The Rise of Marcus Vrondas
Millions of women around the world know his name, but do they really know Marcus Vrondas? The Magic Mike dancer and TikTok personality has garnered a following of over 250,000 on the app, with another 45,000 followers on Instagram. Videos of Vrondas, 22, dancing in the London live show, created by Channing Tatum, have racked up hundreds of millions of views, shooting him to instant online fame.
While from the outside it seems he became famous overnight, his journey to becoming a professional dancer was anything but smooth. “Mikala, good to see you!” Vrondas, who happens to be my cousin, beams through a video call. Vrondas is calling from Cronulla, in Sydney’s south, where he is temporarily living with his family before he makes the move to the US for his latest adventure, joining the cast of Magic Mike Live New York.
A Journey Through Dance and Sports
Vrondas joined the cast of Magic Mike Live London a year ago, moving from Sydney to the UK to dance in the live show. However, his journey on stage started years before when he started dancing at the age of seven. He continued to dance throughout primary and high school, but he never saw it as a serious career option for him.
Vrondas stopped dancing altogether after the COVID-19 pandemic, saying he fell out of love with it. He was also an avid rugby player; much like dance, he had played footy for most of his life. “I thought I was going to play rugby professionally, I thought that was my career,” he said. A recurring shoulder injury changed everything.
“I dislocated my shoulder three times. The first time it was during footy, the second time it was during dance,” he said. Weeks before his tryouts to play rugby union for New South Wales, Vrondas dislocated his shoulder for a third time. “The doctor said if I want to do any kind of exercise, I need to get surgery.” He tried to go back to rugby for a little bit, just to see if he still had it, but his confidence was completely shot. “I was so scared of dislocating it again … I just had to give it up.”
During this time, Vrondas slowly started to return to dance, quickly falling back in love with it. “I took a step back from everything and I thought, ‘What are my options?’” he said. “I either go to university, but I hate it because I’m bad at school, or I do dancing professionally … I thought, ‘I only have one option.’ That mentality of knowing there’s nothing else out there for you, I think some people would be scared of that. I took that challenge. I had to give this everything, I gave it 110 per cent.”
Breaking Into the Industry
After two years of dancing full-time, he was signed by an agent, which propelled him into every dancer’s dream. He performed alongside the likes of Kylie Minogue, Adam Lambert, Tones and I and Robbie Williams. Then he was offered a spot on a Chinese stadium tour, dancing backup for an Asian pop star for six months.
He was headed back to Sydney in search of his next adventure when he was offered an audition for Magic Mike. Although he’s the picture of confidence on the Magic Mike stage now, he said he was “really nervous” about joining the franchise over fears of being misunderstood. “I was very nervous about it … I thought it was, like, a male stripper,” he said. “I went in there and did the audition and I was like, ‘Oh, this is just dancing.’ Then I had to tell everyone, ‘It’s not what you think it is. It’s got depth. It’s got a story. It’s actually about dancing … It’s not about the stripping aspect.’”
Vrondas was offered the role, and he quickly became the most recognisable cast member of the Magic Mike London show. He was so popular online and with the audience, he was offered the gig to kick-start the New York live shows later this year. As part of the role, he got to meet Channing Tatum and do a press run with him in the US, which included going on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen.
“He was actually so nice, really down to earth, great at conversation … his voice is also really soothing and personable.” “I think his thing to us was just be true to yourself, because that’s all there is to it really. If you stay true to yourself, you can do no wrong.”
Personal Life and Challenges
While Vrondas gets attention from women all over the world, he is happily taken. He is dating New Zealand dancer Hana Morris, who has a successful on-stage career of her own. However, this doesn’t stop fans from commenting inappropriate things under his online videos.
“At first, I would read the comments on every video and think, ‘What the? … What is this?’ I was laughing at a lot of it. Then I got to a point where I was like, ‘Nah this is ridiculous, it’s too much.’ It does get uncomfortable.” Morris finds the comments funny, and she has confidence in herself and their relationship. “We’ve gotten to a place where that is just work, we’re together, that’s a job versus this is our life.”
Vrondas is headed to New York while Morris will stay and work in London, however, the couple are confident in their future and doing long-distance.
