February 12, 2020 • 53 mins
Since you guys loved the Twitch mashup, we decided to do another one with some favorites of ours from the dance world! During this episode we feature dance phenomenons Kaycee Rice and Sean Lew - bff child prodigys turned industry legends. We talk to the always inspiring Jade Chenowyth, who's unique style and positive attitude have allowed her to take the world of dance by storm. You'll also hear from the one and only Jojo Gomez, who's incredibly innovatie choregoraphy and exceptional skill have made her popular with top music artists and insta-fans alike. The combined forces of these four dance powerhouses...unstoppable.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Behind the Influence, a production of I Heart
Radio and TDC Media. Pro dancer choreographer, A few stops
for you guys. She has one point for a million
followers on Instagram one point three million subs on YouTube.
Not a small number there, Jojo Jojo Gomez is in
the house, Casey Rights is Shanlu pro dancers in real
(00:24):
life bfs are in the house. But we're here with
Jade chinaf actress, dancer extraordinaire. We are so happy to
have you here today. Thank you for stopping him. But yeah,
so the show is all about influence, and you are
(00:45):
definitely somebody who has influenced in the dance space. Not
only are you doing choreography for some of the biggest artists,
which is blatantly influencing what we see, you're also teaching people,
like this generation of dancers is coming up learning some
of the things that you made up. And you have
a platform of millions of followers who are also seeing
(01:06):
that who can't necessarily take your classes or see you
on tour. So the influence is real. Yeah, but it
didn't always start out that way, did it. You were
a young little Joe Joe not at all. Did not
start off that way. I'm actually from the East Coast.
I'm from Massachusetts, and there wasn't much dance out there.
I mean I trained at a small studio in western Massachusetts.
(01:26):
But I was super inspired by Los Angeles and I
knew that it was something that I wanted to do.
I really wanted to pursue my career being a professional dancer,
and so right after high school, I booked the first
plane ticket and it's been an amazing journey ever since.
You make it sound so easy. Oh yeah, yeah, what
trust me. I have lots of questions for you, But
(01:47):
I will say, every time you see somebody like you
have this amazing come up, you think it's so easy,
but there was a lot of hard work that went
into it, countless hours for you in the studio dancing,
taking that big leap to after high school, out on
a plane and go to a place where did you
know many people in l A? I did not know
many people in l A. When I made my move.
I left a lot of friends behind in my family
(02:08):
because I'm originally from Massachusetts, so it's like all the
way across the country. And I will say that I
was really, really hungry, and I had a lot of drive.
When I moved to l A. I was the type
of person where even though I was the underdog, I
wasn't always like as dope as I am today. I
didn't think I would make it because I was that
girl that had to work extra hard. Dancing didn't come
(02:28):
naturally to me. I wasn't the most flexible. I didn't
have the most technique, but I had a lot of
passion and heart for it, and so I had to
work harder than everybody else. Basically I took like seven
classes a day. When I moved out to l A.
I went to so many auditions and I got cut
from the majority of them, which is like the whole
part of the process. But again, I had to take
so many classes. I had to go to the gym
(02:50):
every single day. I had to watch what I was eating,
and as a Latin girl, as a Latino that that
was really difficult because food is like my whole life.
And when I moved out to l A, I was like, oh, ship,
I need to go on a diet. I need to
like have a six pack in order for myself to
book this job or this tour, dance with this artist.
So it was like a smack of reality. When I
moved to l A. I had a let go of
the bagels and the McDonald's. This is like some music
(03:12):
video commercial ship. I need to be on top of
my body. And yeah, I also struggled with body image
as well. When I moved to l A. Again, I
wasn't always like stick thin. I had to Why why
did you feel that you had to be stick thin?
I mean, you're you're great dancer. Some of my favorite dancers,
like j Lo to me as iconic. She wasn't stick thin.
(03:33):
Where did you get this idea from? Well, when I
moved out to l A. It is very shallow in
our industry because every single audition that I went to,
it was basically not about how good of a dancer
you were. It was about if you had a six
pack or if you could dance in a bikini. It
was more about what you look like and who you knew.
And that was always really hard for me because I
(03:53):
signed up for all these amazing dance conventions growing up.
My mom spent so much money on my training, and
when I moved out to l A and I realized,
oh my god, it's it's more about what I look
like and list about my talent. It really really like
painted me a little bit. We have a lot to cover, obviously,
there's a lot to cover in the world of acting.
Dancing is a huge part of your life, and it
(04:14):
actually they go together at the moment. Who knows if
that will always be the case. I mean, you're probably
gonna start in movies that don't have you dancing or
shows that don't have you dancing, But it's kind of
cool that you get to do two things that you love.
We were actually just before we got started, we were
talking about the Step Up series and helps us. Literally
everyone in here is with the step How could you not?
(04:37):
How could you not? I mean it combines dancing, some
good looking people, some good looking people. You you included,
by the way, in the new iteration of the Step
Up franchise. They've had a lot of movies too, haven't
they Six movies out? Oh my gosh, that's that's incredible.
So going back to the very first step of what
(04:59):
were you like to when that came? Yeah, somewhere around there.
But I still had who didn't have a crush on Channon?
I know the world? Yeah, So we'll we'll take it
back because I think that's really interesting. You're not from
l A, but you've definitely made your mark on the
dance scene in l A and obviously all the things
we talked about at the beginning of this interview. You're
on a really successful franchise series. Everyone knows the Step
(05:23):
Up series you. You're followed by millions of people who
watch you dance on your many platforms, from YouTube to
Instagram to Twitter. Let's take it back to before all
this stuff happened. You're not from l A. Where are
you from and how did you get involved in dance.
I'm originally from Park City, Utah, and my family actually
(05:44):
all still lives there, so that's kind of nice and
makes visiting easy. I started dancing when I was about
to My aunt had a studio. It's called Martie's Rainbow Danswers.
I definitely graduated from that, but my mom had me
going there because she was teaching at the time. They
are and I just kind of gotten to dance at
a young age. And my family we were definitely middle class,
(06:07):
but it was one of those things if we were
going to invest in something, we had to put our
full heart and our full energy and passion into it.
So I was training and dance just for fun up
until I was about ten eleven twelve. My brothers were
doing football, so I had my thing, they had their thing.
My dad was with them, my mom was with me,
and I started competing and as I was dancing, it
(06:28):
went from like just running around in two twos to
kind of really loving and understanding dance and for what
it is, like a lot of people think it's just movement,
it's just having fun, but there's really something so liberating
about being able to express yourself through movement without actually
having to say anything. You can really leave all your
emotions out on the dance floor, cheessily putting it, but
(06:51):
it is. I kind of just fell in love and
I kind of had a realization that I could make
something more of it when I was around ten eleven,
because I started going to conventions that were out of
state every weekend to kind of train myself and see
what else I could do with dancing, because I think
l A is one of those places that every person
(07:11):
that thinks they're the best from their state comes, So
it's definitely a route awakening. You think you're doing really
good when you're in Utah, and I trained my butt
off and I was always at every convention and I
would go straight from school to dance until ten pm.
Then I do have to do homework, so it's always
been a grind, and my mom had to work at
the studio to pay for my dance classes, so it's
(07:32):
never been easy, and I don't think the best things
are easy, So that's why I think it drove my
passion for even more because it wasn't something that I
just got handed to me. It was something I had
to work for and that that excited me. I've always
been really competitive with myself too, so I wanted to
be the best that it could be. And I've always
(07:53):
been super dramatic. I always is like playing pretend when
I was younger, so being able to tell stories as
I was dancing too was perfect for me. And from
there I kind of got recognized by some choreographers at
a specific convention. It was called the Pulse On Tour
and it had many choreographers that were working in the industry,
like Brian Friedman who choreographs for Britney Spears, and many
(08:15):
other people. Dave Scott, who's done most of the step
up franchises and Chris Judd, Lorianne gibbson me and Michael's
all these people that you see featured on so you
think you can dance or maybe if you see films,
they're the choreographers of those or tours or anything like that.
And I got the scholarship where I was able to
assist them every weekend for a year, so I was
(08:35):
up on stage with them, helping and teaching the rest
of the students. So that how old were you at
this point? I was twelve and at the time I
was actually the youngest one that what were you doing
at twelve? Right, let's take it back to where it
all began. For people who don't know the backstory of
Kasey and Sean. Who wants to take this tale or
(08:57):
one of you can start at the other convenish it.
You're so in sanc I feel like it could work.
I can started. So we started competing like seven to
eight years ago. I had a separate studio and she
had a separate studio, and we kind of competed with
each other. But then it was always like just like hey, hey,
you're good, you too, And then and then after that
(09:21):
we started when I started moving into the classes in
l A and everything like that. I also saw her
in classes there too, and so we always kept bumping
into each other. But like when we first met each other,
it was far from like being like even friends at all.
We were always just like, like I admired her, admired
her as a dancer when I first saw her on
stage and everything like that. But I was never like
(09:42):
I want to grab some munch. I was just gonna say,
for people who are not aware of how young both
of you are sixteen and seventeen when you met, you
had to have been at the ripe age of eight
and nine. It was more like our parents were doing
the talking, right, so you're not really necessarily being like
want to go to soho how talking to each other
and then just hear your parents like, Hi, this is
(10:04):
my son, this is my daughter. Yeah. I mean, but
all in all, it was really just like we kept
seeing each other a lot in like competitions and then
in classes and all that stuff. So it was really
just kind of this like sign where I was like,
maybe we should just be friends. See where that goes.
Had you seen the video of Casey when she did
(10:24):
is it work that Katie didn't carry Katie Perry tweet that.
Okay when I saw that video today because I was
watching it this morning and just to you know, go
through all the research. Yeah, well that's what I do
every morning. I was like that, I had my coffee
that I do. You but oh my goodness, so talented.
How old are you in that video? I was ten
(10:46):
years old? Yeah, I mean like when she does those
like hit thrust, like, oh my god, those are like powerful,
they were power power, and then Katie Perry sees it.
How was it as a ten year old? Honestly, I
didn't really quite know what was going on at the
time because I was so young. I just remember like
(11:08):
one of my fans like commented on one of my
random like selfies on Instagram. I was like, hey, Katy
Perry just retweeted as your solo and I was like what,
And we all thought it was like something like it
was a fake account. So we went and did like
the research and we're like, oh, no, it's like the
actual Katy Perry. But at the time I was just
(11:29):
kind of like cool, I don't I don't know what
this means, Like I don't even know what this Yeah, exactly,
and my parents were like, oh my gosh, like this
is for real, and it just blew up and it
was one of like the very first dance videos to
actually sort of go viral. So that was like really
really cool, and I got so many opportunities after that.
(11:52):
That's just been insane and it's just crazy being a dancer.
Are our bodies are temples And it's the first thing
that people look at, especially back then in music videos,
like without social media, how are people going to know
who you are? Like for the most part, dancers were
only validated through the artists that they danced behind and
how big their resume was, and in order to have that,
(12:14):
you needed to look a certain way. It was very
very shallow back then. But now with social media, which
we're going to get into, I feel like that has
really changed my life because I can be well known
for who I am and not who I've danced behind,
and I can embrace my body. I can embrace my
Latino curves, and I don't have to like starve myself
from my favorite foods. I can right now. I used
(12:36):
to have a really unhealthy relationship with myself when I
was just a dancer, and I was going to auditions
and fighting for these people's validation of myself. So I
was fighting for a door to open. And then as
soon as I decided to open my own doors and
just not seek validation from anybody else anymore, it changed
my life completely. I I've always owe everything to my family,
but every every time I come out here too, you
(12:58):
it's it's different. L A is different. People are different,
and it's very competitive as well. So there's that little
bit of you know, competitive air between everybody even when
you step in a class. And I was. I wasn't
used to it. I was like, oh, we don't all
love each other, Like what is this? Oh you don't
like me because I'm good? Like what does that mean? Like?
I like you because you're good. But it's just this
(13:20):
big competitive thing, and you know, eventually those couple of
days turned two weeks turned two months, and then I
started being in l A more than I was in Utah,
and I think around sixteen, I don't even have an
official move date to California, but I think around sixteen
was when I was here more than I was Utah.
And um I roomed with three other people. My mom
(13:41):
and I shared a room a smaller room, you know
how like when you get in an apartment, there's the
bigger room in the small room. We shared the smaller
room with another mom and daughter and where they also
in the dance world. They were yes, and I had
met them through convention and she ended up being one
of my best friends and we were roommates for seven years.
So I just actually recently got my own apartment by myself.
(14:02):
So like I saw that, I saw your little tour
and I'm very cute designed congratulations, thank you so much,
But yeah, it was, it was. It's been a journey
for sure, and it's been a long time. I've had
a long time to really get into the industry and
figure out what I like and other dancers and what
(14:24):
I don't like and kind of take all of those
things that I think that I could do really well
and mash them up into the one well rounded dancer.
And I always say that I have so much to
work on still, like I will never stop growing. And
I think that's what people commonly have misconceptions about is
people are like, oh, Jade, like give me the secrets,
(14:46):
Like how do I get into the industry, Like I
want to book a tour like da da da da,
And I'm like, well, you know, there are really no secrets,
Like you have to do it from the ground up.
You have to take classes. If you want to be
booked by somebody, you have to get in front of
their face, take their class regularly. You have to study
what they what they like and what they book and
you kind of have to. Dancing is one of those
(15:07):
hard things that you have to be a full package.
So you have to you know, you have to keep
working out, you have to you have to look. You
have to keep yourself together. Your like body is your
image and it's your it's your selling point, which is
it causes a lot of hardships for I think everybody
in the industry, females and males included. You are constantly
being like judged and torn apart because there they want
(15:32):
the full look. And I think that comes with this
entertainment industry in general. You have to always be on basically,
and it's been it's you know, it's been hard because
it makes people competitive, it makes people a little salty
towards each other, and and you just have to really
like seek out the people that are gonna want to
(15:52):
grow with you. Rather than I want you to say
where they're at, because it is. It does get hard,
and I think l A is like this big filter system.
I always use it as like one of those those
noodle drainers. You know. Everybody comes in and they think
they can do it, and they really hope they can.
But l A is so cut throat and it's it's
so brutal and honest, and really only the people that
(16:14):
are gonna really be willing to take those nose and
keep going and hopefully turn them into yeses are the
ones that end up here. Was there a moment for you,
like a a video got a lot of attention, or
somebody asked you to choreograph something where you were like,
they're taking me seriously, this is something I could really
do well. Actually, when I think when I was ten,
it was doing like a competition and I was like
(16:36):
I asked my studio owner. I was like, hey, can
I just choreograph my own solo and like try it
in the studio And it was like no, don't do that,
and like there's no point and I was like no,
I really want to try, and she was very doubtful
about it, and I was like, okay, if I really
prepare and if I go into the next one by myself,
will you let me? And I was like, I'll even
(16:57):
like i'll even compete away from your studio. I'll independently,
and she was like okay, fine. So then you know,
I spent a lot of time, you know, choreographing like
my own solo, and do you remember what song it
was to um? It was so long ago. It was
so long ago, and it was so brief. It was
just like like it was just a moment for me
(17:17):
that kind of like stuff like this light where I
was like I realized that, you know, as I was cooing,
I was like, oh, no, one knows me more than myself.
So so I really tried to push it out there.
And then at that point, I beat all my other
solos and I beat all like my other like routines
that I did in the competition with that solo, and
I was like, oh my god, this is like something
I want to do and this is something that I
(17:38):
want to share. And so then I started like teaching
in any possible way I could, either in charities or
in fundraisers or in just my sister's high school. And
from that point on, It was kind of just like,
I want to keep doing this forever. So how did you,
I guess, just break believe it or not. It wasn't
when I moved to l A. It was in New
York when I realized what I wanted to do. My
(18:00):
first job that I ever booked in my life was Beyonce.
Still right, I was still in thee the Queen Bee.
It was honestly, I was still in high school and
I was still in training mode. I had this great
connection with this choreographer, her name is Luam and I
was religiously taking her class and she came up to
me one day after her class and she's like, hey,
are you available in the next two days for a
(18:23):
job for an artist? And I was like absolutely. I
mean I've never danced for an artist before, so this
is going to be great for me. She did not
tell me it was Beyonce. So when I showed up
and I saw Beyonce in the rehearsal, I was like,
is this for real? Is this for real? Like I'm
still in high school. I would be like, where is
Ashton Kutcher. I'm getting punked right now? Yeah, And so, honestly,
(18:44):
her kindness and how like her work ethic in the rehearsal,
and then the dancers that I was surrounded by. I
just knew in that moment that I could do this,
like little me Jojo from Massachusetts could make it in
Los Angeles or New York or just like in the
entertainment Sustrey in general. Like the passion and the joy
and the adrenaline rush that I experienced while dancing for
(19:05):
her was just unbelievable. It was for the Get Me
Bodied campaign that she collaborated with Michelle Obama. I don't
know if you saw it, Yeah, it was. It was
so fun. You wouldn't recognize me at all. I look
completely different. I had this like mouseie short brunette bob
and it was just a mess. I didn't have my
look together. I didn't know the first thing about what
it took to be like a professional dancer. I know,
(19:28):
and it was solely based off of like my my,
like what that choreographer saw in me. I worked really,
really hard, and so she gave me a chance, and
just that experience alone dancing behind Beyonce was something that
made me realize that I want to do this for
the rest of my life. And then when I moved
out to l A. The second job that I booked
was Britney Spears and the vm AS. It was a
(19:48):
Britney Spears tribute and that was How was the Michael
Jackson Van Daughter it was? And then we were introduced
to the stage by Lady Gaga. Okay, I'm sorry, Joe, Joe, right,
how did you? I mean, yes, you're talented, but this
is just three wins back to back here, I mean
Lady Gaga, right, it was unreal. And again, I was
(20:13):
still seventeen when I booked that job, So what were
you What was everyone else out there doing at seventeen?
I wasn't being introduced by Lady Gaga, right, that's so
so casual. And then so this is on your resume now,
so you have, at this point, at the age of seventeen,
you have danced with Beyonce maybe arguably one of the
(20:33):
biggest stars in the world, maybe at that time was
the biggest star in the world. And then you're dancing
behind pop icon Britney Spears. Where do you go from there?
I mean, these are iconic names. So I'm assuming after
you add these names to your resume, is that did
every door open or did you find some challenges still? Oh,
my gosh, so many challenges still. Like I I did
(20:55):
have some great connections with choreographers who would direct book
me on these great jobs. But the most part, I
went to a lot more auditions where I heard now
and again going back to my body image, I was
I heard no just because of what my body looked like,
and so did people. They would always tell me. They
would be like hey, Like they would pull me up
to the desk and they'd be like, hey, you're great,
but you just need to lose some weight, you need
(21:16):
to tighten up, you need to hit the gym more.
But we would have hired you. And so that really
really it like motivated me. But it also created a
really unhealthy relationship with myself and I would starve myself.
I I would weigh myself like five times a day
to see if there was like a slight difference. It
was just really really unhealthy. But a lot of dancers
go through this as well. Um. I did have a
lot of great experiences with the jobs. Like right after that,
(21:38):
I dance with Justin Bieber and that was just like
so cool because he was like the biggest pop star
at the time. But then right after that job, literally
the next day, what's my next job that I'm doing.
I have to go to this audition in this audition.
Sometimes I would go to three auditions in one day
and I would get cut in the first round. Then
the next audition I would go to that day. I
would make it all the way to the end, and
(21:58):
then I would have to wait a few days to hear.
I auditioned for Rihanna, and I made it all the
way till the end, and then they said that I
looked too pretty. And I looked at them and I said,
I'll shave my head, I'll do whatever, because yeah, that
bothers me. That kind of bothers me. They were looking
for more of an edgy look. They're like, oh, I
think you're just like a little bit too pretty. You
(22:19):
have a little bit too much of a girl next
door vibe, and we're looking for an edgy or vibe.
And so I was very desperate. I was like, I
know I can do this, Like I'll shave my head,
I'll color my hair, I'll make it purple. What they
say they didn't. I didn't get picked. It was okay.
I was still young, and it was a learning experience.
But but at the same time, I mean to have
(22:40):
all these people validating you. Clearly you knew that you
had talent and that that you could take it somewhere.
So even the nose, in a sense, if I heard
those kinds of nose, it wouldn't per se discourage me
totally because you know that it's not something I can change.
You can't change, like if you don't look edgy to them,
you don't look edgy to them. But I have nothing
to do with your dancing, So I would imagine that
(23:01):
didn't discourage you from continuing. I mean, it sucks. It sucks.
It was something that bothered me because I can't do
anything about this, and I wish I could have so,
but you know, it's part of the process, and it
created a gave me a thicker skin. And honestly, when
I got those experiences, when they came to me, because
I heard so many knows, the yes is meant so
(23:21):
much more. There's also these like two sides in the industry,
of in the dance industry specifically, of people who love
social media and people who hate it. And it's usually
the older generation that doesn't really love it, but for me.
In my eyes, I've always seen social media as a
business tool, as a way to express myself and connect
(23:44):
to people that I would never be able to without it.
And I you know, obviously it gets hard because sometimes
I'm in class and I'm like, oh, I really don't
think I did good, but I'm still getting called out
because they want me to be in this video, Like
I don't know, I other not go because I don't
want to be on tape today. I just want to train.
I want to feel always wondered about that. So I'm
(24:05):
gonna cut, I'm gonna rudely interrupt you. So I always
see these videos of like the playground is a playground
or wherever, and and there's one person dancing in the
front and then there's two in the back. Like this
is a really uneducated question. I'm not in this world.
Are you going to class that day not knowing that
they're going to put you on tape? And then they
(24:25):
put you on tape? How does that work? So basically,
you go to class and you have about an hour
or forty five minutes to an hour to learn the combo,
and then you kind of do it in groups and
focus on that and then they'll end up calling people out,
So you have no idea if you're going to get
called out, But is your goal to get called out
when you go to class. When I was younger, it
definitely was because at the time, it wasn't really about videos.
(24:47):
It was about like getting seen by people. And well,
I guess back in the day there was no social media,
it wasn't there wasn't a pressure to be like, I'm
gonna go to class today. It was just purely class.
Whereas now you go to class and you're like, my
outfit needs to be point, my makeup needs to be done,
because if they call me out, there's gonna be now
a video floating around exactly. And I think that's what
it's really hard with social media is some people don't
(25:09):
like that pressure. Some people don't want the camera and them.
They just want to train, They just want to be
there to learn. They want to be able to mess
up and not feel bad about it. They don't want
to put on this show, which I completely understand. And
I think there's definitely a balance and a lot of
people are like, oh, Jade only goes to the classes
that get filmed, But I'm like, now, if you think
about it. You don't know the classes that I go
to that aren't filmed because they're not filmed. How are
(25:31):
you balancing practicing and taking dance seriously and maybe going
pro and also taking school seriously as well. Well. At
the moment, we're both graduated from school. But at the
time it was tough, like separating dance and school and
also yeah, finding that balance, but we always like managed
(25:56):
to do it. And obviously school does come first, but
dances also our passion and our love. So it was
just really finding that balance between studying but then also
doing what we loved. And it's also just kind of
the idea of knowing that, like school is a priority,
so because dance is our passion, we kind of have
to make sure that we get the school thing done first,
(26:18):
and then you go into like moving with dancing, because
I feel like every time you decide to push school
away when you have to do it and you start
to kind of go into, you know, your passion, you're
always distracted by knowing that you still have to do school,
and like at a certain point, you know, so it
pulls away from that, you know, you giving that whenever
(26:39):
you are dancing. So for us, either for us when
we were on set or when we were rehearsing, or this, this,
and that. It was always just making sure that we
at least finished school. We at least had to finish
what we had to finish for school, and then we
can move on to you know, and in your mind
was what you had to finish, was high school for
you taking school less seriously just because you had this
(27:04):
career that you felt you could fall back on, or
was it the other way around where school was taken
really seriously because you never knew where dance would take you. Oh,
I felt like I knew where dance would take me.
I feel like I feel like in our case, I
feel like we we kind of looked at dancing as
like our guiding hand kind of thing, because I mean,
obviously we took school very seriously and at least for
(27:24):
me and my parents are very strict about making sure that, like,
you know, you had to finish this year firms that
otherwise you don't get to do this and that kind
of thing. So it was kind of like school was
my motivation. Would dance get taken away from you? You
think if you started slipping in school for sure? For sure,
for sure, I think for dancing, I just knew I
love to do it. So since we kind of already
(27:47):
dove our feet into like the real life world in
the industry and everything, I think that's just where our
paths are taking us. And at the moment, I don't
think like we want to study dance like at school,
because dance is more than just studying it. It's also
a feeling and it's something that makes you feel good,
(28:08):
it makes you who you are. Yeah, a lot of
people say that your real life experience always trump's right,
And I'm sure you guys are learning so much more
actually doing the routines and trying things out versus getting
it from a textbook or Yeah, I just feel like
the way that we approach dance isn't necessarily I guess
you could say, supported from like she said, textbooks and
(28:31):
from you know, certain limitations. I feel like for us,
we kind of look at it in a way where
we're driven from like she said, of feeling, rather than
it being a certain technique or a certain you know,
rule that you get from school. So you may not
necessarily have a specific brand, but you are absolutely authentic. Yeah,
(28:51):
I would say authentic unpredictable, unique, So does that work
against you do not have a specific brand, do you
think when it comes to booking where people I don't know.
I think it used to when I was just a dancer,
but I guess I just don't really give a shit anymore,
and I just do whatever I feel. And whenever I create,
(29:11):
it's not to fit a box or to fit or
to conform to the norm, or to seek validation or
an opportunity. I just kind of create to create, and honestly,
when it comes out of me organically like that, then
the opportunities and the blessings come. Because whenever I create
from a genuine place that comes to me like the
(29:32):
I don't know how to explain it, like whatever you
put out into the universe comes back full circle. I
don't know thing that I've realized if I'm putting something
out there that's not genuine and I have a plan,
like okay, I'm gonna this isn't me. But let's just
say I was like, Okay, this song is popular and
I want to choreograph for this artist, which is a
strategic plan. But I feel like if I went out
there with that intention, it wouldn't come back to me.
(29:53):
So I have to be inspired genuinely by whatever I'm doing.
It has to make sense to me, It has to
come from a place in my heart, whether it's it
makes me feel sexy or it gives me courage to
release that part of me. Then I feel like I
gain more out of it, and people in my audience
will believe it more. I am so grateful and there's never,
like any any situation that I'm not grateful for. And
(30:16):
but it's also important for me to showcase that it
isn't always easy, because a lot of people think that
these people have these lives that are so grand and like,
once you have this, once you achieve this, you're going
to be happy. But then once you have it, you're
not happy, and it's because you haven't really experienced the
whole journey of it. And there's always ups and downs.
This industry is really hard. It's not like a steady income.
(30:38):
It's always job to job to job. You never know
when you're going to book it, so it's it's very
high stress. And obviously I'm so thankful that I'm not.
I'm not working a job that I I don't love,
I don't love to do I'm fortunate that what I
do and what I make money from is something that
I do love. But it definitely is really hard and
it it's built are certain personalities that can can withstand it,
(31:03):
because it's as much as there's it's a small world
in a small industry. It's a very lonely industry. If
you come out here, especially from out of state, there's
you people come and go in your life because things
are always changing and people are always trying to be
something else or interests contrast or conflict with them. And
(31:23):
I've had so many people come in and out of
my life because not that I think I'm so successful,
but I think my my confidence in the fact that
I believe that whatever efforts I put in, I can
always make any outcome that I want. And I know
that one day I'm going to make it in how
I want to make it, and it's always up to me.
It has nothing to do with anybody else. And it's
(31:45):
it's very intimidating to see somebody who's confident in their
journey and confident in them and trying to love themselves.
Because if you don't feel that way, you you you
feel a little insecure about it. And it's hard to
watch your friends get your dream job. I get totally,
but it's always been something that I've had to really
seek out those people that are really going to support
(32:05):
me and love me in every circumstance. And it's been
hard because that sometimes I'm like, I don't want to
tell anybody that I got this because I don't. I
don't want them to feel bad, like even though this
is something I did work for, so it should be
something that I should celebrate and people should also celebrate
and instead of turn away from being inspired by And
I find myself constantly inspired by my friends and all
(32:27):
wakes of life, whether it be like my friends on
tour with jave Alvin right now, and she's traveling the world,
getting paid to travel the world and perform and do
what she loves and and to me, that's that's amazing.
That's living the life. That's one stepping stone closer to
what she wants to do. And it's just I want
everyone to really like feel the love in the support
(32:47):
in the community, because if we create a community, people
can grow so much easier. And there's not just one
spot at the top, there's room for everybody. And I
think that's something that people might think otherwise on but
I've seen so many people succeed and I see so
many people that put the work in. Might not come
when you want it to, but it always does come
(33:07):
in some shape or form that satisfaction, the success that
you always want. Where do you see that the careers
going And maybe you have the same vision, maybe you
have completely separate visions. Throughout the past things that we've
done together, we kind of realized that it was far
beyond dancing obviously, like we explained, and in order to
achieve that, it requires a lot of like acting, and
(33:29):
it requires a lot of like soul and requires a
lot of like heart into it. And so I definitely
hope for the next couple of years to kind of
just seek into creating certain projects, in certain films that
will have a wider reach of an audience the world
that that's much more than just dance, that that actually
(33:50):
may involve dialogue, that may involve lines that you will
need to say, and hopefully it happens in theaters and
that kind of idea. Obviously, dance requires a certain level
of acting, and I think that's where I kind of
grew the love of acting. From and to me, it's
not so much acting because I feel like it just
(34:13):
truly comes from a raw place. And I never like
when I dance or when I portray messages. I never
wanted to be portrayed as I'm portraying someone else. I
wanted to be that I'm portraying myself or someone else
through who I am as well, so it comes out
as real as possible. But when I do get older, obviously,
(34:35):
like I want to get more into the acting world,
and I think it's just really cool how you could
dive into different characters and really create something out of
the ordinary that you can't really do in reality. For me,
my goal is to be happy, but obviously there's career
goals that I would like to accomplish as well, And yeah,
(34:56):
I think it always changes. I think, what's your current
career goal? To be a lead in a movie, theater, movie,
so in a cinema that I mean, I think if
we were to look at the trajectory, it seems like
you're on that path. You really trying acting as a
whole another monster, Well, obviously you know what you're doing.
You wouldn't be booking series regulars. You would just be
(35:19):
you know, dancing is incredible, but you would just be
in that one lane. But you've kind of crossed over
into bringing two talents together, which and it's working for you, right.
And I think something that I've learned from being in
this industry and and because I started so young, I
think I'm starting other things young as well. I've really
seen that I can't just be a one trick pony.
(35:40):
I need to be an entrepreneur. I need to have
all of I want to be a business. I want
to I want to do all of these things before
everyone else thinks to do them. And I think that's
kind of what I've always tried to do, is to
step outside what the norm is and to do things
before other people do it too, maybe inspire people to
do the same thing. And for me, I am trying
to use my social media to actually promote positivity and
(36:04):
maybe address certain things that people my age might be
going through where people need to hear, or just little
tips and things that I've learned from my life. And
and when I do these selfless sundays, I don't actually
think I know everything, and it doesn't mean I'm always
great at the things I'm talking about, but I always
try to relate it to what's going on in my
life currently, just to make it something that other people
(36:25):
can relate to. So I want to start using my
success per se for inspiring other people. But then I'm
also working on being a choreographing my own things and
being a dancer in training, and then I also want
to be an actress and I want to do that.
And then I'm also integrating the fitness into me into
my lifestyle, and I have a fitness program that I've
(36:48):
been selling to people and helping transformations with that and
really learning about health. And I'm trying to manage my
money properly before you know, you never know what's going
to happen. And so that's why I really want to
utilize all the time that I have and and utilize
the materials that I have right now, because we we
don't know. Social media could die out, it could be
(37:10):
a MySpace thing and now it's not a big thing anymore.
And it's you're so evolved and already grasp that concept
because I think so many people and I hate saying influencer,
but if you're an influencer and you are one, you
have influence. It's just a fact. They think this is
forever and and they'll be and there's nothing's forever. So
(37:30):
you always have to think five steps ahead, and it
seems like you're doing that. I'm really lucky too, because
my family works with me on my business side. So
my older brother he kind of is like my personal manager,
and he's he's always been so intelligent and he's really
into business and marketing and stuff. So he's been really
guiding me and helping me with all these things. And
he always tells me that Jade, like, you can't just
(37:52):
be on on Instagram. You have to really project yourself
all over because once something's gone, like what's left? Will
you still be remembered without at So at this point,
you're what seventeen eighteen, You're dancing for other people, You're
loving life, you're getting some really great opportunities. When do
you switch hats and become a choreographer? At what point
(38:14):
did you decide that's the lane you were gonna drive
in for a while? I love this question. So I
was at a point I think I was nineteen, and
I took I think I was on my way back
from an audition. It was a Nicki Minaj audition, and
I remember we didn't even dance. I just had to
stand there in a thong and they had to just
(38:36):
look at my butt to see if it was stopped.
Like they made all of us turn around and they
all just stared at our butts. I think it was
like the Anacondom music I was I swear Baby Jesus.
I was about to say, don't tell me it was Antacon.
That's the only song I can imagine that they would
actually give a shit about your ass, not saying it's okay, right.
But I remember I was like thinking, when the hell
am I going to dance? When the hell are they
(38:57):
could ask me to answer, just like freestyle, when are
we learning choreography? And we didn't. We just stood there
and they just looked at our asses for the longest time.
And then I got cut. And I remember driving home
that they like, did they seriously just need me to
wear a thong and not dance? Like I literally just
went to an audition when I didn't show my talent
and it was only about how big my ass was
and how firm it looked. And I got cut, and
(39:18):
so I just got really discouraged. And not only was
I discouraged. I also, it lit a fire under my
ass and I was like, you know what, I've got
to create my own opportunities. I've worked too hard. I
know so many amazing dancers who are so talented and
can create their own opportunities, So why can't I do
that for myself? And so the day that I decided
(39:39):
to open up my own doors and create my own lane,
that was when my whole life changed. I took advantage
of my social media, took advantage of my my potential,
and I just completely started from the bottom and I
worked my way up. I started teaching little kids, I
started sharing my experience in the industry with them, and
I realized that I have a passion for people and
(40:01):
helping others throughout my passion of dance. So I started
teaching and choreographing more, realizing that I had this burning
desire to create because I always was an assistant. I
was a dancer that learned choreography. I was always like
this robot that learned choreo. I paid my dues, earned
my stripes of being a professional dancer. And then I realized, wow,
I want to create. I can make up choreography, I
(40:25):
can do concept videos. I believe that one day I
could choreograph for artists, and then I just decided to
go for it, and I made a lot of people
upset by doing that. I remember there were some mentors
of mine that were like, why are you what? Why
are you transitioning into choreography when you should still be auditioning,
you should still be assisting. And I remember thinking, why
(40:46):
would my mentors not want me to spread my wings
and fly? There's definitely power in social media. I'm sure
you guys both know that already. I'm sure you can
book jobs over other people because of the millions of
followers you both have between than yourselves. I think the
biggest like thing about social media, and I usually say this,
is that it's like, it's obviously one of the greatest
(41:09):
things ever, but it's also one of the most dangerous
things ever, you know, because what you put out is
how Yeah, what you put out is forever, and it's
what people hold against you and what people use for
certain gigs and everything like that. But I think the
biggest thing is when you do get a certain job
(41:30):
based off of who you are on social media, is
that you almost have to prove to your like at least,
you almost have to prove to yourself that when you're
doing a certain gig, it's not coming from it's not
only coming from who you are on social media, but
it's coming from what you're actually capable of. Yeah, I
feel like social media has definitely impacted our career so
(41:52):
much because, honestly, without it, I don't think anyone would
really truly understand the dance industry like all at all,
because most of our resumes are on YouTube or on Instagram.
And I think that's one of like the more positive
sides of it, is that we get to share with
so many people what we love to do, and if
(42:14):
they love it as well, that's like a bigger plus.
But for us, whenever we post something, it's because we
truly love it and we truly think it represents who
we are, and that's why we use social media the
way that we do. Um, we don't use it to
get clout, as as people say, I hate that if
(42:35):
I could never hear get clout ever, but like we
use it to just show who we are, and social
media has grown so much and I feel like so
many people are more aware of dance now than they
were years ago. And that's one of the coolest parts
(42:57):
because dance has become incredibly huge around the world, and
it's a form of communication in a way, people communicate
through dance through their bodies, and that's really really cool.
Brings people closer from all over the world. One thing
that I've always believed was that I have the power
(43:17):
to create or manifest any opportunity or any job or
any goal in my life. And I've always really tried
to hold onto that most importantly, I didn't want to
change who I was, and I think I was raised
an amazing way. And shout out to my family because
they always taught me that it doesn't matter how much
you have or where you're at in life, like down
(43:39):
to the tea, like it matters if you're a good person.
And I think when you have good karma, good karma
comes out into the world and you get you get
gifts and and success is back because what you put
out is what you always get back. And yeah, you
always see those people you're like, they don't deserve that,
Like they didn't even work hard, they're not even a
good person. But ultimately, it doesn't really matter what everybody
else is doing. And That's something that I definitely had
(44:00):
to learn, and I think that's helped me gain the
success that I have is to not be too involved
in everyone else's successes or opinions. So what advice would
you give someone who wants to be the next Jade?
For me, I think what has actually really like set
me apart is I really embrace the story of it.
(44:22):
Because people don't want to just watch for entertainment. They
want to feel something. That's ultimately what we do. We
do everything to feel something, We eat to feel full,
we watch certain things to get a certain emotion out.
And for me, I really embraced the storyline of it.
And I think what has set me apart from maybe
other dances. And I can't really speak for everybody else
(44:43):
because I don't know what they're thinking when they're dancing,
but I'm really trying to be like honest when I'm dancing,
and whether that's like a fun dance, I'm trying to
tap into that a great memory or something like that.
And for me, I never just put out content because
I need it. I really want it to be because
I'm inspired by it or I feel like it could
help somebody, and I don't just take classes that are
(45:05):
because they're filmed. Like I'll take certain classes that I
really enjoy and I connect with and I can learn
something from. So I think that the difference between I
don't know, it's hard because there's so many amazing dancers
that deserve all the light and but you're definitely different.
You're definitely I mean, there's a difference between you and
(45:26):
a lot of the dancers. There's a reason why you're
getting booked on things that others aren't. And I'm not
knocking anyone, but there's something. I honestly think it's that
I'm not trying to be anybody else. Yeah, you're super authentic.
I mean it it comes across in all of your content.
You're never trying to be the cool girl, which I
really know what you are, but you are. I think
(45:47):
that's what's so cool about you. I saw so cool Amelia,
Like no, but like seriously, I think that's what people
really love, authenticity and you can't fake that. And I
think with social media there's like a certain stigma that
you have to be something, you have to be a
certain person to be a social media influencer or what
(46:08):
do you think that person is that people think they
have to think you have to be perfect. They don't
want to see that you're silly. They want to see
that you have you're pretty, and you're always put together
and you you only do this. And there's certain lanes
like I'm the funny person or I'm that pretty person,
or I'm this person, or I'm the you know, like
there's so many different categories. But like I think I'm
all of those things combined, and I can be all
(46:29):
of those things combined. And and I did realize for
a while that after my videos were posted, like I
have this alter ego when I dance. I call her
j A. It's not actually Jade because I get really
serious when the music comes on because I'm so inspired
by music. I love music, and that's why I think
I love dancing so much, is because I love the
feeling that I get when listening to it, and I
(46:50):
want to portray that with movement. You've done choreography for
so many people. Do you have a favorite. It's hard
to say. Wow, I really really love to Nash. I
love to Nash. She inspires me so much and she's
a dancer. To Nash was a very first artist that
(47:11):
ever gave me a chance as a choreographer. She found
me on Instagram, which is so funny because she never
would have found me if I didn't create my own
social media and utilize my platform. You know, my my
classes were my home, and it was what I love
to do. I love to choreograph film. I put it
on YouTube inspire people, and then organically to Nase saw
my work and she hit me up one day, She's like, Hey,
(47:33):
Jojo Gomez, do you want to chorey off my next
music video. I thought it was a joke. I couldn't
believe it. I will say I didn't realize how big
the world of dance was on Instagram until we started
booking people for this show. I'm like, oh my god.
There are so many dancers on Instagram who have millions
and millions of followers, and every day or every other day,
(47:54):
it seems like they're putting out top, very top quality
dance videos on their Instagram or on their YouTube. Not
all of them have as many followers as you, but
people are taking it really seriously and they have a
ton of followers. So how did she find you in
this sea of dancers and choreographers? Honestly, I was very
(48:14):
consistent with my content on my social media because I
feel like dance has become so universal now because of
social media, and now dancers are treating their instagrams as
their resumes and almost like an opportunity for potential work.
So the more that you post and the more consistent
that you are with it, the more that these you know, executives, directors,
(48:36):
these artists will be able to find you and see
your work. Because back then it was more about word
of mouth to get hired or to go to auditions
and then get validated. But now you can have control
of your own platform, in your own artistry and talents,
and you can get recognized just based off of that,
And I think that's so fly, and that's what I
(48:57):
was doing. I was just having fun with my social media,
being very consistent, believing in my art and putting it
out there in an authentic way. And then that was
read by to Nash. I was just uploading a whole
bunch of videos to her songs, and she saw it
and she thought my work was really dope, and she
hit me up asking me to choreograph her next music video.
And honestly, if I sat around and just prayed for it,
(49:19):
and I just went about it the cookie cutter route,
waiting for it and waiting for my mentor to tell
me when it was the right time, or your manager
to book the job, or your agent to find the opportunity. Yeah.
If I, if I wasn't my own boss, and if
I wasn't my own entity to Nash, I wouldn't have
reached out to me. What advice would you, guys give
someone who wants to follow in your footsteps a young dancer.
(49:39):
Maybe a lesson you learned along the way that you
wish you had known, or something that you just have
done the whole way through. Yeah, honestly, the main thing.
I know everyone says it, but it's just too continue
to stay true to who you are, because the moment
you try to be someone else, no one's gonna want
(49:59):
to listen to what you have to say. Everyone is
put on this earth for a reason, and everyone has
their different reason and different paths, And I think it's
really important too, Uh, just be who you are and
not care what anybody else thinks, because as long as
you're happy and you're doing what you love to do,
(50:20):
that's that's all that really, truly matters whatever you're doing anything,
either if it is sports, if it's dancing, if it's singing,
if it's acting, if you don't truly love it, then
it's never gonna last. I feel like I feel like
you have to continue with a certain passion in a
(50:40):
certain love that comes from yourself. You can't expect it
from anyone else. So you have to truly love something
in order to continue it and pursue it. Because I
feel like I live by this. Where you know, where
there is love, there is life. So I just feel
like thinking about that when it comes to dancing, when
(51:00):
it comes to just being with people, that's where you
truly discover success. That was really good advice from both
of you. Thank you for sharing those nuggets of wisdom,
and obviously you guys are living it. You're not just
saying it because it's quote worthy. I feel like throughout
this entire interview, the common thread has been authenticity, and
both of you have done that. It's worked in your favor,
(51:23):
It's going to continue to work in your favorite Big
big things are happening. Call me when you go to
the oscars, you actually get the little people come here
so I can just look at the statue, but we
really appreciated having you guys here. You make sure you
definitely stop by. I guess I have a feeling this
(51:43):
is not the last we're going to be here. Yeah,
all right, We'll have a good rest of the day.
We hope you guys enjoyed this interview. Make sure to
check out Casey and Shawn's YouTube channel. Okay together. I'm
sure they'll be on fifty other music videos, shows and
films at your local theater, so just you know, anywhere
you want to look, they'll be there, all right, by guys.
(52:06):
I'm scared for our future, but you give me a
little bit of hope. Thank you. I'm trying, but yeah,
so congrats on everything you have going on. Make sure
you come back in a year when you've booked that
like next Avengers when they decide to redo it even
though they said they wouldn't, and they will, and you'll
be the leader, I hope. So but yeah, thank you
so much for stopping by. And I mean, I feel
(52:26):
like we're just so much. Yea, I talked a lot,
but it was good, like a different no, No, it
was a gift from God, like so many good nuggets,
lots of good content. We hope you guys enjoyed. Jade
say your last name for us? One more? Did you
get that? Guys? It's chinof don't mess it up on
my watch? All right. We'll see you guys next time
(52:48):
or listener here. I don't even know. I'm so not
used to not being on camera. I'm like, I'll see you,
but but I won't see you anyway. Bye. Be you
love the ups and the downs, and just keep your
head up high and just go forwa. I love that
you have so many big things going on in your life.
Please come back when you do that. Billie Eilish collab.
(53:10):
So I'm just gonna put it out there. You're both
going to sit across because I selfishly would love to
interview her too. So if we're going to do a
fun interview all three of us next time, I think
it's gonna happen. Hey, we're putting it out there right
all right, guys, So next time JoJo's here shall be
with Billie Eilish. Thank you so much for stopping by.
I'm really excited to continue to follow your journey. I
(53:33):
know big, big things or whatever you decide to do
is around the corner. So thank you so much. Yeah,
we'll see you guys next time. Jojo go, Thank you bye.
Behind the Influence as a production of I Heart Radio
and t DC Media
Welcome to Behind the Influence, a production of I Heart
Radio and TDC Media. Pro dancer choreographer, A few stops
for you guys. She has one point for a million
followers on Instagram one point three million subs on YouTube.
Not a small number there, Jojo Jojo Gomez is in
the house, Casey Rights is Shanlu pro dancers in real
(00:24):
life bfs are in the house. But we're here with
Jade chinaf actress, dancer extraordinaire. We are so happy to
have you here today. Thank you for stopping him. But yeah,
so the show is all about influence, and you are
(00:45):
definitely somebody who has influenced in the dance space. Not
only are you doing choreography for some of the biggest artists,
which is blatantly influencing what we see, you're also teaching people,
like this generation of dancers is coming up learning some
of the things that you made up. And you have
a platform of millions of followers who are also seeing
(01:06):
that who can't necessarily take your classes or see you
on tour. So the influence is real. Yeah, but it
didn't always start out that way, did it. You were
a young little Joe Joe not at all. Did not
start off that way. I'm actually from the East Coast.
I'm from Massachusetts, and there wasn't much dance out there.
I mean I trained at a small studio in western Massachusetts.
(01:26):
But I was super inspired by Los Angeles and I
knew that it was something that I wanted to do.
I really wanted to pursue my career being a professional dancer,
and so right after high school, I booked the first
plane ticket and it's been an amazing journey ever since.
You make it sound so easy. Oh yeah, yeah, what
trust me. I have lots of questions for you, But
(01:47):
I will say, every time you see somebody like you
have this amazing come up, you think it's so easy,
but there was a lot of hard work that went
into it, countless hours for you in the studio dancing,
taking that big leap to after high school, out on
a plane and go to a place where did you
know many people in l A? I did not know
many people in l A. When I made my move.
I left a lot of friends behind in my family
(02:08):
because I'm originally from Massachusetts, so it's like all the
way across the country. And I will say that I
was really, really hungry, and I had a lot of drive.
When I moved to l A. I was the type
of person where even though I was the underdog, I
wasn't always like as dope as I am today. I
didn't think I would make it because I was that
girl that had to work extra hard. Dancing didn't come
(02:28):
naturally to me. I wasn't the most flexible. I didn't
have the most technique, but I had a lot of
passion and heart for it, and so I had to
work harder than everybody else. Basically I took like seven
classes a day. When I moved out to l A.
I went to so many auditions and I got cut
from the majority of them, which is like the whole
part of the process. But again, I had to take
so many classes. I had to go to the gym
(02:50):
every single day. I had to watch what I was eating,
and as a Latin girl, as a Latino that that
was really difficult because food is like my whole life.
And when I moved out to l A, I was like, oh, ship,
I need to go on a diet. I need to
like have a six pack in order for myself to
book this job or this tour, dance with this artist.
So it was like a smack of reality. When I
moved to l A. I had a let go of
the bagels and the McDonald's. This is like some music
(03:12):
video commercial ship. I need to be on top of
my body. And yeah, I also struggled with body image
as well. When I moved to l A. Again, I
wasn't always like stick thin. I had to Why why
did you feel that you had to be stick thin?
I mean, you're you're great dancer. Some of my favorite dancers,
like j Lo to me as iconic. She wasn't stick thin.
(03:33):
Where did you get this idea from? Well, when I
moved out to l A. It is very shallow in
our industry because every single audition that I went to,
it was basically not about how good of a dancer
you were. It was about if you had a six
pack or if you could dance in a bikini. It
was more about what you look like and who you knew.
And that was always really hard for me because I
(03:53):
signed up for all these amazing dance conventions growing up.
My mom spent so much money on my training, and
when I moved out to l A and I realized,
oh my god, it's it's more about what I look
like and list about my talent. It really really like
painted me a little bit. We have a lot to cover, obviously,
there's a lot to cover in the world of acting.
Dancing is a huge part of your life, and it
(04:14):
actually they go together at the moment. Who knows if
that will always be the case. I mean, you're probably
gonna start in movies that don't have you dancing or
shows that don't have you dancing, But it's kind of
cool that you get to do two things that you love.
We were actually just before we got started, we were
talking about the Step Up series and helps us. Literally
everyone in here is with the step How could you not?
(04:37):
How could you not? I mean it combines dancing, some
good looking people, some good looking people. You you included,
by the way, in the new iteration of the Step
Up franchise. They've had a lot of movies too, haven't
they Six movies out? Oh my gosh, that's that's incredible.
So going back to the very first step of what
(04:59):
were you like to when that came? Yeah, somewhere around there.
But I still had who didn't have a crush on Channon?
I know the world? Yeah, So we'll we'll take it
back because I think that's really interesting. You're not from
l A, but you've definitely made your mark on the
dance scene in l A and obviously all the things
we talked about at the beginning of this interview. You're
on a really successful franchise series. Everyone knows the Step
(05:23):
Up series you. You're followed by millions of people who
watch you dance on your many platforms, from YouTube to
Instagram to Twitter. Let's take it back to before all
this stuff happened. You're not from l A. Where are
you from and how did you get involved in dance.
I'm originally from Park City, Utah, and my family actually
(05:44):
all still lives there, so that's kind of nice and
makes visiting easy. I started dancing when I was about
to My aunt had a studio. It's called Martie's Rainbow Danswers.
I definitely graduated from that, but my mom had me
going there because she was teaching at the time. They
are and I just kind of gotten to dance at
a young age. And my family we were definitely middle class,
(06:07):
but it was one of those things if we were
going to invest in something, we had to put our
full heart and our full energy and passion into it.
So I was training and dance just for fun up
until I was about ten eleven twelve. My brothers were
doing football, so I had my thing, they had their thing.
My dad was with them, my mom was with me,
and I started competing and as I was dancing, it
(06:28):
went from like just running around in two twos to
kind of really loving and understanding dance and for what
it is, like a lot of people think it's just movement,
it's just having fun, but there's really something so liberating
about being able to express yourself through movement without actually
having to say anything. You can really leave all your
emotions out on the dance floor, cheessily putting it, but
(06:51):
it is. I kind of just fell in love and
I kind of had a realization that I could make
something more of it when I was around ten eleven,
because I started going to conventions that were out of
state every weekend to kind of train myself and see
what else I could do with dancing, because I think
l A is one of those places that every person
(07:11):
that thinks they're the best from their state comes, So
it's definitely a route awakening. You think you're doing really
good when you're in Utah, and I trained my butt
off and I was always at every convention and I
would go straight from school to dance until ten pm.
Then I do have to do homework, so it's always
been a grind, and my mom had to work at
the studio to pay for my dance classes, so it's
(07:32):
never been easy, and I don't think the best things
are easy, So that's why I think it drove my
passion for even more because it wasn't something that I
just got handed to me. It was something I had
to work for and that that excited me. I've always
been really competitive with myself too, so I wanted to
be the best that it could be. And I've always
(07:53):
been super dramatic. I always is like playing pretend when
I was younger, so being able to tell stories as
I was dancing too was perfect for me. And from
there I kind of got recognized by some choreographers at
a specific convention. It was called the Pulse On Tour
and it had many choreographers that were working in the industry,
like Brian Friedman who choreographs for Britney Spears, and many
(08:15):
other people. Dave Scott, who's done most of the step
up franchises and Chris Judd, Lorianne gibbson me and Michael's
all these people that you see featured on so you
think you can dance or maybe if you see films,
they're the choreographers of those or tours or anything like that.
And I got the scholarship where I was able to
assist them every weekend for a year, so I was
(08:35):
up on stage with them, helping and teaching the rest
of the students. So that how old were you at
this point? I was twelve and at the time I
was actually the youngest one that what were you doing
at twelve? Right, let's take it back to where it
all began. For people who don't know the backstory of
Kasey and Sean. Who wants to take this tale or
(08:57):
one of you can start at the other convenish it.
You're so in sanc I feel like it could work.
I can started. So we started competing like seven to
eight years ago. I had a separate studio and she
had a separate studio, and we kind of competed with
each other. But then it was always like just like hey, hey,
you're good, you too, And then and then after that
(09:21):
we started when I started moving into the classes in
l A and everything like that. I also saw her
in classes there too, and so we always kept bumping
into each other. But like when we first met each other,
it was far from like being like even friends at all.
We were always just like, like I admired her, admired
her as a dancer when I first saw her on
stage and everything like that. But I was never like
(09:42):
I want to grab some munch. I was just gonna say,
for people who are not aware of how young both
of you are sixteen and seventeen when you met, you
had to have been at the ripe age of eight
and nine. It was more like our parents were doing
the talking, right, so you're not really necessarily being like
want to go to soho how talking to each other
and then just hear your parents like, Hi, this is
(10:04):
my son, this is my daughter. Yeah. I mean, but
all in all, it was really just like we kept
seeing each other a lot in like competitions and then
in classes and all that stuff. So it was really
just kind of this like sign where I was like,
maybe we should just be friends. See where that goes.
Had you seen the video of Casey when she did
(10:24):
is it work that Katie didn't carry Katie Perry tweet that.
Okay when I saw that video today because I was
watching it this morning and just to you know, go
through all the research. Yeah, well that's what I do
every morning. I was like that, I had my coffee
that I do. You but oh my goodness, so talented.
How old are you in that video? I was ten
(10:46):
years old? Yeah, I mean like when she does those
like hit thrust, like, oh my god, those are like powerful,
they were power power, and then Katie Perry sees it.
How was it as a ten year old? Honestly, I
didn't really quite know what was going on at the
time because I was so young. I just remember like
(11:08):
one of my fans like commented on one of my
random like selfies on Instagram. I was like, hey, Katy
Perry just retweeted as your solo and I was like what,
And we all thought it was like something like it
was a fake account. So we went and did like
the research and we're like, oh, no, it's like the
actual Katy Perry. But at the time I was just
(11:29):
kind of like cool, I don't I don't know what
this means, Like I don't even know what this Yeah, exactly,
and my parents were like, oh my gosh, like this
is for real, and it just blew up and it
was one of like the very first dance videos to
actually sort of go viral. So that was like really
really cool, and I got so many opportunities after that.
(11:52):
That's just been insane and it's just crazy being a dancer.
Are our bodies are temples And it's the first thing
that people look at, especially back then in music videos,
like without social media, how are people going to know
who you are? Like for the most part, dancers were
only validated through the artists that they danced behind and
how big their resume was, and in order to have that,
(12:14):
you needed to look a certain way. It was very
very shallow back then. But now with social media, which
we're going to get into, I feel like that has
really changed my life because I can be well known
for who I am and not who I've danced behind,
and I can embrace my body. I can embrace my
Latino curves, and I don't have to like starve myself
from my favorite foods. I can right now. I used
(12:36):
to have a really unhealthy relationship with myself when I
was just a dancer, and I was going to auditions
and fighting for these people's validation of myself. So I
was fighting for a door to open. And then as
soon as I decided to open my own doors and
just not seek validation from anybody else anymore, it changed
my life completely. I I've always owe everything to my family,
but every every time I come out here too, you
(12:58):
it's it's different. L A is different. People are different,
and it's very competitive as well. So there's that little
bit of you know, competitive air between everybody even when
you step in a class. And I was. I wasn't
used to it. I was like, oh, we don't all
love each other, Like what is this? Oh you don't
like me because I'm good? Like what does that mean? Like?
I like you because you're good. But it's just this
(13:20):
big competitive thing, and you know, eventually those couple of
days turned two weeks turned two months, and then I
started being in l A more than I was in Utah,
and I think around sixteen, I don't even have an
official move date to California, but I think around sixteen
was when I was here more than I was Utah.
And um I roomed with three other people. My mom
(13:41):
and I shared a room a smaller room, you know
how like when you get in an apartment, there's the
bigger room in the small room. We shared the smaller
room with another mom and daughter and where they also
in the dance world. They were yes, and I had
met them through convention and she ended up being one
of my best friends and we were roommates for seven years.
So I just actually recently got my own apartment by myself.
(14:02):
So like I saw that, I saw your little tour
and I'm very cute designed congratulations, thank you so much,
But yeah, it was, it was. It's been a journey
for sure, and it's been a long time. I've had
a long time to really get into the industry and
figure out what I like and other dancers and what
(14:24):
I don't like and kind of take all of those
things that I think that I could do really well
and mash them up into the one well rounded dancer.
And I always say that I have so much to
work on still, like I will never stop growing. And
I think that's what people commonly have misconceptions about is
people are like, oh, Jade, like give me the secrets,
(14:46):
Like how do I get into the industry, Like I
want to book a tour like da da da da,
And I'm like, well, you know, there are really no secrets,
Like you have to do it from the ground up.
You have to take classes. If you want to be
booked by somebody, you have to get in front of
their face, take their class regularly. You have to study
what they what they like and what they book and
you kind of have to. Dancing is one of those
(15:07):
hard things that you have to be a full package.
So you have to you know, you have to keep
working out, you have to you have to look. You
have to keep yourself together. Your like body is your
image and it's your it's your selling point, which is
it causes a lot of hardships for I think everybody
in the industry, females and males included. You are constantly
being like judged and torn apart because there they want
(15:32):
the full look. And I think that comes with this
entertainment industry in general. You have to always be on basically,
and it's been it's you know, it's been hard because
it makes people competitive, it makes people a little salty
towards each other, and and you just have to really
like seek out the people that are gonna want to
(15:52):
grow with you. Rather than I want you to say
where they're at, because it is. It does get hard,
and I think l A is like this big filter system.
I always use it as like one of those those
noodle drainers. You know. Everybody comes in and they think
they can do it, and they really hope they can.
But l A is so cut throat and it's it's
so brutal and honest, and really only the people that
(16:14):
are gonna really be willing to take those nose and
keep going and hopefully turn them into yeses are the
ones that end up here. Was there a moment for you,
like a a video got a lot of attention, or
somebody asked you to choreograph something where you were like,
they're taking me seriously, this is something I could really
do well. Actually, when I think when I was ten,
it was doing like a competition and I was like
(16:36):
I asked my studio owner. I was like, hey, can
I just choreograph my own solo and like try it
in the studio And it was like no, don't do that,
and like there's no point and I was like no,
I really want to try, and she was very doubtful
about it, and I was like, okay, if I really
prepare and if I go into the next one by myself,
will you let me? And I was like, I'll even
(16:57):
like i'll even compete away from your studio. I'll independently,
and she was like okay, fine. So then you know,
I spent a lot of time, you know, choreographing like
my own solo, and do you remember what song it
was to um? It was so long ago. It was
so long ago, and it was so brief. It was
just like like it was just a moment for me
(17:17):
that kind of like stuff like this light where I
was like I realized that, you know, as I was cooing,
I was like, oh, no, one knows me more than myself.
So so I really tried to push it out there.
And then at that point, I beat all my other
solos and I beat all like my other like routines
that I did in the competition with that solo, and
I was like, oh my god, this is like something
I want to do and this is something that I
(17:38):
want to share. And so then I started like teaching
in any possible way I could, either in charities or
in fundraisers or in just my sister's high school. And
from that point on, It was kind of just like,
I want to keep doing this forever. So how did you,
I guess, just break believe it or not. It wasn't
when I moved to l A. It was in New
York when I realized what I wanted to do. My
(18:00):
first job that I ever booked in my life was Beyonce.
Still right, I was still in thee the Queen Bee.
It was honestly, I was still in high school and
I was still in training mode. I had this great
connection with this choreographer, her name is Luam and I
was religiously taking her class and she came up to
me one day after her class and she's like, hey,
are you available in the next two days for a
(18:23):
job for an artist? And I was like absolutely. I
mean I've never danced for an artist before, so this
is going to be great for me. She did not
tell me it was Beyonce. So when I showed up
and I saw Beyonce in the rehearsal, I was like,
is this for real? Is this for real? Like I'm
still in high school. I would be like, where is
Ashton Kutcher. I'm getting punked right now? Yeah, And so, honestly,
(18:44):
her kindness and how like her work ethic in the rehearsal,
and then the dancers that I was surrounded by. I
just knew in that moment that I could do this,
like little me Jojo from Massachusetts could make it in
Los Angeles or New York or just like in the
entertainment Sustrey in general. Like the passion and the joy
and the adrenaline rush that I experienced while dancing for
(19:05):
her was just unbelievable. It was for the Get Me
Bodied campaign that she collaborated with Michelle Obama. I don't
know if you saw it, Yeah, it was. It was
so fun. You wouldn't recognize me at all. I look
completely different. I had this like mouseie short brunette bob
and it was just a mess. I didn't have my
look together. I didn't know the first thing about what
it took to be like a professional dancer. I know,
(19:28):
and it was solely based off of like my my,
like what that choreographer saw in me. I worked really,
really hard, and so she gave me a chance, and
just that experience alone dancing behind Beyonce was something that
made me realize that I want to do this for
the rest of my life. And then when I moved
out to l A. The second job that I booked
was Britney Spears and the vm AS. It was a
(19:48):
Britney Spears tribute and that was How was the Michael
Jackson Van Daughter it was? And then we were introduced
to the stage by Lady Gaga. Okay, I'm sorry, Joe, Joe, right,
how did you? I mean, yes, you're talented, but this
is just three wins back to back here, I mean
Lady Gaga, right, it was unreal. And again, I was
(20:13):
still seventeen when I booked that job, So what were
you What was everyone else out there doing at seventeen?
I wasn't being introduced by Lady Gaga, right, that's so
so casual. And then so this is on your resume now,
so you have, at this point, at the age of seventeen,
you have danced with Beyonce maybe arguably one of the
(20:33):
biggest stars in the world, maybe at that time was
the biggest star in the world. And then you're dancing
behind pop icon Britney Spears. Where do you go from there?
I mean, these are iconic names. So I'm assuming after
you add these names to your resume, is that did
every door open or did you find some challenges still? Oh,
my gosh, so many challenges still. Like I I did
(20:55):
have some great connections with choreographers who would direct book
me on these great jobs. But the most part, I
went to a lot more auditions where I heard now
and again going back to my body image, I was
I heard no just because of what my body looked like,
and so did people. They would always tell me. They
would be like hey, Like they would pull me up
to the desk and they'd be like, hey, you're great,
but you just need to lose some weight, you need
(21:16):
to tighten up, you need to hit the gym more.
But we would have hired you. And so that really
really it like motivated me. But it also created a
really unhealthy relationship with myself and I would starve myself.
I I would weigh myself like five times a day
to see if there was like a slight difference. It
was just really really unhealthy. But a lot of dancers
go through this as well. Um. I did have a
lot of great experiences with the jobs. Like right after that,
(21:38):
I dance with Justin Bieber and that was just like
so cool because he was like the biggest pop star
at the time. But then right after that job, literally
the next day, what's my next job that I'm doing.
I have to go to this audition in this audition.
Sometimes I would go to three auditions in one day
and I would get cut in the first round. Then
the next audition I would go to that day. I
would make it all the way to the end, and
(21:58):
then I would have to wait a few days to hear.
I auditioned for Rihanna, and I made it all the
way till the end, and then they said that I
looked too pretty. And I looked at them and I said,
I'll shave my head, I'll do whatever, because yeah, that
bothers me. That kind of bothers me. They were looking
for more of an edgy look. They're like, oh, I
think you're just like a little bit too pretty. You
(22:19):
have a little bit too much of a girl next
door vibe, and we're looking for an edgy or vibe.
And so I was very desperate. I was like, I
know I can do this, Like I'll shave my head,
I'll color my hair, I'll make it purple. What they
say they didn't. I didn't get picked. It was okay.
I was still young, and it was a learning experience.
But but at the same time, I mean to have
(22:40):
all these people validating you. Clearly you knew that you
had talent and that that you could take it somewhere.
So even the nose, in a sense, if I heard
those kinds of nose, it wouldn't per se discourage me
totally because you know that it's not something I can change.
You can't change, like if you don't look edgy to them,
you don't look edgy to them. But I have nothing
to do with your dancing, So I would imagine that
(23:01):
didn't discourage you from continuing. I mean, it sucks. It sucks.
It was something that bothered me because I can't do
anything about this, and I wish I could have so,
but you know, it's part of the process, and it
created a gave me a thicker skin. And honestly, when
I got those experiences, when they came to me, because
I heard so many knows, the yes is meant so
(23:21):
much more. There's also these like two sides in the industry,
of in the dance industry specifically, of people who love
social media and people who hate it. And it's usually
the older generation that doesn't really love it, but for me.
In my eyes, I've always seen social media as a
business tool, as a way to express myself and connect
(23:44):
to people that I would never be able to without it.
And I you know, obviously it gets hard because sometimes
I'm in class and I'm like, oh, I really don't
think I did good, but I'm still getting called out
because they want me to be in this video, Like
I don't know, I other not go because I don't
want to be on tape today. I just want to train.
I want to feel always wondered about that. So I'm
(24:05):
gonna cut, I'm gonna rudely interrupt you. So I always
see these videos of like the playground is a playground
or wherever, and and there's one person dancing in the
front and then there's two in the back. Like this
is a really uneducated question. I'm not in this world.
Are you going to class that day not knowing that
they're going to put you on tape? And then they
(24:25):
put you on tape? How does that work? So basically,
you go to class and you have about an hour
or forty five minutes to an hour to learn the combo,
and then you kind of do it in groups and
focus on that and then they'll end up calling people out,
So you have no idea if you're going to get
called out, But is your goal to get called out
when you go to class. When I was younger, it
definitely was because at the time, it wasn't really about videos.
(24:47):
It was about like getting seen by people. And well,
I guess back in the day there was no social media,
it wasn't there wasn't a pressure to be like, I'm
gonna go to class today. It was just purely class.
Whereas now you go to class and you're like, my
outfit needs to be point, my makeup needs to be done,
because if they call me out, there's gonna be now
a video floating around exactly. And I think that's what
it's really hard with social media is some people don't
(25:09):
like that pressure. Some people don't want the camera and them.
They just want to train, They just want to be
there to learn. They want to be able to mess
up and not feel bad about it. They don't want
to put on this show, which I completely understand. And
I think there's definitely a balance and a lot of
people are like, oh, Jade only goes to the classes
that get filmed, But I'm like, now, if you think
about it. You don't know the classes that I go
to that aren't filmed because they're not filmed. How are
(25:31):
you balancing practicing and taking dance seriously and maybe going
pro and also taking school seriously as well. Well. At
the moment, we're both graduated from school. But at the
time it was tough, like separating dance and school and
also yeah, finding that balance, but we always like managed
(25:56):
to do it. And obviously school does come first, but
dances also our passion and our love. So it was
just really finding that balance between studying but then also
doing what we loved. And it's also just kind of
the idea of knowing that, like school is a priority,
so because dance is our passion, we kind of have
to make sure that we get the school thing done first,
(26:18):
and then you go into like moving with dancing, because
I feel like every time you decide to push school
away when you have to do it and you start
to kind of go into, you know, your passion, you're
always distracted by knowing that you still have to do school,
and like at a certain point, you know, so it
pulls away from that, you know, you giving that whenever
(26:39):
you are dancing. So for us, either for us when
we were on set or when we were rehearsing, or this, this,
and that. It was always just making sure that we
at least finished school. We at least had to finish
what we had to finish for school, and then we
can move on to you know, and in your mind
was what you had to finish, was high school for
you taking school less seriously just because you had this
(27:04):
career that you felt you could fall back on, or
was it the other way around where school was taken
really seriously because you never knew where dance would take you. Oh,
I felt like I knew where dance would take me.
I feel like I feel like in our case, I
feel like we we kind of looked at dancing as
like our guiding hand kind of thing, because I mean,
obviously we took school very seriously and at least for
(27:24):
me and my parents are very strict about making sure that, like,
you know, you had to finish this year firms that
otherwise you don't get to do this and that kind
of thing. So it was kind of like school was
my motivation. Would dance get taken away from you? You
think if you started slipping in school for sure? For sure,
for sure, I think for dancing, I just knew I
love to do it. So since we kind of already
(27:47):
dove our feet into like the real life world in
the industry and everything, I think that's just where our
paths are taking us. And at the moment, I don't
think like we want to study dance like at school,
because dance is more than just studying it. It's also
a feeling and it's something that makes you feel good,
(28:08):
it makes you who you are. Yeah, a lot of
people say that your real life experience always trump's right,
And I'm sure you guys are learning so much more
actually doing the routines and trying things out versus getting
it from a textbook or Yeah, I just feel like
the way that we approach dance isn't necessarily I guess
you could say, supported from like she said, textbooks and
(28:31):
from you know, certain limitations. I feel like for us,
we kind of look at it in a way where
we're driven from like she said, of feeling, rather than
it being a certain technique or a certain you know,
rule that you get from school. So you may not
necessarily have a specific brand, but you are absolutely authentic. Yeah,
(28:51):
I would say authentic unpredictable, unique, So does that work
against you do not have a specific brand, do you
think when it comes to booking where people I don't know.
I think it used to when I was just a dancer,
but I guess I just don't really give a shit anymore,
and I just do whatever I feel. And whenever I create,
(29:11):
it's not to fit a box or to fit or
to conform to the norm, or to seek validation or
an opportunity. I just kind of create to create, and honestly,
when it comes out of me organically like that, then
the opportunities and the blessings come. Because whenever I create
from a genuine place that comes to me like the
(29:32):
I don't know how to explain it, like whatever you
put out into the universe comes back full circle. I
don't know thing that I've realized if I'm putting something
out there that's not genuine and I have a plan,
like okay, I'm gonna this isn't me. But let's just
say I was like, Okay, this song is popular and
I want to choreograph for this artist, which is a
strategic plan. But I feel like if I went out
there with that intention, it wouldn't come back to me.
(29:53):
So I have to be inspired genuinely by whatever I'm doing.
It has to make sense to me, It has to
come from a place in my heart, whether it's it
makes me feel sexy or it gives me courage to
release that part of me. Then I feel like I
gain more out of it, and people in my audience
will believe it more. I am so grateful and there's never,
like any any situation that I'm not grateful for. And
(30:16):
but it's also important for me to showcase that it
isn't always easy, because a lot of people think that
these people have these lives that are so grand and like,
once you have this, once you achieve this, you're going
to be happy. But then once you have it, you're
not happy, and it's because you haven't really experienced the
whole journey of it. And there's always ups and downs.
This industry is really hard. It's not like a steady income.
(30:38):
It's always job to job to job. You never know
when you're going to book it, so it's it's very
high stress. And obviously I'm so thankful that I'm not.
I'm not working a job that I I don't love,
I don't love to do I'm fortunate that what I
do and what I make money from is something that
I do love. But it definitely is really hard and
it it's built are certain personalities that can can withstand it,
(31:03):
because it's as much as there's it's a small world
in a small industry. It's a very lonely industry. If
you come out here, especially from out of state, there's
you people come and go in your life because things
are always changing and people are always trying to be
something else or interests contrast or conflict with them. And
(31:23):
I've had so many people come in and out of
my life because not that I think I'm so successful,
but I think my my confidence in the fact that
I believe that whatever efforts I put in, I can
always make any outcome that I want. And I know
that one day I'm going to make it in how
I want to make it, and it's always up to me.
It has nothing to do with anybody else. And it's
(31:45):
it's very intimidating to see somebody who's confident in their
journey and confident in them and trying to love themselves.
Because if you don't feel that way, you you you
feel a little insecure about it. And it's hard to
watch your friends get your dream job. I get totally,
but it's always been something that I've had to really
seek out those people that are really going to support
(32:05):
me and love me in every circumstance. And it's been
hard because that sometimes I'm like, I don't want to
tell anybody that I got this because I don't. I
don't want them to feel bad, like even though this
is something I did work for, so it should be
something that I should celebrate and people should also celebrate
and instead of turn away from being inspired by And
I find myself constantly inspired by my friends and all
(32:27):
wakes of life, whether it be like my friends on
tour with jave Alvin right now, and she's traveling the world,
getting paid to travel the world and perform and do
what she loves and and to me, that's that's amazing.
That's living the life. That's one stepping stone closer to
what she wants to do. And it's just I want
everyone to really like feel the love in the support
(32:47):
in the community, because if we create a community, people
can grow so much easier. And there's not just one
spot at the top, there's room for everybody. And I
think that's something that people might think otherwise on but
I've seen so many people succeed and I see so
many people that put the work in. Might not come
when you want it to, but it always does come
(33:07):
in some shape or form that satisfaction, the success that
you always want. Where do you see that the careers
going And maybe you have the same vision, maybe you
have completely separate visions. Throughout the past things that we've
done together, we kind of realized that it was far
beyond dancing obviously, like we explained, and in order to
achieve that, it requires a lot of like acting, and
(33:29):
it requires a lot of like soul and requires a
lot of like heart into it. And so I definitely
hope for the next couple of years to kind of
just seek into creating certain projects, in certain films that
will have a wider reach of an audience the world
that that's much more than just dance, that that actually
(33:50):
may involve dialogue, that may involve lines that you will
need to say, and hopefully it happens in theaters and
that kind of idea. Obviously, dance requires a certain level
of acting, and I think that's where I kind of
grew the love of acting. From and to me, it's
not so much acting because I feel like it just
(34:13):
truly comes from a raw place. And I never like
when I dance or when I portray messages. I never
wanted to be portrayed as I'm portraying someone else. I
wanted to be that I'm portraying myself or someone else
through who I am as well, so it comes out
as real as possible. But when I do get older, obviously,
(34:35):
like I want to get more into the acting world,
and I think it's just really cool how you could
dive into different characters and really create something out of
the ordinary that you can't really do in reality. For me,
my goal is to be happy, but obviously there's career
goals that I would like to accomplish as well, And yeah,
(34:56):
I think it always changes. I think, what's your current
career goal? To be a lead in a movie, theater, movie,
so in a cinema that I mean, I think if
we were to look at the trajectory, it seems like
you're on that path. You really trying acting as a
whole another monster, Well, obviously you know what you're doing.
You wouldn't be booking series regulars. You would just be
(35:19):
you know, dancing is incredible, but you would just be
in that one lane. But you've kind of crossed over
into bringing two talents together, which and it's working for you, right.
And I think something that I've learned from being in
this industry and and because I started so young, I
think I'm starting other things young as well. I've really
seen that I can't just be a one trick pony.
(35:40):
I need to be an entrepreneur. I need to have
all of I want to be a business. I want
to I want to do all of these things before
everyone else thinks to do them. And I think that's
kind of what I've always tried to do, is to
step outside what the norm is and to do things
before other people do it too, maybe inspire people to
do the same thing. And for me, I am trying
to use my social media to actually promote positivity and
(36:04):
maybe address certain things that people my age might be
going through where people need to hear, or just little
tips and things that I've learned from my life. And
and when I do these selfless sundays, I don't actually
think I know everything, and it doesn't mean I'm always
great at the things I'm talking about, but I always
try to relate it to what's going on in my
life currently, just to make it something that other people
(36:25):
can relate to. So I want to start using my
success per se for inspiring other people. But then I'm
also working on being a choreographing my own things and
being a dancer in training, and then I also want
to be an actress and I want to do that.
And then I'm also integrating the fitness into me into
my lifestyle, and I have a fitness program that I've
(36:48):
been selling to people and helping transformations with that and
really learning about health. And I'm trying to manage my
money properly before you know, you never know what's going
to happen. And so that's why I really want to
utilize all the time that I have and and utilize
the materials that I have right now, because we we
don't know. Social media could die out, it could be
(37:10):
a MySpace thing and now it's not a big thing anymore.
And it's you're so evolved and already grasp that concept
because I think so many people and I hate saying influencer,
but if you're an influencer and you are one, you
have influence. It's just a fact. They think this is
forever and and they'll be and there's nothing's forever. So
(37:30):
you always have to think five steps ahead, and it
seems like you're doing that. I'm really lucky too, because
my family works with me on my business side. So
my older brother he kind of is like my personal manager,
and he's he's always been so intelligent and he's really
into business and marketing and stuff. So he's been really
guiding me and helping me with all these things. And
he always tells me that Jade, like, you can't just
(37:52):
be on on Instagram. You have to really project yourself
all over because once something's gone, like what's left? Will
you still be remembered without at So at this point,
you're what seventeen eighteen, You're dancing for other people, You're
loving life, you're getting some really great opportunities. When do
you switch hats and become a choreographer? At what point
(38:14):
did you decide that's the lane you were gonna drive
in for a while? I love this question. So I
was at a point I think I was nineteen, and
I took I think I was on my way back
from an audition. It was a Nicki Minaj audition, and
I remember we didn't even dance. I just had to
stand there in a thong and they had to just
(38:36):
look at my butt to see if it was stopped.
Like they made all of us turn around and they
all just stared at our butts. I think it was
like the Anacondom music I was I swear Baby Jesus.
I was about to say, don't tell me it was Antacon.
That's the only song I can imagine that they would
actually give a shit about your ass, not saying it's okay, right.
But I remember I was like thinking, when the hell
am I going to dance? When the hell are they
(38:57):
could ask me to answer, just like freestyle, when are
we learning choreography? And we didn't. We just stood there
and they just looked at our asses for the longest time.
And then I got cut. And I remember driving home
that they like, did they seriously just need me to
wear a thong and not dance? Like I literally just
went to an audition when I didn't show my talent
and it was only about how big my ass was
and how firm it looked. And I got cut, and
(39:18):
so I just got really discouraged. And not only was
I discouraged. I also, it lit a fire under my
ass and I was like, you know what, I've got
to create my own opportunities. I've worked too hard. I
know so many amazing dancers who are so talented and
can create their own opportunities, So why can't I do
that for myself? And so the day that I decided
(39:39):
to open up my own doors and create my own lane,
that was when my whole life changed. I took advantage
of my social media, took advantage of my my potential,
and I just completely started from the bottom and I
worked my way up. I started teaching little kids, I
started sharing my experience in the industry with them, and
I realized that I have a passion for people and
(40:01):
helping others throughout my passion of dance. So I started
teaching and choreographing more, realizing that I had this burning
desire to create because I always was an assistant. I
was a dancer that learned choreography. I was always like
this robot that learned choreo. I paid my dues, earned
my stripes of being a professional dancer. And then I realized, wow,
I want to create. I can make up choreography, I
(40:25):
can do concept videos. I believe that one day I
could choreograph for artists, and then I just decided to
go for it, and I made a lot of people
upset by doing that. I remember there were some mentors
of mine that were like, why are you what? Why
are you transitioning into choreography when you should still be auditioning,
you should still be assisting. And I remember thinking, why
(40:46):
would my mentors not want me to spread my wings
and fly? There's definitely power in social media. I'm sure
you guys both know that already. I'm sure you can
book jobs over other people because of the millions of
followers you both have between than yourselves. I think the
biggest like thing about social media, and I usually say this,
is that it's like, it's obviously one of the greatest
(41:09):
things ever, but it's also one of the most dangerous
things ever, you know, because what you put out is
how Yeah, what you put out is forever, and it's
what people hold against you and what people use for
certain gigs and everything like that. But I think the
biggest thing is when you do get a certain job
(41:30):
based off of who you are on social media, is
that you almost have to prove to your like at least,
you almost have to prove to yourself that when you're
doing a certain gig, it's not coming from it's not
only coming from who you are on social media, but
it's coming from what you're actually capable of. Yeah, I
feel like social media has definitely impacted our career so
(41:52):
much because, honestly, without it, I don't think anyone would
really truly understand the dance industry like all at all,
because most of our resumes are on YouTube or on Instagram.
And I think that's one of like the more positive
sides of it, is that we get to share with
so many people what we love to do, and if
(42:14):
they love it as well, that's like a bigger plus.
But for us, whenever we post something, it's because we
truly love it and we truly think it represents who
we are, and that's why we use social media the
way that we do. Um, we don't use it to
get clout, as as people say, I hate that if
(42:35):
I could never hear get clout ever, but like we
use it to just show who we are, and social
media has grown so much and I feel like so
many people are more aware of dance now than they
were years ago. And that's one of the coolest parts
(42:57):
because dance has become incredibly huge around the world, and
it's a form of communication in a way, people communicate
through dance through their bodies, and that's really really cool.
Brings people closer from all over the world. One thing
that I've always believed was that I have the power
(43:17):
to create or manifest any opportunity or any job or
any goal in my life. And I've always really tried
to hold onto that most importantly, I didn't want to
change who I was, and I think I was raised
an amazing way. And shout out to my family because
they always taught me that it doesn't matter how much
you have or where you're at in life, like down
(43:39):
to the tea, like it matters if you're a good person.
And I think when you have good karma, good karma
comes out into the world and you get you get
gifts and and success is back because what you put
out is what you always get back. And yeah, you
always see those people you're like, they don't deserve that,
Like they didn't even work hard, they're not even a
good person. But ultimately, it doesn't really matter what everybody
else is doing. And That's something that I definitely had
(44:00):
to learn, and I think that's helped me gain the
success that I have is to not be too involved
in everyone else's successes or opinions. So what advice would
you give someone who wants to be the next Jade?
For me, I think what has actually really like set
me apart is I really embrace the story of it.
(44:22):
Because people don't want to just watch for entertainment. They
want to feel something. That's ultimately what we do. We
do everything to feel something, We eat to feel full,
we watch certain things to get a certain emotion out.
And for me, I really embraced the storyline of it.
And I think what has set me apart from maybe
other dances. And I can't really speak for everybody else
(44:43):
because I don't know what they're thinking when they're dancing,
but I'm really trying to be like honest when I'm dancing,
and whether that's like a fun dance, I'm trying to
tap into that a great memory or something like that.
And for me, I never just put out content because
I need it. I really want it to be because
I'm inspired by it or I feel like it could
help somebody, and I don't just take classes that are
(45:05):
because they're filmed. Like I'll take certain classes that I
really enjoy and I connect with and I can learn
something from. So I think that the difference between I
don't know, it's hard because there's so many amazing dancers
that deserve all the light and but you're definitely different.
You're definitely I mean, there's a difference between you and
(45:26):
a lot of the dancers. There's a reason why you're
getting booked on things that others aren't. And I'm not
knocking anyone, but there's something. I honestly think it's that
I'm not trying to be anybody else. Yeah, you're super authentic.
I mean it it comes across in all of your content.
You're never trying to be the cool girl, which I
really know what you are, but you are. I think
(45:47):
that's what's so cool about you. I saw so cool Amelia,
Like no, but like seriously, I think that's what people
really love, authenticity and you can't fake that. And I
think with social media there's like a certain stigma that
you have to be something, you have to be a
certain person to be a social media influencer or what
(46:08):
do you think that person is that people think they
have to think you have to be perfect. They don't
want to see that you're silly. They want to see
that you have you're pretty, and you're always put together
and you you only do this. And there's certain lanes
like I'm the funny person or I'm that pretty person,
or I'm this person, or I'm the you know, like
there's so many different categories. But like I think I'm
all of those things combined, and I can be all
(46:29):
of those things combined. And and I did realize for
a while that after my videos were posted, like I
have this alter ego when I dance. I call her
j A. It's not actually Jade because I get really
serious when the music comes on because I'm so inspired
by music. I love music, and that's why I think
I love dancing so much, is because I love the
feeling that I get when listening to it, and I
(46:50):
want to portray that with movement. You've done choreography for
so many people. Do you have a favorite. It's hard
to say. Wow, I really really love to Nash. I
love to Nash. She inspires me so much and she's
a dancer. To Nash was a very first artist that
(47:11):
ever gave me a chance as a choreographer. She found
me on Instagram, which is so funny because she never
would have found me if I didn't create my own
social media and utilize my platform. You know, my my
classes were my home, and it was what I love
to do. I love to choreograph film. I put it
on YouTube inspire people, and then organically to Nase saw
my work and she hit me up one day, She's like, Hey,
(47:33):
Jojo Gomez, do you want to chorey off my next
music video. I thought it was a joke. I couldn't
believe it. I will say I didn't realize how big
the world of dance was on Instagram until we started
booking people for this show. I'm like, oh my god.
There are so many dancers on Instagram who have millions
and millions of followers, and every day or every other day,
(47:54):
it seems like they're putting out top, very top quality
dance videos on their Instagram or on their YouTube. Not
all of them have as many followers as you, but
people are taking it really seriously and they have a
ton of followers. So how did she find you in
this sea of dancers and choreographers? Honestly, I was very
(48:14):
consistent with my content on my social media because I
feel like dance has become so universal now because of
social media, and now dancers are treating their instagrams as
their resumes and almost like an opportunity for potential work.
So the more that you post and the more consistent
that you are with it, the more that these you know, executives, directors,
(48:36):
these artists will be able to find you and see
your work. Because back then it was more about word
of mouth to get hired or to go to auditions
and then get validated. But now you can have control
of your own platform, in your own artistry and talents,
and you can get recognized just based off of that,
And I think that's so fly, and that's what I
(48:57):
was doing. I was just having fun with my social media,
being very consistent, believing in my art and putting it
out there in an authentic way. And then that was
read by to Nash. I was just uploading a whole
bunch of videos to her songs, and she saw it
and she thought my work was really dope, and she
hit me up asking me to choreograph her next music video.
And honestly, if I sat around and just prayed for it,
(49:19):
and I just went about it the cookie cutter route,
waiting for it and waiting for my mentor to tell
me when it was the right time, or your manager
to book the job, or your agent to find the opportunity. Yeah.
If I, if I wasn't my own boss, and if
I wasn't my own entity to Nash, I wouldn't have
reached out to me. What advice would you, guys give
someone who wants to follow in your footsteps a young dancer.
(49:39):
Maybe a lesson you learned along the way that you
wish you had known, or something that you just have
done the whole way through. Yeah, honestly, the main thing.
I know everyone says it, but it's just too continue
to stay true to who you are, because the moment
you try to be someone else, no one's gonna want
(49:59):
to listen to what you have to say. Everyone is
put on this earth for a reason, and everyone has
their different reason and different paths, And I think it's
really important too, Uh, just be who you are and
not care what anybody else thinks, because as long as
you're happy and you're doing what you love to do,
(50:20):
that's that's all that really, truly matters whatever you're doing anything,
either if it is sports, if it's dancing, if it's singing,
if it's acting, if you don't truly love it, then
it's never gonna last. I feel like I feel like
you have to continue with a certain passion in a
(50:40):
certain love that comes from yourself. You can't expect it
from anyone else. So you have to truly love something
in order to continue it and pursue it. Because I
feel like I live by this. Where you know, where
there is love, there is life. So I just feel
like thinking about that when it comes to dancing, when
(51:00):
it comes to just being with people, that's where you
truly discover success. That was really good advice from both
of you. Thank you for sharing those nuggets of wisdom,
and obviously you guys are living it. You're not just
saying it because it's quote worthy. I feel like throughout
this entire interview, the common thread has been authenticity, and
both of you have done that. It's worked in your favor,
(51:23):
It's going to continue to work in your favorite Big
big things are happening. Call me when you go to
the oscars, you actually get the little people come here
so I can just look at the statue, but we
really appreciated having you guys here. You make sure you
definitely stop by. I guess I have a feeling this
(51:43):
is not the last we're going to be here. Yeah,
all right, We'll have a good rest of the day.
We hope you guys enjoyed this interview. Make sure to
check out Casey and Shawn's YouTube channel. Okay together. I'm
sure they'll be on fifty other music videos, shows and
films at your local theater, so just you know, anywhere
you want to look, they'll be there, all right, by guys.
(52:06):
I'm scared for our future, but you give me a
little bit of hope. Thank you. I'm trying, but yeah,
so congrats on everything you have going on. Make sure
you come back in a year when you've booked that
like next Avengers when they decide to redo it even
though they said they wouldn't, and they will, and you'll
be the leader, I hope. So but yeah, thank you
so much for stopping by. And I mean, I feel
(52:26):
like we're just so much. Yea, I talked a lot,
but it was good, like a different no, No, it
was a gift from God, like so many good nuggets,
lots of good content. We hope you guys enjoyed. Jade
say your last name for us? One more? Did you
get that? Guys? It's chinof don't mess it up on
my watch? All right. We'll see you guys next time
(52:48):
or listener here. I don't even know. I'm so not
used to not being on camera. I'm like, I'll see you,
but but I won't see you anyway. Bye. Be you
love the ups and the downs, and just keep your
head up high and just go forwa. I love that
you have so many big things going on in your life.
Please come back when you do that. Billie Eilish collab.
(53:10):
So I'm just gonna put it out there. You're both
going to sit across because I selfishly would love to
interview her too. So if we're going to do a
fun interview all three of us next time, I think
it's gonna happen. Hey, we're putting it out there right
all right, guys, So next time JoJo's here shall be
with Billie Eilish. Thank you so much for stopping by.
I'm really excited to continue to follow your journey. I
(53:33):
know big, big things or whatever you decide to do
is around the corner. So thank you so much. Yeah,
we'll see you guys next time. Jojo go, Thank you bye.
Behind the Influence as a production of I Heart Radio
and t DC Media
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