LOS ANGELES—Vanna Bardot remembers there was a moment during the most challenging scene of her porn career when she wasn’t sure if she could keep going.
The 22-year-old native of Miami danced for almost six hours in ballet shoes that were a tad too small and then had sex with Kyle Mason on a piano—under the direction of now three-time AVN Director of the Year Kayden Kross for Deeper.
Bardot’s sensational seduction in “Woman”—which was part of the 2020 DVD release Dance for Me—led to her first AVN award—for Best Solo/Tease Performance at the all-digital 38th annual ceremony on January 23.
She tells AVN the experience turned into a gut check.
“I didn't think I was gonna be able to do it at one point,” Bardot admits. “I was just so stressed out about my shoes, and then also about my dancing itself. But I said I’ve just got to suck it up a little bit. And it ended up turning out so beautiful.”
Did it ever.
In a scene dripping with style that saw Bardot gliding on her tip-toes naked across the stage inside an intimate theater in Burbank, one would never have known from watching the finished product that the trained ballerina overcame a combination of nerves and fatigue to deliver an AVN award-winning performance.
“I was really shocked, honestly,” Bardot says. “I mean, if you told me when I first got in the industry that I would win that award, I'd be like, ‘Yeah, that's total bullshit.’ Because I hated doing solo performances. It was like the bane of my existence because it's just you by yourself on camera. So you don't have anybody else to lean on.
“But winning that was so, so special. That was the one award I was the most proud to be nominated for just because it was just me. It was really cool to win that.”
Bardot trained in the art of ballet regularly from about age 11 to 16.
“I went to a dance school. I didn't do Miami City Ballet, unfortunately, I wish I did. But I did go to another really good dance school,” she says. “So yeah, I did performing and training at school and then after school, I would also go to the dance studio and train there, too.”
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Not only did Bardot bring legitimate skills to the set that day, so did her partner Kyle Mason, who is a seasoned ballroom dancer.
“That's what really made the scene come to life so much is that we both knew what we were doing,” Bardot says. “And we didn't choreograph anything in advance. We just kind of came up with something on the spot. But it was definitely one of the most special scenes I've done for sure.”
Mason, who launched his porn career in 2016, started partner dancing as a hobby in 2005 then began teaching and competing professionally around 2010.
“It has been a big part of my life ever since,” Mason tells AVN.
“My fascination began with the swing dances and then expanded into ballroom and latin dances, such as foxtrot, waltz, tango, rumba, cha cha, salsa, bachata, merengue and samba. I have placed in the finals in several professional competitions, including a national level one.”
He says the dancing in “Woman” was “more freeform than any of these dance styles.”
“Some key climactic moments of the dance were planned but besides that we built the piece off of lead and follow techniques based on body connection, flow and responding to the music,” says Mason, who taught ballroom, latin and swing dance before adult. “I was very impressed with how well we were able to lead and follow and how intimate and responsive the dance was, given how different each of our dance backgrounds were.
“I give a ton of credit to Vanna for being exceptional at creating connection and chemistry in the dance and the resulting scene.”
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Since the pair had worked together prior to that day, Bardot says the nervousness she felt beforehand was about the dancing, not the sex.
“Definitely the dancing part for sure, because this wasn’t just filming a sex scene. I wanted to make sure that my dancing was actually good,” Bardot says. “And I was also a little insecure because it had been so long since I had danced. I was like, ‘Oh my god, no, everything looks horrible.’
“And then everybody on set was like, ‘We have no idea what's good or bad. So as far as we know, you're a prima ballerina, like you're amazing.’ And then also the fact that was my first time working with Kayden. So that was a huge element as well that I was super nervous about. But once I met her, I was like, ‘OK, you're super sweet.’”
Bardot says it took several hours to capture the footage that was in the 49-minute scene—considering the pauses for still photos, rehearsing and getting everything just right.
“My feet were getting so swollen,” she recalls. “They were like practically bursting out of my shoes. And literally, I was almost crying just because it was so painful. So yeah, we took a lot of takes of the scene—between me dancing with him and then me, by myself. It's crazy how long it takes to shoot a one-minute section.”
Mason adds, “We did spend a good deal of time and effort on working it out that day but really there was such good, constructive, creative energy between Vanna, Kayden and I that it felt to me that it came together really naturally and smoothly.”
Bardot says Kross allowed her to choose her music in advance from a site that provides songs that aren’t copyrighted.
“She said, ‘I want you to take your time and try to find a song that you like, that you think is going to fit the scene and that it’s going to be easy for you to dance to,’” Bardot says. “So that definitely helped a lot that I was able to choose that and listen to it advance and get kind of a feel for what I was doing.
“I was really excited when I found that. I had to go through that website for a while though.”
Bardot jokes that by the time Kyle Mason had her in the missionary position on a wooden piano bench “that was the most comfortable part of the day because I didn't have to be on my feet.”
Mason, who grew up in the Twin Cities, Minnesota, and also did wildland firefighting before porn, says it just doesn’t get much better than the elaborate prelude to the sex that day.
“To me this sort of thing is the best foreplay one could have,” he says. “She was wonderful and completely deserving of the [AVN Award]. Dancing walks that seductive line perfectly between being incredibly enticing and arousing while still being able to be taken as wholesome and a benign artistic expression.
“It’s this sort of paradox that really drives the senses wild and plays on the ephemeral quality of sexuality.”
The director agreed.
“Vanna obviously did an exceptional job,” Kross tells AVN. “We tailored the project to her skill set so the two of us worked together ahead of time to choose the way she'd dance, the music, etc.
“Beyond being a skilled dancer, Vanna has that sort of classic ballerina look that really brought it home. She has an elegance and refinement that I can't wait to do more with. I appreciate how hard she worked to make that shoot what it is.
“These are the models I come back to again and again. I wish there were more Vanna’s in the world…"
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Without question, Bardot’s star has been on the rise. Now represented by ATMLA for bookings, she has amassed more than 230 credits since 2018 and will be entering the summer months with momentum.
Her big January also included being crowned Penthouse Pet and the Bang! Babe of the Month title. In March, she was named Nubiles Fantasy of the Month and debuted on Vixen.com in a scalding session with Mick Blue in which she plays a sexy chess player. Bardot was the Cherry Pimps’ Cherry of the Month in November.
“It's pretty crazy,” Bardot says. “Those were all my goals when I first entered the industry but I definitely had like a little bit of a slower pickup than other girls. I had a lot of self doubt, just wondering if I’m the kind of material that can reach those levels or maybe the industry isn't meant for me.
“But I learned there's a lot of other factors at play, too. … If you told me about a year ago when quarantine had started that I would still achieve that much within the year I'd be so shocked, because it was such a slow year with all of that. I was basically out of work for a solid three months, and then the next three months were kind of very slow picking up. So yeah, I'm incredibly grateful that that all came together.
“And I finally reached that level of being a performer. It's definitely very self validating.”
She points to her agency representation—ATMLA owner Mark Schechter—as a big reason for her success.
“Vanna Bardot is one of those rare talent prospects that exemplify what it takes to be successful in this industry,” Schechter tells AVN. “Vanna has overachieved and is on her way to the star status she deserves. An absolute pleasure to represent, always striving to reach her potential and beyond. All of us at ATMLA look forward to her continued success.”
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Bardot says she is not a chess player, even though she played an expert one in her Vixen debut called “Advantage" that was released in March.
Under the direction of Laurent Sky in downtown LA in December, Bardot did re-enact actual chess moves that they researched in order to make the scene look as authentic as possible. She says she clicked with the AVN Hall of Fame auteur Sky.
“He was amazing. I mean, from the moment I got on set…He’s French and he also spoke Portuguese and I told him, ‘I'm half French, half Brazilian.’ So immediately, he was like, ‘Oh, I like this girl,’” Bardot recalls. “I loved working with him. I like his energy. He’s similar to Kayden—there’s so much attention to detail. They know exactly what they want.”
Bardot says making moves with Mick Blue—the three-time AVN Male Performer of the Year from Austria—was an easy assignment.
“Funny enough, I actually performed with Mick for the first time a few days before for my Bang! Babe of the Month shoot,” Bardot says. “And then I found out we were working for Vixen together. So it was like, ‘Cool, I’ll see you in a couple days.’
“I knew it was gonna be a great scene regardless. But after working with him we had so much natural chemistry that I was really excited to do Vixen with him.”
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Bardot worked as a hair salon assistant from age 15 to 18 and for a while thought it would be her career.
“I wanted to become a hairstylist and do makeup and I wanted to do like TV shows and fashion shows. But then after a few years I just realized the anxiety I got from doing it was not worth it,” she says. “Just like seeing what happens when a hairstylist fucks up on somebody I was like, I can't do this. I don't want to be responsible for fucking up someone.
“But I always had a huge interest in sex work and it was something I always thought about doing. But of course when you're 15-16 you can't say that's what you want to do. You have to try something else first, at least for your parents’ sake. So once I turned 18 I was like, I think this is what I might like to do.”
That same month she turned 18 she started doing shows on MyFreeCams. A month later, she started stripping.
“I stripped in Miami first. And then I moved to Scotland. And I lived there for about a year,” Bardot says, adding that she moved abroad to live with her father and take a break. She had been living on her own since she was 17.
“I was very lonely. Like, neither of my parents lived in the United States anymore for immigration reasons. And I was just kind of being a wild 18-year-old, stripping and getting into drugs and stuff. And I was just so exhausted,” she continues. “I felt the pressures of being an adult having been out by myself for already over a year. … I decided to move there and just be a kid again and chill out for a little bit.”
But Bardot grew tired of being in Scotland and decided to visit a friend from her strip club days in Miami in Denver—fellow future adult performer Jade Baker.
“I told my dad I was like, ‘Yeah, I'm gonna take a little one-month break from here.’ And then my plan was to go there and cam and strip with her and try to rack up a lot of money to save just because I was just really over living in Scotland,” Bardot says.
She went to LA to try adult scenes in May 2018 and hasn’t looked back.
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Now as she eyes her three-year anniversary in adult, Bardot says this is only the beginning.
“I'm definitely thinking long term for sure,” she says.
“That’s always been my goal. When I entered I told my [first] agent I'm not trying to just come and film a few scenes and make some money. I told him immediately, ‘I want to be nominated for Best New Starlet. I want to try to win awards.’ I had a list of people I wanted to shoot with. So I feel very good now that I've accomplished so much of that.”
Bardot feels like she’s had two careers already—she had braces when she first broke into the biz.
“It almost feels like I just really got started. I’m really getting my toes in the sand. I'm really excited to see what this next year is, especially with COVID kind of calming down a little bit and production being pretty much completely back up,” she says. “So I'm trying to work a lot on personal endeavors, too, with my own content and trying to build a site.”
She’s in the exploration stage of creating it.
“I definitely know I want to have a site eventually, just because it's such a natural choice now,” Bardot says. “It’s all about branding yourself now. So I'm hoping by the end of the year I can have that site up and running.”
Photography by @glitterflick
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