For most of her life, toggling between New York and Los Angeles was the extent of bicoastal Honey Balenciaga’s travels. That changed when the 22-year-old ballroom princess danced with Beyoncé on last year’s blockbuster Renaissance World Tour and was swept up in a whirlwind trek across Europe and North America in the process—all told, there were 56 shows in 39 cities between May and October of 2023. Hamburg, unexpectedly, was a favorite stop.
Traveling with such a major operation is unusual and arduous, involving tight turnarounds with little time for sightseeing. Ahead of her leading a Vogue workshop at Red Bull Dance Your Style, the global, all-styles street dance competition US National Final in Atlanta, Balenciaga sat down with us to chat travel before and after Beyoncé.
What was your relationship to travel before going on tour?
I didn’t travel much internationally, but I was bi-coastal. I ran away from New York to Los Angeles—I needed to find how to be comfortable in my skin, away from everything. And it was hard—especially because there’s not a big Puerto Rican community there. But that discomfort drove me to creative fields and kept me on my toes, made me evolve into this version of myself. Now, wherever I am, I remind myself where I came from, and who created me. And what I always do first is look for Puerto Rican food. I ask myself, ‘what’s going to remind me of home, of how I started, how I got inspired, how I love, what I love?’
Growing up in the hood, I was surrounded by so many types of people, who loved different things and loved them openly—loved them out loud. Whether it was music, dance (even if they didn’t know how to dance), they just did it because it’s in our blood. I haven’t told many people this, but my mom was a breakdancer. Movement is in my blood, she was outside, spinning on her head, and celebrated on Puerto Rican television.
What was it like to visit so many places in such a brief period of time on Beyoncé’s Renaissance tour, with such a large production crew no less?
From a traveler’s perspective, that shit was brutal. I was on the go all the time. We would arrive at the destination, perform a 3-hour show, and get to the hotel room late. It was a tour of 56 shows and 39 cities, and we’d always wake up early. We were more than 500 people, and rented out entire planes. After the flights, which I hate, we’d land, have a dress rehearsal, and outfit changes—all with no rest. In America, transportation was easier thanks to the buses. When the shows ended, the buses sat right outside of the stadium. Once we hit the road we were able to rest way more.
Being with the team, we learned how to be a family, how to work together, to give everyone grace, and eventually love each other. It was a very loving environment, from the lighting crew to the camera crew and other dancers. And to share the stage with the Queen—it was such a dream come true. To this day, I dream about walking down the stairs and being on that stage, seeing the audience. After the tour, I would wake up and be sad it’s not still happening. The adrenaline was, and still is, insane.
