Hi there. My name is Ceci Balagot
from Monster High and I am so excited right now
because I'm about to meet Conrad Rocha in real life.
I have been following him for a while,
and I am so excited to meet him,
and I think he's going to teach me a couple of dances.
Come on. Hi there. It's so nice to meet you.
Yeah, it's so nice having you.
I guess I should ask you first how you identify you,
any preferred pronouns?
Pronouns are he/him/his and I identify as gay.
I use he/they pronouns and identify as just me, I think.
- We love that. - Yes.
Even, like, when I came out, there's just all this pressure
to declare what you are
and I feel like it's not really important.
It should just be about loving who you love and being you.
Absolutely. How does dancing help you embrace your pride?
Growing up, there was always like, oh, this is for the girls.
And then guys kind of make it more quote unquote masculine.
That is also the same way for me.
Like I used to be like, but I'll do the boy one.
- It's fine. Yeah. - Right.
And I think playing around with using both of those
while I dance not only helped me find my own style,
but also helped me feel like I'm me,
I know who I am, and I'm happy with that.
Oh, gosh, that's so lovely to hear.
Do you want to show me a couple moves?
- Sure. - Great.
Okay, so this is the little dance that I made
into this track called, "I Got the Magic".
It's like fun summery so.
Alright, okay, challenge for me, You got to pick it up quick.
Okay.
Oh, I forgot about that way.
Change. Down.
Is your thinking dancer language?
- Right. - I'm fluent.
- Okay. - I can only count to eight.
[laughing]
Slide.
Yay. Okay. You ready to do this, do this?
Okay. Five, six, seven.
♪ I need you to know it ♪
Yes.
♪ It's time I show it ♪
♪ I got the magic in me ♪
♪ Yeah heh I got the magic in me ♪
- Yes. That was good. - Oh, my god. Yes.
[laughing]
So how was representation important to you
on Monster High?
Ooh, it's super important to me.
And my character identifies as non-binary.
- Yes, you. - Name's Frankie.
- Non-binary pronouns, say them. - Okay.
And I think it's so- oh,my gosh.
If I saw you on my TV screen, and I was like, 15 years old,
I'd be like, oh, my goodness,
yes, we're like- I wish I had that.
Thank you.
I mean, my goal in life is to be the person
that I needed to see on TV because...
That's such- That's so, like, cool to hear.
Wow. Thank you.
Frankie, high five.
Sorry, I don't know what that means.
You just put your hands together.
High five.
I literally had never, ever had that when I was a kid.
And I think that casual representation
is one of the most important things to me, instead of...
- Tokenized? - Token- exactly, exactly.
My character is kind of just like that.
That's who they are.
And I think kids need to be able to see that
you as a person are special.
But being queer is just another facet of life.
And I want kids to know that it's a normal thing.
It's not this great event of coming out.
It could just be your friend, and that's just who they are.
I really hope that there is a seven year old
out there that's like that. That's me.
And that's what I've been wanting
to tell my friends this whole time.
This is how I want to be.
I think there needs to be less pressure to come out.
Oh, my gosh.
Especially for youth, because growing up,
on its own is hard, and I think being a part
of the LGBT community makes it a lot harder.
So I think putting less pressure on that
and just kind of letting people slowly find out
who they want to become is really important
to not only make it a safer space for LGBTQ people,
but also just placing less of a stigma
around being part of the LGBT community,
Agree completely. Absolutely.
Okay, so this dance is to a song called "The New Me"
and it's like I'm here, I'm queer.
Sassy about it.
Yeah. It's a little faster than the other one.
- Let's get to it. - Alright, I'm excited.
[music playing]
- Hit and down with the hip. - Gotcha.
[music playing]
I'm just making you jump all day today.
Here, here.
Why don't we just start going boom, boom, boom, boom?
[laughing]
Cool. Okay. I think I got it.
- Okay. - You ready?
[music playing]
♪ To know me I hope Your heart is strong enough ♪
♪ It's about to skip a beat ♪
♪ I hope you filled Your lungs up ♪
♪ before it gets Too hard to breathe ♪
♪ I'm about to shake things up♪
♪ You're about to fall in love With a new me ♪
♪ Hey ♪
♪ Whoa ♪
♪ A new me ♪
- Yes. - Okay.
When I was a kid, I...
I knew pretty much that I was a boy
like right off the bat.
Like, I could have told you, like in kindergarten.
That something was wrong
and that they kept grouping me in with the girls.
And that wasn't right, and that didn't feel right.
And I think that's what representation does.
Cause I had never seen a trans person.
I don't think until high school or middle school
I didn't even know... what that was.
So, the TV and, like books and movies and the internet,
are ways that queer people can reach homes
in all over the world
cause there's not a lot of people like me.
And I can't believe I didn't realize this earlier
that, like my advantage is just being me.
I should have never tried to blend in
to what all the other, like girls were doing.
Wow, I know so much. It's awesome, right?
Right, and there's always that regret, like,
uh, like I wish a little bit earlier
and I could have been where I am now.
But I think that journey that you go on
is like, so important because those hardships
that you have to go through to, like figure out who you are
is like what makes you not only a stronger person
but closer to like being authentic
and true to yourself.
I'm very happy to be where I am now.
I do think things kind of happened
the way they were supposed to happen.
Good. That's good.
Yeah, and I'm proud of myself.
- As you should be. - I did it. Yeah.
- Pride. - Pride.
[laughing]
♪ I'm about to shake things up♪
♪ You're about to fall in love With a new me ♪
It was so nice to hang out with you.
I had so much fun dancing with you.
Yeah, so fun.
Happy Pride, everyone.
♪ A new me ♪