you can do with a hoop. And, again, just the way moving around my body. And so that's been because I do always need something new that's kind of stimulating me to get me going.
So. it's been a bit of a bit of hooping last week, for the first time in years, I broke out my old roller skates. So, my Broadway show that I did was Starlight Express, which is on roller skates. I still have my skates. And I actually broke them out last week and made me learn how to like because I used to be able to trick, spin and do all kinds of crazy stuff on the on the quads, the four wheels, not the blades. I don't know how to do this. So, if you can do quad skates, you can do in line.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Really?
Danielle Burgio:
Yeah. I tried a couple times, I felt really weird. Yeah, I felt really, really fast. So yeah, I'm always looking for something to keep it new and fresh and exciting. But man, maybe it might be time, especially after this chat, maybe I'm going to be inspired to circle back to some of my martial arts drills. And now that the world is opening back up again, I've actually reconnected with a couple of friends who were the ones that really trained me in the beginning and really taught me. You know, when I first became a stunt woman, I was so lucky to find a group of guys out here in LA who are tremendous. So talented martial artists who really took me under their wing. And we would go you know, several times a week, sometimes twice a day, and train. And they're still friends of mine. And they still train all the time. So maybe they inspired me, maybe I need to know.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Well, I hope so. That is kind of our given mission here at whistle kick is to encourage people to train. Yeah, so it would be I would be remiss if I didn't verbalize my encouragement.
Danielle Burgio:
Now. I think there's something here in the room. Yeah, maybe this is time to circle back especially with all their frustrations I've been feeling with trying to get a movie off the ground. Hitting a bag actually sounds kind of good right now.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Remember, martial arts films don't have to be very good. It's all about creative, enjoyable choreography. So, I could imagine you finding a way to use that hoop as a weapon. And casting some interesting character some crazy story where she has to fight through. Who knows, maybe it can be a bigger part in you know, Army of the Dead too. We'd even mentioned that you were in there. And when I dug in a little bit and found the character that you play it, I went okay, now I get the chance to ask “Where did she get that gun?” Because that was my response. When I saw that scene was clear. Did she get that gun? That is not the gun that one would expect a soccer mom to have.
Danielle Burgio:
Oh, now, she's a soccer mom with a vengeance. Yeah, yeah. She's on a mission to find her daughter. And she's, I think I let you know, the opening sequence is. So, for people that don't know I was the soccer mom and it's just in the title sequence of Army of the Dead and that's it, but such a fun role to get to step into. And it was a fun movie.
Jeremy Lesniak:
We had the chance to talk to Sam when before that aired. I love that woman.
She's awesome.
Yes. Well, she's as [00:44:23-00:44:27].
Danielle Burgio:
She really is such a talented little powerhouse. I mean, phenomenally, you know, beautiful. You've talked to her. So, you know, she's just like, the sweetest thing on the planet. And then yeah, at the same time, like she's so fierce and so sweet and a great actress. But her physical skills are tremendous. Tremendous. I've seen some of her footage from some of her tournaments and things like that. That girl is just she can move. I'm so inspired by her.
Jeremy Lesniak:
And so, let's kind of wrap up with a little bit of talk about movement, you know, I have a firm belief. When we talk about martial arts, one of the things that I'm quoted as saying is, there are only so many ways that the human body can move. And only so many of them make sense through the lens of combat. And, you know, we take out that that other part, you know, whether you're talking about being on skates, or using a hoop, or any form of dance, or any martial art, or stunt or whatever it is, you know, you can only move in so many different ways. Yeah, so if we have somebody listening right now, who, you know, is coming up through, you know, they're listening to the show, they're probably a martial artist. And they're looking ahead and they're saying, you know, maybe I want to get into stunt work. Or maybe I want to pursue dance or something else that is physical, heck, maybe they have their heart set on the Olympics. You've done a lot of different movement, things, a lot of different movement disciplines. You had to offer some general advice for being successful in movement, because that's the common thread here that we're talking about. What advice would you give to that person?
Danielle Burgio:
Yeah, so what I'm in it, yeah, what I'm going to say about movement is, first of all, the most important thing is to just be so in touch with your body. Right? There's a connection between the mind and the body that has to be made. And I don't think everyone, that's not a natural thing for everyone. So, for me, that's the most important thing getting really like connected that body, mind and spirit connection happening. And then it's just strengthening all of it, you know, and it's not just strengthening muscles, its flexibility, agility, all of that. So, to get your body in a place where it can do what your brain is asking it to do, that just takes a lot of discipline. And a lot of practice. And so, I would say it's about really committing and just training and training and training and training and training. I think anyone that I've ever talked to about success, it comes from just discipline and diligence. And people see success, but they don't realize all the hard work that went into it. And it's loving the work, too. You know, I think you have to find a place to work hard and be willing to work hard, and then love that. And a lot of times there's a struggle that comes with that. And you have to like love the struggle and embrace the struggle. And yeah, but when it all comes together, it's so satisfying. so gratifying. And the body is like I say all the time, the body is such an incredible tool like it is capable of doing, again, much more than people often believe of themselves. You know, just like I was saying earlier, the power, we have more power than we realize, I think our bodies are capable of more than we realize anything that people that are able to take their body to these extreme limits are people that recognize that and aren't afraid to work towards that. Don't make sense, right? You're like, I went on some weird tangent.
Jeremy Lesniak:
Oh, that if you go back, if you listen to our show, that is exactly my job is to get people talking on tangents. People come back and say, “Did I answer your question?” And the answer is usually “no. But I don't care”. Okay. Because my job is just to keep the guest talking, because that's where the good stuff comes out. You know, this isn't transactional. We don't have a script. We just kind of flow. Now, I know you have a website, social media, you want to share that with the people listening?
Danielle Burgio:
Yeah, that's a website danielleburgio.com. Actually, there's a have a blog and a podcast page on there. So, I actually have a podcast where I interview powerful women in Hollywood, and I have had in the martial artists on there. So, Sam was on there. I've had Amy Johnson is on there. And yeah, there's some fun, great women on there. Yeah, what else. I'm on social media. I'm on Instagram and Twitter. Pretty easy to find Danielle Burgio. @DaniBurgio1111. But you know, I think if you type in my name... Why 1111? I have a real love for that number. Somebody actually took my name, so I couldn't just be dead. Don't follow them. Yeah, and then 1111 it's because it's sort of a spiritual thing for me. Yeah, I see the number a lot and I have a very strong spiritual practice and always just kind of reminds me to stay connected to that part of myself. Yeah, feels like a little magic number.
Jeremy Lesniak:
It's time to close up. Okay, so let's pretend that you were just given some long, like a commencement speech sort of thing. And you know, you got it, you got to end strong, you got to hit him with a good punch at the very end. You know, so what would your final words be to the listeners today?
Danielle Burgio:
Just to say thank you for taking your time to listen to me rattle on and that I hope that something I said would inspire you to step into your power and embrace your full potential.
Jeremy Lesniak:
What a fun time. Danielle, thanks for coming on the show. Looking forward to the next thing that you do and checking that out, as well. Folks head on over to whistlekickmartialartsradio.com, we'll give you the links will give you the photos, all the good stuff so you can stay up with Danielle and her career. And of course, while you're over there, check out the other episode, sign up for the newsletter, stay involved, we are constantly refining and improving everything we do at whistlekick including the things for the show, because we want to serve you better. If you have feedback on that front. Let me know jeremy@ whistlekick.com. And if you want to help us out, we've got a Patreon. We've got books on Amazon, we've got stuff at whistlekick.com, you can buy so many options. But if you want the easy free and honestly in some ways more impactful. Tell your friends, tell your martial arts friends about what we do and why we do it. Because that's the number one way that we grow. And don't forget we designed this incredible speed development program for martial arts and you can do it at home. Doesn't take any equipment, grab it at whistlekickprogram.. Our social media accounts are @whistlekick. And we're constantly open to guests or topic suggestions for these episodes. So let us know. I appreciate you joining me today. Until next time, train hard, smile and have a great day.