With Blonde hair, blue eyes, and a million dollar smile, Hollywood choreographer Justine Menter walks into a room and commands attention. You get the sense this is a confident girl who knows what she wants, and is well on her way to getting it.

Justine came to Los Angeles in 2007, after serving as a company intern with The Broadway Dance Academy in New York. Upon her arrival to LA, Justine quickly co-founded her own dance company – Hollywood’s sassiest all-female dance and entertainment group: FLiRT Dancers.

When Justine is not directing and designing costumes for over sixteen professional dancers, she’s choreographing routines for LA Fashion Week and for recording artists like LMFAO. Justine has been seen dancing on The View, working with top choreographers such as Kobi Rozenfield (Beyoncé), and appearing on E!’s Keeping Up with the Kardashians. Justine is also a faculty member at the International Dance Academy (IDA) of Hollywood.

As a standing triple threat, (choreographer, commercial/print model, and director) Justine is blazing through the dance industry’s doors with a good head on her shoulders, a dancer’s walk… and a wink.

Tell us a little about how this all began, when did you start dancing?
I started dancing when I was really little and stayed with it throughout high school and college. I took ballet, tap, and jazz for many years and trained pretty extensively - then later joined InMotion Dance Company in college.

When did you decide that dancing would be your career?
When I started dancing with InMotion. I also joined Broadway Dance Center in NY on a summer scholarship and kind of fell in love with the lifestyle. That’s when I got serious about doing dancing as a career. When I finished college, I decided to go to LA to pursue a career in dance and choreography. I loved both LA and NY. But, when it came down to it, I had to look at which city would have the most work for what I wanted to do. In the end, it was Los Angeles. I wanted to see where LA would take me and explore the entertainment industry.

What were some of the early obstacles you faced, getting started?
I’ve now been in LA four-and-a-half years. Living in Los Angeles was definitely difficult in the beginning, but I was lucky because I auditioned for an agent the first week I moved here and I got the agent. I started auditioning (my first audition was for Jennifer Lopez), taking classes every day and meeting people and just immersing myself in the community. You have to learn quickly that rejection is a big part of the game. The dance world is huge and oversaturated and you have to get work in as much as possible.

How was FLiRT born?
Flirt was created fairly soon after I got to LA in ’07. I had a friend here in Los Angeles that filmed my dance performances in college and had agreed to film/edit a choreography reel for me. I also met some people and brought on some friends to be my dancers in the reel. My friends and I started dancing together frequently after that, rehearsing, doing more shows and gigs, and it just developed from there. There were only 5 of us at the beginning and we came up with the name FLiRT on the spot at an audition. The group liked the name, it was catchy and we knew it had the potential to create a great brand.

After that, I created the logo and a MySpace page. We did a few shows and a music video with an artist named JB the Don for a song called “Cali Shake”. I choreographed it and brought on the FLiRT girls as background dancers.

The shows and video were a great experience. We kept doing live shows with JB the Don around southern California. Somewhere along the way, FLiRT did another show and was approached by a clothing company, Dirty Laundry, and then… things just kept happening.

People really responded to the name and the brand. A year later, in 2009, our small group thought we could expand and be not just a dance group but an actual company. We had our first auditions and that’s when FLiRT really took off.



Aside from launching this amazing dance company and being an entrepreneur in your own right, you’re a choreographer. What inspires you and the work choices that you make now that you have been managing a business and a brand?
As an independent choreographer, I’m working with new artists. I just did a show at Boulevard3, a large venue for fashion and music where Hollywood’s Next Diva took place, and where Brooke Hogan performed. I’ll be doing another show with Brooke at the Viper Room. I will also be doing a ton of taped and live shows, as well as competition routines for dance studios.

I want to brand myself as Justine the choreographer and separate it from FLiRT; however, I am still 100% invested in my company. I am a trained dancer, so I am well-rounded and like to do just about any dancing I can. It’s a challenge to separate my personal brand from FLiRT, but I’m up for the challenge. I am very passionate about both.

So many people have the dream of becoming a professional dancer or choreographer. What is your advice to other aspiring dancers?
This may sound super cheesy, but you just have to stay true to yourself. You have to know what you do best, and not try to be like everyone else. I struggle with that every day. I am always looking at other choreographers and thinking, “Why am I not doing that?” But I have to remember to focus on my OWN best assets.

While Hollywood has a lot of people that make false promises, the truth is, people respect genuine talent, ambition and hard work. You have to hustle all the time and know that it’s not going to happen overnight for 99% of the people who come out to LA. You just have to do what you do best and keep at it.

What’s next for Justine and FLiRT?
There’s going to be more FLiRT shows, live shows – and I’d like to get a little bit more web-heavy and do more videos with the dancers.

We are also partnering with one of our dancer’s apparel line, selling some of our shirts and other FLiRT apparel. We will probably sell tank tops, shirts, boy shorts, the fun, girly stuff.

Independently, I want to do more artist development; I creatively conceptualize performances and I really enjoy creating the final product. It’s a forte of mine. I guess I want to do more of everything. In 2012, I will be turning the volume up.

What do you think makes FLiRT so different from other dance companies out there?
Flirt is really amazing because no one is doing what we’re doing. I have a group of 16 girls, all professional dancers. Alone, these girls are ‘ones to watch,’ with credits from Glee, Dancing with the Stars, and Beyoncé. We even have a Rockette! There is a lot of talent and when you put that all together - it’s just this explosion of female empowerment.

We’re different; we are not Burlesque or contemporary, it’s a fusion of dance styles. FLiRT is a little bit of a music video right in front of you - that’s the feel you are going to get. FLiRT is fun, energetic, and sexy. Everyone loves that. I mean, let’s be honest... everyone loves to flirt.