A sparkling example
by JC
At the time I didn’t know that my soon to be friend was a professional dance instructor who felt I had the necessary chops to Instruct. I recall speaking to my mother about it, and my mother had encouraged me to follow through with it. So I spoke to my friend, she arranged an evening meeting with her boss who I’d later come to find out was the director of her own dance studio. Along with my mother I met with my friend, her boss, the bosses mother and they simply said to me “We’ve been hearing a lot about this guy, so show us what you’ve got.”
At this point it’s 1997 so the Velvet Rope tour was already out and rolling, so I did a section of ‘Together Again.’ I completed the dance and literally after applauding, my friend’s boss said to me “You are ridiculously talented, where did you learn to dance like that?” I responded, “I just taught myself. Why is that ok, that’s not bad is it?” I’m thinking to myself it probably looks really bad because I have zero professional schooling for dance. My friend’s boss stares at me quizzically for a moment and says “Oh my god no. You have raw talent, and what you don’t have I’m sure you can learn if judging by what I just saw. How would you like to train with me for three months this summer? We’ll train you in Jazz, Ballet and Tap. Once you’re done how would you feel about teaching Hip Hop for us?” I recall looking at her in disbelief. “You mean here, like in a room with mirrors?” and she looked at me somewhat surprised “Well yes here, at the studio of course.” I told her I always dreamed about dancing in a room like that, the way Janet Jackson probably does and like her dancers do. She extended her hand to me and said, “We can start in June you’ll be teaching by Sept.” I shook it and my dance journey has been going nonstop from that moment professionally.
Ever since starting dance professionally at age 18, ten years after doing it with no training I’ve been lucky enough to perform in front of Janet three times. I’ve auditioned for her three times. I’ve had the pleasure of making friends with a massive amount of her dancers (Old School & New School) and have trained under a vast majority of them repeatedly. From Kelly Konno’s Triple Threat Dance Convention 3 times, (it was her who urged me to move to L.A) to classes with Marty Kudelka, Shawnette Heard, Gil Duldulao Jr., Jillian Meyers, Tony Testa, Tina Landon, Anthony Thomas, Terry Bixler, the list is ENDLESS but all of them participated in what further reinforced, shaped, cultivated and nurtured my love for what Janet has done.
I admire her constant artistry, her inventiveness, her willingness to take risks, her ability to be honest and open and most of all her charismatic humanity regarding others. I learned so much about myself and my capabilities because of the work in her career. I’ve come to understand my responsibilities and duties to my craft / audience because of her.