Meet Alyce Cristina Vallejo

Today we’d like to introduce you to Alyce Cristina Vallejo. They and their team shared their story with us below:

Alyce lives in the choice to unconditionally love in all ways, always! She knows herself as an original disrupter of her own life, continuously seeking the edge of the unknown and leaping with love, passion, and grace.

Born to the amazing humans Carolyn (New Orleans native) and Armando Vallejo (Honduras) in New Orleans, La. Alyce moved with them and older sister, Erin Jean to Charlotte, NC when she was 18 months. At nine, Alyce discovered the freedom of artistic expression when she transferred to the visual and performing art magnet elementary school, Chantilly. Discovering a deep love for movement in the form of dance, she began training outside of school at the Dance Place (now Charlotte Ballet). She continued her study of ballet, modern, jazz, and musical theater through middle/high school at Northwest School of the Arts (o2), Charlotte School of Ballet, and Dance Place. Learning under the direction of Patricia McBride, Jean Pierre Bonnefoux, Gay Porter, and Susan Thorsland, among many others. She attended Florida State University, where her training and professional career bloomed, performing works by Alex Ketley, Balanchine, staged by Suzanne Farrell, and more. Graduating cum laude in 2006, Alyce chased her dreams to San Francisco, where she was married, and then returned to Charlotte in 2007 when hired by Martha Connerton/Kinetic Works. She performed, led workshops, and acted as rehearsal assistant and company liaison with Martha for ten years. Life seemed good, sometimes great, yet something was missing… She always felt at home in herself when performing, yet on the inside the performance was wearing her down. Her heart was longing to be heard. The path she was walking felt lonely and her inner light was dim.

In 2012, Alyce gave birth to her little girl, Amelia Jean. The process was life-giving and revitalizing in so many ways. Externally, she found herself stuck in the comfort of a life she thought she was supposed to be living, checking all the boxes. Internally, she was discovering what it meant and felt like to unconditionally love herself. Pregnancy unleashed a healthy relationship with food and body image for the first time in a decade. Witnessing this little human grow, and the awe of the world Amelia experienced life with helped Alyce rediscover the world through a lens of wonder. Realizing the reflection Alyce saw in the mirror was disconnected and closed off to the growth her heart desired. In a moment, she made a wholehearted choice to create a life of LOVE, PASSION, AND ADVENTURE for herself and Amelia Jean.

Alyce’s rich experience of movement served as the initial gateway of embodiment to her fullest self-expression, and she began to lean deeper into her performance and creative career with Kinetic Works and Moving Poets, Charlotte. Her yoga curiosities grew to studies and certification, becoming a Grounded Kids Yoga teacher in 2015 and a 200-certified yoga teacher in 2016. Through experiences of growth, birth, loss, challenge, divorce, love, self-doubt, trust, heartbreak, self-worth (lack thereof), discovery, and awareness served as a wide door to many lessons learned. Providing intentional new choices that began to mold a language of Alyce’s craft in coaching, teaching, performing, and creating. This also revealed a spiritual connection to source and self, where her inner dialogue shifted from fear and doubt to love and faith.

In 2017, after several trips to Costa Rica, Alyce created ‘Discover Your Pura Vida’ – Adventure, Cultural, and Yoga Retreats in La Fortuna, Costa Rica. She has and continues to lead these retreats 2-3 times a year. It is an expression of herself that sets her soul on fire and one of her most favorite things to share with the world. Alyce has led over 150 individuals, ages 5-75 on week-long experiences that awaken and empower the heart voice within.

In 2020, life hit hard. The pandemic had us all on lockdown in March; in June her home yoga studio abruptly closed with no warning, and in July her Mother was diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer and transitioned two weeks later. This was heart-shattering and debilitating. After months of stillness Alyce dove deep into three development programs; a choreographic mentorship, a full spectrum doula training, and Lightyear Leadership coach training. Alyce began to move again and this time, she moved to create, to accept, to love bigger and more deeply than ever.

With Lightyear Coach Jen Fowler, Alyce recognized and unleashed her superpower of heart-centered leadership into the unknown. With the vision and desire to create, Alyce applied and was awarded an ASC artist support grant to create a dance on film that developed from the choreographic mentorship. Alyce then founded ‘Be Vida, Discover Movement’ as a platform for all her endeavors to live, breathe and share her bold ability to intuitively listen, feel, and take powerful risks in the unknown through movement practices, coaching, art, and more. Empowering others to intuitively trust themselves, lead with love, and connect heart to heart. Using her own lessons and practices to empower herself, Alyce has since produced and presented her original solo work, “Glimpses” in five different phases and over a handful of performances. Most recently at the 2023 BOOM fringe festival and shared video installations at several art shows in Charlotte, NC.

Alyce resides in Charlotte, NC dancing professionally with Moving Poets and Movement Migration or making her own dance floors around town with her life Loves: Hudson, Amelia Jean, boxer babe, Beatrice Jade, and new Kitten, Billy Jean! She teaches ballet, modern, improvisational/intuitive movement, along with various class styles of yoga. Alyce leads retreats (local/international) and performs in and around the Charlotte area. Her purpose is to inspire and empower one’s individual movement that promotes personal upgrades to align to your highest self. It is through Amelia’s eyes of wonder, discovery, and curiosity for the world that inspires Alyce to make every day an adventure full of LOVE!

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
The path I have paved has been smooth, slippery when wet, messy, bumpy, rough, hard to move through, with patches of graceful gliding! And here’s what I can touch on about obstacles and challenges…

I’d choose a challenge any day… to me a challenge is me actively creating the life I want. Present, aware, in choice, acting out of love and trust. Generating love, trust and growth in my world.

Here’s some personal examples:

Personal Internal Struggles such as questioning your self worth, doubt, fear, imposter syndrome to name a few are always present.

We are conditioned to compare our internal world to the external world. In my work, I practice staying present to my internal world first by noticing what voice I am listening to (I have many voices and I’ve named them) . “My Heart Voice” is my highest truth. Sometimes I hear what I’ve labeled as my “UGH voice”. This is the voice that sounds doubt-ridden and coming from a place of fear. When I hear the “UGH voice” over my “heart voice” I identify it. I remember I have the choice to listen from my heart, from love, kindness, faith, trust, and compassion. Then, I have the power to act out of alignment to soften the internal struggle.

There are external obstacles… that we have no control over. Like losing a job, not having a job, losing a pet, a house, or a person we love. Experiencing a natural disaster, judgments from others, criticism, prejudice…

I’ve experienced all of the above and the thing I have gotten clear on is Happiness is a Choice. I can allow things to happen to me, or I can actively respond to the moment and make informed choices to invite in something new. A new love, a new way to honor, rebuild, learn, and grow.

The only thing we can control is ourselves and that life is guaranteed to change. We can fight the change, flow with the change, or be the cause for change.

I want to be clear that because I choose happiness, it does not mean I am always happy. When I lost my mom, I had and still do move through waves of anger, deep sadness, frustration, and heartache. I sometimes lose my patience with my child and partner because I am human, and the dishes don’t do themselves… AND I allow myself to feel what I feel; knowing I have a choice allows me to communicate clearly, ask for forgiveness, request a moment alone or do what I need to do to restore the choice. When I choose Happiness in my waves of anger or sadness, I can act from happiness to trust the waves, feel it, let go, and release it out of my body. This practice frees up space to invite back in what I want in my life, moment to moment.

I believe we have to know both: dark and light, fear and love, life and death, happiness and sadness to honor the magic of our humanness and to fully show up as ourselves.

Then there are logistical obstacles: time, money, space, behind-the-scenes logistics… I create, I perform, I work, I write, I teach, I coach, I study, I learn, I train, I dance, I parent, I partner, I love, I do a lot, and logistically, my greatest obstacle is 1. Trusting myself to support myself! 2. The monetary resources. 3. The continuous effort to put yourself out there, selling your services. Some take, some don’t and to make the choice to show up again and again anyway! I Choose to keep creating because I know in my bones it matters. All of our stories, our voices, our energy MATTER! I like to turn my mess (the obstacles and challenges) into my message of love!

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar, what can you tell them about what you do?
My business is “Be Vida, Discover Movement”

It is the platform in which I move physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, and energetically from.

Be Vida, which means “Be Life,” is a way to share what I love, my practices, and the tools that have empowered my life. A way to connect with others who seek and discover intentional ways to MOVE in the world and align to the life YOU want and are designed to be living.

BE the MOVEMENT of your LIFE!

AREAS OF SPECIALITY:

– Be Movement:
Physical practices such as Yoga, Dance, and Intuitive movement that connect you into your body.
I offer private COACHING, Group Classes, & Workshops (In person and online)

I am available for hire to teach ballet and modern masterclasses and as a choreographer.

I share the performance work I do with Movement Migration, Moving Poets Charlotte, and the self-produced creative practices and performance works.

– Be Adventure:

Movement lives in our awareness of how and where we move in the world. Sometimes it takes a reset, an adventure, or intentional time away to get clear, reignite, or spark something new.

I founded and created “Discover Your Pura Vida” retreats in 2016. Week-long retreats in Costa Rica. Simply translated, Pura Vida means Pure Life. These retreats are designed to awaken you to the simple joys in your life, cultivate a deep connection to the world around you, and inspire transformation in all parts of you – body, mind, and spirit.

Be Vida now is excited to present “ROOTS & RADIANCE”: A Women’s Wellness Weekend, October 13-15, 2023. An immersive experience in the serene beauty of Purlear, NC. Tailored for women seeking to reconnect with their roots, foster a sense of community, prioritize self-care, and align mind, body, and spirit. ROOTS & RADIANCE is designed to offer a weekend of holistic exploration and discovery for women. While also being child-friendly, allowing you to share this rejuvenating experience with your little ones. All the details are HERE

Be on the lookout as I launch Be Vida retreats in Mexico and Belize!

– Be WHOLE:
Draw ALIGNED connection to all the ways we move;
Physically, Mentally, Emotionally, Spiritually, and Energetically. As a Lightyear Leadership Coach Alyce offers full scaled Embodiment, vision, and goal coaching along with tune-up calls!

Coaching Offering:
Vision and Goals Group Coaching – Starting Sept. 13, 2023
The Heart Voice 1 on 1 coaching – 4 open spaces
Tune Up Coaching Calls – always open
Discovery Call to learn how I can support you – always open

Alyce integrates the magic of movement and the raw lessons of life and love into her performance, practices, and coaching. She believes in people’s innate ability to unlock personal power and transformation by moving with and into the unknown depths of self with love and movement in various forms. She values the power of unconditional love intertwined with physical, mental, creative, and spiritual movement as the essence of self-discovery and liberation for all. With Alyce, you will discover a conversation of asana and inquiry, sensation and vulnerability, discomfort and bravery to awaken and empower the heart’s voice. You will find yourself at unknown cusps’ with excitement, community, in love, and at home in the essence of your whole self! Compassionately disrupted.
Alyce is known for her vulnerable ability to equally express in performance and heart-to-heart connection. She believes in the power of truth and works with the duality of softness and grace to press into the discomfort of the unknown. Gaining insight, understanding, and action into your TRUTH and to set you free.

What’s next?
GROW!

My plan for the future is to get my work into the world. To share, show up, create and “Be Vida”. To be the life I want to see in the world and empower others to take powerful, informed, intentional steps into the LIFE one wants! I aim to build heart-centered leadership for all and a connected community of belonging in all spaces.

*I launched a new retreat in the mountains of North Carolina with Co-leader Amanda Freels (ROOTS & RADIANCE). I am in the process of developing other retreats in Mexico, Belize, and Costa Rica. Stay connected to learn about all the details, sign up and JOIN these magical experiences!

*Starting a podcast to share the lessons of life, the tools I use, connect, and build community!

*THE MOVEMENT class continues a weekly in-person class at Toccare Day Spa in Charlotte, NC on Wednesdays at 6pm. Starting in September!

*Group Coaching Session Starts September 13, 2023. Registration OPEN! Virtual with two optional in-person meet-ups in Charlotte, NC.

Pricing:

• $1222 – 1 on 1 coaching
• $222 – Group coaching program
• $102 – 1 on 1 in person movement practice
• $88 – 1 on 1 virtual movement practice
• $55 – Tune Up Coaching Call

Contact Info:

• Website: www.discoverbevida.com
• Instagram: @alycecristina_bevida
• Facebook: @AlyceLoves
• Other: https://linktr.ee/be_vida

Image Credits
“Second Glimpse” Performance Shots By Dionna Bright Brand Shots by Blood Bone & Honey Discover Your Pura Vida by Alyce Cristina Vallejo