Pandora Marie
Marie "Pandora" Medina, aka Pandora or Pandora Marie, is an American dancer and choreographer who specializes in the "tutting" and "popping" dance styles. She is a member of the Style Elements Crew, The LXD and Venus Fly. Pandora's career has spanned over fifteen years, primarily as part of the popping dance funk culture.
Dance career
Pandora Marie has worked with musicians such as Common and Pharrell, Justin Bieber, Trey Songs, Flo-Rida, Sean Kingston, David Guetta, Steve Aoki, Skrillex, LMFAO and Gina Rodriguez. Pandora is best known for the Step Up 3D "tutting" scene, a standing ovation on So You Think You Can Dance, a Microsoft Surface commercial, her lead role as Autumn in Jon M Chu's The LXD, and her supporting role as Karla in the Youssef Delara and Michael D. Olmos movie Filly Brown. The Danish magazine Gaffa described Pandora as "one of the best Electric Boogie dancers in the world" after her performance in the Danish show "Menneske Robotten". The reviewer went on to state that Pandora Marie, and her fellow dancer Koichiro Mori made the dance look easy despite being technically difficult.In recent years Pandora Marie has expanded her work into the theater and other creative directions. She has performed in theatrical pieces for Little Box Of Hope and DS2DIO, and has worked with Cirque du Soleil and Cirque Éloize. Pandora has also held the principal role of Clara in The Nutcracker in Tivoli, Copenhagen, Denmark and performed many principal roles in award-winning theatrical productions throughout the US, Scandinavia, and Europe.
Personal life
Pandora is the co-founder and Artistic Director of Little Box Of Hope alongside her fiancé. She also has worked with G Koop and Darrick Quali-D Fields and has original songs, poetry and music sold on iTunes, Spotify and other music platforms.Pandora is both Native American and Mexican American. Her native tribes are Chickasaw and Choctaw and she is a citizen of the Chickasaw Nation.
In 2011 Pandora Marie participated in the "Rise Up and Dance" project, teaching kids to dance as a way to give them a purpose in life. She said, "Dancing is what saved me from going down the wrong path. I want to help and inspire kids just like I was inspired by the dancers in my neighborhood".
Working with Jon M. Chu
In 2009 Pandora was contacted on YouTube and personally cast by Now You See Me 2 director Jon M. Chu in the role of Autumn in the popular online dance series The LXD: Legion of Extraordinary Dancers. This relationship led to many other collaborations such as Disney's Step Up film series, NASA's Earth Chorus, The Conan O'Brien Show, BMW Mini Cooper, Google Zietgeist Conference and more. Her dancing in Step Up 3D was described by one reviewer by stating that Pandora Marie "will have you so hypnotized with her finger tuts... it’ll be nothing short of bewitching".Awards and honors
Pandora was presented with an award for "Most Outstanding Female Popper" and has held titles in dance competitions all around the world Radiotron, UK B. Supreme, Freestyle Style Session, How The West Was Won, Take It Personal, Floor Wars, and more. She is considered to be an influential figure in street-dance culture.Filmography
Television and film roles
;Feature filmsStep Up 3D Filly Brown;Web seriesThe LXD
;TelevisionSo You Think You Can Dance Conan O'Brien Show
;Short filmsS2DIO City "The Bell" Dancing With Devotion
- ''The Siren''
Music videos
- Justin Bieber - "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town"
- Justin Bieber - "Eenie Meenie"
- The Mast - "UpUpUp"
- David Guetta / Flo Rida - "Club Can't Handle Me"
- Trey Songz - "Already Taken"
- Common - "Universal Mind Control"
Theatrical and concert stage performances
;Theater performances- Cirque Du Soleil / Cirque Eloize "I.D." show Carmen The Nutcracker Menneske Robotten
- "Awaken Tour"
- "Illuminated Manuscript"
- BMW Mini Cooper
- Google Zeitgeist Conference
- Hulu Upfront
- Microsoft Surface
- Roskilde Festival, 2010
- Artists: Skrillex, Steve Aoki, Afrojack, LMFAO
Commercials
- Microsoft Surface
- The Cosmopolitan Rose.Rabbit.Lie Otra Vez / Sierra Nevada