Martin Gratton Brings Diversity & Joyful Authenticity to Role as Dancer/Influencer
“Martin brings something truly authentic and diversely different to the table on every creative dance project he’s involved in. Such a blessing that I connected and exchanged with his creative visions.” — Vanesa Seco, international professional dancer
Why does a creative’s video go viral? What makes one social media influencer popular and their content a must-see?
Dancer/social media influencer Martin Gratton has posted several fun dance videos across various platforms and they’ve gotten millions of eyes and hundreds of positive comments. Additionally, an extraordinary list of leading-edge dancers and personalities have collaborated with him, including people like hip-hop dance artist Matt Steffanina and TikTok personality Kelli Erdmann, along with Fynnaves, Jaeden Gomez, Karaleigh Cannella, Dababy Boomers, Yai Ariza, Stringy, Aaron DeSilva, Melissa Vales, Aidan Tooth, and Michael Stuckless.
Having worked with so many successful personalities, Gratton talks a lot about being genuine, the type of authenticity that comes across in his videos, and an asset that Vanesa Seco ascribes to Gratton — “Martin brings something authentic and different to the table.”
Most importantly, Gratton explains that being yourself is one key element to seeing your “art” go viral:
“What makes me unique is my content’s authenticity, joy, and happiness, and my diversity — it’s exciting for people to see a heavily tattooed male dancing and being super bubbly and fun. People usually expect tattooed people to be a certain way. I think the contrast of all that makes me stand out from the bunch. As I mentioned, I am an intense dancer, which is happily, for me, eye-catching for people.”
Moreover, he refers to one of his idols, international A-list choreographer Parris Goebel, who has worked with J.Lo and Shakira to Rihanna. Gratton, the French guy, admits, “I so admire their work ethic and discipline, and their perseverance has taken them to the top.” He continues, “It’s said that your secret sauce is understanding what you stand for, and that can be turned into your superpower. Well, my own ‘superpower’ is my ability to create original moments in choreographies and showcase them precisely as I imagined them. With my years of training as a choreographer and dancer, I’ve gained this confidence where I let my intuition lead and guide me toward my creative visions — to the catchy beats of hip-hop, Afro beat/dancehall and R&B.”
All this desire began percolating when he was growing up in a small town of Cantley in Quebec, as he says, “I am the only artist in my household. I first started performing at home, trying to recreate music videos with my cousins, pretending we were on stage, or creating plays to show our families. Afterward, my mom put me in dance classes, which I fell in love with. At the time, my biggest inspirations were performers like Rihanna who has become such an icon in the entertainment industry. I used to learn her music video choreographies and pretend I was dancing beside her.”
But it was his move to the big city of Toronto that totally energised him, as he continues, “I knew I wanted to make a living out of dancing when I first moved to Toronto. I got into the industry and just knew it was for me. I was so hungry for it. I took intensive and top classes to get on an industry level and made my way step-by-step to where I am today — where dancing is more than a passion for me, it’s a lifestyle.”
Along the way, Gratton has collaborated as a content creator for the Tiktok Canada Influencer Team, and worked on major commercial campaigns for Endy, Clocks & Colors, Vitaly, Bang Energy, Puma (Influencer), Toronto WebFest, Vigyl, Flwrchild, and FLVC, along with Sony Music Canada for Beyoncé.
Yes, that Beyoncé. Gratton says, “Not long ago, I worked for Beyoncé on promoting her new work for Sony Music. Beyoncé’s team was asking for dance content to promote her new album and videos, and I obviously accepted.”
He has also earned both Best Dancer and Best Choreography awards, offering, “These awards made me feel like I had something special. They were a starting point to my self-confidence journey and artist acknowledgment.”
With his own ambitious goals to perform on the world’s biggest stages, Gratton strongly believes, “Dance can indeed change the world by showing vulnerability and passion. By being our vulnerable selves in performances, we bring each other together and create an emotional moment for people to relate. Dance has its own world, which makes it unique and beautiful.”
Moreover, he offers how dance can inspire people around the world: “The goal with my platforms and dancing is to inspire people to stay true to their real selves. The second I started to love, appreciate, and take care of myself the way I honestly should have from the beginning, is when everything started to flow and feel so smooth. I’ll repeat it, stay true to your own self. Being unique is literally the definition of the perfect dance”
Internationally known dancer Yai adds, “Martin is not only an amazing creative dancer but also a genuine and truthful person. With his multi-talents, he has already accomplished a lot at his age, and I can’t wait to see his continued bright future in the dance world.”
And, as Martin Gratton believes, here’s to all of us striving to be our authentic selves.
Check out Martin Gratton’s fun viral videos on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube.
