Bayardo De Murguia sets the stage in Netflix’s Tiny Pretty Things
Bayardo De Murguia is bringing a new era of ballet renaissance on Netflix’s new series Tiny Pretty Things with fresh moves and dark romance. After all, everyone loves a new teacher. And if this title reminds you of Pretty Little Liars, is because the show features that young adult drama with the mystery of Riverdale and the glamour of Black Swan. The Mexican-American actor is set to play bad boy dancer ‘Ramon’, whose visionary mindset brings a new set of skills and non-traditional techniques of teaching to the stage.
Tiny Pretty Things is based on the YA dance drama novels by Dhonielle Clayton and Sona Charaipotra. The story follows the world of an elite ballet academy in New York and three young ballerinas that will do anything to be the prima ballerina. There will be lots of gossips and scandal, but Bayardo’s character will definitely bring out the pretty tiny things from every student. “I got brought in to upend these kids’ lives too,” adds the actor.
However, Bayardo was not a professional dancer before joining the cast. He had to attend dance classes and learn from world-renowned choreographers one month prior to shooting. His sports background in football and previous theatre classes taught him about body movement. “Every day the actors would take dance classes and I would participate as much as I could.” Though the show revolves around three main characters, Bayardo’s mission is to be a guiding light to the dancers and leverage their dance strategies, “I bring the best about themselves. I bring out their darkness.”
If you’re a ballet aficionado, you will notice the differences between traditional and modern ballet. During his ballet lessons, Bayardo learned the contrast between European and Western ballet styles. European ballet focuses on the ballerina’s choices while Cuban teachers are more authoritarian. “Styles in teaching was something that I learned that was different from European and Latin American. Cuban style ballet is a ‘Don’t talk about it just do it’ attitude. There is a very strict discipline to it,” mentions the Latin star.
From pliés to graceful movements, Bayardo had to take his knowledge the extra level. And if you’re wondering about the doubles, there were non-existent during the filming of the series. “For me not having a dance background I had to learn as much as I could about ballet in a short amount of time. Even though I had a huge appreciation for the dance I had to even buy a book – Ballet for Dummies. I had to work on the dance terminology.”
Aside from bringing his Latin moves, the actor represents his culture through his character. “I want to continue doing more Latin representation on TV. Ramon was such a joy to play and on the show, he is Cuban-American which is why I had to dive into Cuban ballet. It gave me an opportunity to represent people in the Latinx community.”
Also, his character might represent his actual bad body style in real life. Bayardo has a penchant for motorcycles and is planning to ride his Indian bike across Key West, Florida. It seems like ballet and motorcycle are a pretty good fit after all.
Tiny Pretty Things will premiere on December 14 on Netflix.