#38: Yerson Ochoa - Authenticity in Friendship, How to Improve Your Dancing, and the Dark Side of Content Creation - One Thousand Gurus Podcast

Episode Transcript
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J.R. (00:00):
Hello everyone and welcome back to another fun and wild
episode of 1000 Gurus with me,your host, jr Yonacruz.
Today's guest is a repeat guest, yersin Ochoa, who was the
fourth guest on season one ofthis show.
So Yersin is quite literallyone of the most talented dancers
I know, specializing in a lotof different styles actually, if

(00:21):
you check out his Instagram,you'll see of different styles
actually, if you check out hisInstagram, you'll see and he is
a sought-after teacher andchoreographer mostly in the
SoCal area, including and notlimited to, sml Studio in Irvine
, epicenter Arts andEntertainment in Torrance, yg
Dance Studio in San Gabriel andMovement Lifestyle in Burbank.
So I was happy to have Yersoncome back as a return guest
because not only was he one ofthe first guests on the show,

(00:43):
but he's also a close personalfriend of mine and, like I
mentioned, one of the mosttalented dancers that I know.
I'm also glad that we got into avery technical discussion about
dance something that I haven'tdone before on this show,
despite having about 99% of myguests being dancers and he even
fielded some questions from hisstudents from his Instagram on
how to improve as a dancer.
We also talk about balancing anart form you love, like dance

(01:06):
as a profession, the power ofbuilding your community, the
effect of social media oncontent creators and our own hot
takes on fake friends.
This was kind of a hybridrandom show and standard show,
but hopefully you guys willenjoy the listen as much as I
did.
So, without further ado, hopeyou enjoy this episode with
Yerson Ochoa.

Yerson (01:30):
Hello, everyone, and welcome back to 1000 Gurus.
Please welcome back my guestYerson Ochoa.

J.R. (01:39):
Hi guys.
Hello, I'm back.
He's back, I promise it.
Yes, he is, he did.
He's one of the few guests whohave a part two.
So, as we were talking aboutthis before, actually, yerson
and I just came back from thegym.

Yerson (01:45):
Yeah, yeah.

J.R. (01:47):
Because he's trying to hurt his body, just like his
soul.
Yeah, it has to match.

Yerson (01:51):
It has to match.

J.R. (01:51):
It doesn't have to be you can't feel good physically and
bad emotionally.
You got to make them align.

Yerson (01:56):
Make them together.

J.R. (01:57):
Yeah, which is Actually the opposite way, don't you want
to grow?

Yerson (02:02):
Yeah, I wanted to grow because I want to bring myself
back up, not down.
It's not like I'm trying tomake me feel bad and trying to
make me feel better.

J.R. (02:11):
Yeah, workout is a good thing.
Yeah, no, it is, and it's fine.
We were talking about it beforebecause we were just catching
up.
I don't know when's the lasttime we hung out.
And hung out, do you remember?
Not really, Because we see eachother here and there, but not
like hang out, hang out.

Yerson (02:24):
Yeah, it's different.
It's totally different,especially because when you are
with your friends or your socialcircle, you are more like a
father, so you're like takingcare of everything.
So barely we talk, we don't sitdown and talk.

J.R. (02:36):
Yeah, no, it's not like that.
Plus, our schedules aredifferent because obviously I
work during the day and then atnight I'm more freeish, except
for when I'm doing dance stuff.
But you teach mostly eveningafternoon, right?

Yerson (02:46):
yeah, so like it doesn't really line up yeah, but it's
not just you, bro, like for real, it don't have social.
I mean, I have friends, butit's most of it.
I see them because I'm dancing,so like, okay, let's talk, but
it's not like I make plans withone, one person.

J.R. (03:02):
Yeah, that makes sense because it's like when we're in
our routine, in our life, thepeople were around.
It's easier to just connectwith them because we're already
there, whereas, like you and I,we kind of have to make effort
to schedule something and stufflike that.

Yerson (03:12):
So it makes sense.
Who wants to do that?
Yeah, exactly.
Why don't I hang out with you,oh yeah, yeah.

J.R. (03:16):
So it was good we're catching up and we realized or
at least I realized thateveryone is going through their
own problems.

Yerson (03:23):
Bro, I don't know if this year or this is about five
years before, everybody's havingso much problems, yeah, yeah.

J.R. (03:30):
I think, when you take a step back and look at everything
, we all always go throughproblems at one phase or another
, and I think sometimes it'smore obvious than others.
But you know, no one's life'sperfect, but we all try to work
through it.
So maybe it's a reminder formyself just to have compassion,
because everyone's problems aredifferent, like the examples we
were talking about.
Everyone has problems, butthey're all different areas.

(03:52):
Everyone has differentstrengths, different comforts,
but everyone has differentproblems.
So what I was thinking wassometimes you might look at
someone else's life on socialmedia or your friends and think,
wow, I would really love tohave their life.
But think about it because theirlife might look great on social
media or your friends and think, wow, I would really love to
have their life.
But think about it because youdon't know you might.
Their life might look great onsocial media or whatever, but
they have a lot of problems thatyou don't know about and I

(04:13):
doubt that you would ever wantto trade your life for theirs,
because I think about that too.
My life isn't always great, butI know that.
I think I wouldn't want totrade my life for someone else's
, even if it it looks great onpaper, because they have their
own issues they have to dealwith.
So I would second guess or justthink about that.

Yerson (04:29):
Well, it's just a media problem too.
Come on, you cannot trusteverything that you watch.
It's a page where you show whatyou like to share.
Who does want to sharesomething that you don't look
good on?
It's kind of annoying.
There's people also like I lookgood on it.
It's kind of annoying.
There's people also like Idon't feel like post anything
because I don't look good.
I'm like, yeah, but what if youjust share moments that you're

(04:50):
just having fun?
You don't have to look good andit's kind of fake though, like
yeah, so don't believe nothing.
And I feel like I'm talkingabout problems.
Right, it's different problemsfor everybody, but also it's the
pain of the person how they candeal those problems.
Right, because for me, for you,relationship problems it could
be something that you haveexperience with, but put it on

(05:10):
myself, I'm not saying this isthe case it's an example.
I don't have so much energy, toomuch knowledge about it, so my
experience is none.
It's gonna take a while to getused to it and deal with it and
it's so much pressure on my headand it's so much to carry on.
But it doesn't have to be justrelationships and it can be in
any kind of topic and that's theproblem.
So you will say, but this iseasy, why are you having too

(05:33):
much problems with it?
Come on, don't compare it likethat.

J.R. (05:37):
You know it's kind of hard to you can't compare it.

Yerson (05:46):
No, you're going to compare.
You can, relate it, you canrelate but you can't compare.

J.R. (05:50):
That's why I try to listen and be like, okay, obviously I
can't relate.
In that sense it's like I'mgoing through the same thing.
But I can empathize and I knowthat that problem is hard for
you, even though if I were inthat situation maybe I think, oh
, that's easy for me, if I wereto go through that I could
handle it.
So it's one of those things yougot to consider.
It's hard, yeah, problems.
Anyways yeah, so that was agreat intro, so hopefully it

(06:14):
sets the tone.
Hopefully you guys aren't toodepressed and just clicking off
of this, but here's my warm-upquestion that I told you.
Sorry, I my one more questionfor you.

Yerson (06:28):
This is an easy softball , but should people get tattoos
of a significant other?
I did not thought that you'regoing to have the guts to say
that.
Okay, okay, I'll shut up.

J.R. (06:35):
What are your thoughts on getting tattoos with your
girlfriend or boyfriend,significant other?
What do you have?
Any thoughts?
I don't have tattoos.
It's really cute.
You think it's cute?

Yerson (06:43):
It's cute.
I mean it's cute.
I got the idea, I got it.
You feel like it's the love.
You feel like you love them.

J.R. (06:49):
It's going to last forever .
It's going to last forever, butyou never know.

Yerson (06:52):
You never know.
I guess you don't put the dothat.
That's why I do tattoos.
I would do it for my parentsmaybe my mom Elsa?

J.R. (07:09):
No, I don't know, no, no, I wouldn't do it.
So what are your future tattoos?
Do you have any ideas oranything that you want to get?

Yerson (07:16):
Tattoos for me is really important because sometimes
it's like a mark on my body.
I feel like my body is like abook, so I'm trying to put
tattoos that he actually havethe same meaning of my life, my
book, my life, right, so thetattoos that I have, all of them
has a meaning or all of theyhas a vibe.
So there are reason.
What is there?
So I guess this tattoo, too, islike very important for me too.

(07:37):
So I don't see a lot of badthing.
Yeah, okay, we didn't lastforever, but it's a good thing.
I think maybe I can decorate itor do something different to
make it more mine, but it's agood thing.
I think maybe I can decorate itor do something different to
make it more mine, but it'sstill part of my life and I feel
like people gotta understandthat.
It's true, that makes sense.
Even the relationships withinthat doesn't last forever.
It gives you so much knowledgeabout life and how to deal with
problems.
So in the moment that you thinkyou're trying to okay, I'm

(07:59):
gonna pretend that it neverappeared, it never, it would
never happen there's when you'reactually coming back to the
same problem.
So it's like you're so you'renot learning.
You're not learning.
Yeah, you're not appreciatingthings.
So you're never going toappreciate something when it's
in your face.
If you couldn't appreciate thepast, how do you want to
appreciate the present?
It's no sense.
So I really appreciate personsbeing in my life, and even the

(08:21):
relationships are gone.
I always think the best part ofthose.
So I'm like carrying all thisgood energy from the back to
myself, and also the bad thingswhy not?
But more as lessons.
Right, I cannot be like that.
I cannot be like this.
I cannot be like that.
I know when I'm out of theplate.
I know when I'm the problem.
I learn how to be okay with it.

(08:42):
So I guess like a tattoo bro islike the minimum problem.
Meanwhile, it's not a name.
Don't do the name.

J.R. (08:49):
Don't put names on your body.

Yerson (08:50):
My brother did it, oh really oh sorry, brother, like
he doesn't speak english, mybrother did it, bro, my brother
did it, and he has to pay foranother big tattoo and whole
chest because it was a wholename right here.

J.R. (09:01):
Yeah, toxic girl hate it okay, so you dodged that you
learned from your brother don'tput a name yeah, gotcha there's
a name.
It's funny because the questionstarted off as a joke, but now I
think there's a good idea there, because there's this idea of
relationships or whatever.
You know how some people arevery they don't want to let go

(09:22):
of a relationship, even if it'stime to move on.
Next chapter, turn the pageright.
It's hard, so I get that.
But what I try to think about is, even though this chapter is
done and this person is not inyour life, and even though you
want to hold on to that person,because you feel like if I let
them go, then it feels like awaste, but I'm thinking, no,
it's not a waste, because, likea tattoo, that person had an

(09:44):
impression on you that you cannever really erase unless you
wipe your memory right.
It's changed you, you've grownfrom it, you learn from your
mistakes, you move forward, andso you can appreciate that time
you spent with that person orthat friendship or whatever, and
you can appreciate how you'vegrown from it.
But you don't need to pretendlike it didn't happen and you

(10:04):
don't need to like not regretthe mistakes that you did,
because that's what life is allabout, and I think that's a good
point because, yeah, we allhave friends or exes that are
not in our lives anymore, but itdoesn't mean you need to
pretend they don't exist.
You can never talk to thembecause that chapter is closed
and you don't need to have themmoving forward, but that doesn't
mean you need to hold on to thepast.

Yerson (10:22):
Yeah, right, it's like a .
It's a balance.
Right, it's a balance.
Of course.
Yeah, you want to set theboundaries Right, but that
doesn't mean that the boundariesmean by.
I never knew you about you, Idon't know you.

J.R. (10:33):
You're erasing them from your life.
No, I think it's fine totogether in the present, or
we're not friends in the presentand we will never be friends in
the future.
But I still appreciate, maybe,yeah, but I still appreciate
that we had a past together andI can take that, and now that is
part of who I am right yeah,yeah, I changed a lot.

Yerson (10:54):
Every relationship that I had.
I changed a lot.
I got better, I got worse.
It hurt me.
Why not?
I got hurt, I hurt people.
It's, I guess, like everybodymakes mistakes.
Everybody, like, do things goodand bad, and sometimes that's
also not easy to relate it,because for you it could be good
but for that person it could bebad, or vice versa, that you

(11:15):
did something bad for thatperson but in the end it's
something that she needs to growon.
Like you were too honest withthat person, you hurt her.
You think, like you did bad butthat person need to know it and
that person now got betterbecause that, so it ended up
being something good even thoughit looks bad.
Does that make sense?

J.R. (11:31):
like it's like kind of what is good, what is bad
whatever, yeah, yeah, you know,no one's trying to hurt each
other intentionally, but if youdo get hurt, it's part of life
to learn and grow and get betterfrom it.
You know what I'm?
Yeah, cool, all right, we havea few topics, even though this
is more of a sort of random showfocused on yours I'm gonna say
this podcast for me.

Yerson (11:52):
Yeah, there you go.
Now it's mine, 1000 gurus withyours, and there you go.
Good luck, man, good luck.

J.R. (11:58):
So the first breath so the first one is basically being a
teacher or dancing as a job.
You talked about this being oneof the things you wanted to
talk about.
So I guess the main idea isbalancing it.
As someone who dancesprofessionally, as a teacher, as
a career and both of us aredancers that we enjoy as an art
form.
But how do you see balancing itversus enjoying something?

(12:21):
But then when it becomes a jobjob, when your art that you
enjoy, now you have to work atit and it pays your bills
sometimes we find that it burnsus out it's stressing.

Yerson (12:31):
It's stressing, though, like even because I thought in
my city it was the dance or theart industry is really bad paid.
Here is also, though, like hereis just a base of lucky, like
you can have the best gig ever,but you, at the same time, you
can have some good gigs with nopayment.
So it's a lot of luckiness andalso a lot of hard work for
yourself.
When it gets you in an agencyis great, but just teaching bra.

(12:53):
Like it's a lot to take care of, like I depend on myself, I had
to pay or I had to make the.
All the commercial publicitypublicity about my classes,
advertising, share, invitepeople and everything, and that
thing.
All the commercial publicitywhat did you say?
Publicity about my classes,advertising, share, invite
people and everything and thatthing is hard.
Creating a public is hard,unless you are already famous,
but it's another story.

(13:13):
But all that effort isstressing.
It's very.
We're not, and sometimes it'seven harder for me to catch up
on all these new technology, newpages, new social medias and
stuff, and I personally don'tlike it.
I don't like to use socialmedia, but I need to.
It's my job.
Right, these were not, butsomething that still forces me

(13:34):
or not forces me because it'snot forcing, but something that
helps me to go through it is thefact that I don't force myself
to do things that I don't wantto.
When I'm teaching, even if it'sa bad day, I actually show my
bad day like I use the class toshow that our days are not just

(13:55):
like happiness, beautiful andblah blah, and I always be open,
honestly.
My students will be like I'mnot having a good day.
Sorry guys, I won't try my best, but let's see what's happening
and I have the best luck everbecause all my students has that
energy.
They have the feedback to megreat and so I can go through it

(14:16):
and in the end I get someenergy back so I can keep going.
But to balance all this stuffis, first of all, don't think
that all your classes has to beperfect, because there's classes
when I also was like what am Idoing?
I'm really dizzy, I don't getthe things done and like my mind

(14:38):
is not working, but it's notthe worst of the day, it's not
the end of the day.
You can have another day.
It's like actually end of theday.
You can have another day.
It's like actually another kindof job.
There's moments when you donothing, there's moments when
you have to do everything andthere's when you hate it.
But this is the difference.
Like, I love to do this and Ichoose to do this right, I did
it before my first time that Iburned out and I actually

(14:59):
stopped teaching and crashed out.
It stop teaching and crash out.
It was when I was in Peru.
I was doing everything, I wastrying to keep in control
everything.
I wanted to make sure that allmy students are learning
something, all my students arepracticing and training and
feeling better, and it was somuch responsibility on me of
people's mind and it's somethingthat you cannot control.

(15:20):
So once I learned to let it go.
There is when I'm doing my bestfrom my side and if they take
it, great.
And there's when, actually,because you share it you're an
artist, so you share.
When you're teaching, you shareyour problems, you share your
anger, you share you fake,because you also trying to
pretending to be nice,pretending to be happy when

(15:40):
you're not.
That's also a lot of bad thing.
So all this is draining on yourbody, like on your mind and
your emotions.
So once that you let it go andyou're very honest in your
classes, like the classes startbeing more by your side, more on
your side.
It's less, less, less energy toput on like being happy all the
time.
That's how I deal with it.
That's how I deal with it.

(16:01):
I'm being honest with mystudents, I'm being honest with
my classes and and I forcemyself to stand up in front of
people and don't try to controltheir minds and always giving
suggestions like guys, is thisclass too hard or too slow?
Just let me know.
And we work through it.
So it makes the class, and Ithink, the community too, more

(16:25):
grateful and they in the end,give me that energy.
For example, now I need LatelyI have some students who came
with me like they know that Ihave to teach 12 pm and
sometimes I don't take abreakfast or I eat something and
they bring me food.
Damn, that made my whole day.
Like I can keep teaching.
Now it's amazing.

(16:45):
So I feel like the rightcommunity always comes when
you're also being real.
So I tried my, I forced myselfto be real this time and not
pretend that I'm the bestteacher ever or undo everything
perfect, because that's when youstress out the most, when you
work, trying to pretend that youare the best dancer, best
teacher, and you ended up beingtired, and then you hate it.
And then, what am I teaching?
What am I dancing?
I don't want to do this.

J.R. (17:11):
I'm faking boom stress, so that's how I do it.
Yeah, it helps him for nowbeing helping me, like being
authentic, basically beingauthentic, and then that
community, like you said,reflects back or gives back to
you because you've yeah, you putso much into your community,
your students and everything,and so it's nice to have that
feeling of now that I need someenergy back.

Yerson (17:25):
They're more than happy to give you that energy and
support you as well it'sbeautiful, though the whole
support that they've been doingto me lately is is sometimes I
cry, bro.
Sometimes I like even theparents of those little students
comes to me and give me aletter and like it feels great.
It feels great.
So thank you guys.
Yeah, you're watching,listening to it like thank you

(17:47):
so much, like for real students,yeah love it cool, so we have
also some questions.

J.R. (17:53):
Dance tips, since you are the best teacher in the whole
world, so why you do that to mebro we have some questions for
you from your students and fromsome people online, so I guess
these are kind of technicalright, not necessarily
emotionally deep, but we'llstart with the first one.
So, as a student, how do youdance sharper and cleaner and

(18:15):
then add facials?
How do you approach that?

Yerson (18:17):
Okay, I'm bad at facials .
I'm also bad at facials.
If you're looking at me, you'regoing to see my face in the
whole program.
It's not a good facial.

J.R. (18:29):
Like officials.
If you're looking at me, you'regonna see my face in the whole
program.

Yerson (18:32):
It's not a good picture, like I'm trying my best to look
good on camera.
Okay, I'm still check out hisinstagram and see if he's lying.
See, okay, there is a video ofme.
It's like that.
But b1 harmony it take me like30 videos to do it for myself,
because the song, thechoreography, has a part where
you gotta get close to thecamera and do something very
cringy.
I'm not a cringy person.
I'm trying social media, I'mtrying, but I was so hard like
I'm so shy right there.

(18:53):
But for being sharp and clean ismuscle memory and also a lot of
training.
It's not just that your body doyou think that your body is
ready for all of that?
But actually, even if you'restrong or not, or your body's
weak, you need the muscle memoryand the muscle be trained so
you can drill the choreographyas much as you want and make

(19:14):
sure that your lines and yourpictures that you want to keep
clean are clean.
Or start workout, especiallyworkout something in a way not a
normal gym, more like a danceworkout Conditioning
Conditioning, because thatactually helps those muscles to
remember.
It's just muscle memory.
So it's, for example, that'swhat I really admire ballet

(19:38):
dancers, because it's a trainingthat you don't do like just a
year, it's five, six years whenyou're young.
So your muscle retain all theselines and your muscle itself is
made for dance, like same forother kind of disciplines, but
this is a more common, like amore strict one.
So, yeah, and I would say, ifyou want to be sharp, you're
going to clean, conditioning,workout, patience, slow marks,

(20:02):
super slow marks, super slowmarks.
Try to understand the picturesthat you want to Watch.
Use the mirror a lot, becauseyour brain can think that your
hand is in the right place butit's not until you see it on the
video or in the mirror.
So you got to be careful withthose stuff.
Like it's a muscle memory, ithas to hurt.
It has to hurt.
Sorry.

(20:22):
What about facials and facial?
I feel this is not for me.
My friend he actually told melike when I was taking pictures
of myself, I suck, but I got tolike training.
It is also muscle, like allyour face has a lot of muscles.
So you gotta practice that.
Photos of yourself, take a lotof photos of yourself, videos.

(20:43):
Try to look at the camera allthe time.
Try to imagine myself.
I imagine a person on thecamera and I try to connect with
that person.
Okay, so you got to dominatethe camera.
You cannot let the camera, like, intimidate you or make you shy
.
It's hard, I'm still dealingwith it, but this is what I'm
doing.
If it helps, let me know,because I'm trying, because I'm

(21:05):
trying, I'm trying I like thattoo.

J.R. (21:07):
That was one of the challenges for me when I was
going from performance dancingto k-pop, because it's now
people and now it's a camera,and so learning how to dance for
the camera, pretending likeit's a real person, is so
difficult, because I can dancein front of a person and look at
them and make and perform tothem and they like, oh, shoot,
it's so intense.
For me that's fun.

(21:28):
When it's a camera, it's just adead piece of it's like a
technology, it's just an emptyshell.
So I'm like, okay, what am Ilooking at a lens?
And so for me it took a lot ofeffort to try to pretend in.

Yerson (21:40):
I always get distracted.
When I'm filming in public andstuff.
I try to my best to look at thecamera, but there is moments
when I actually look at thepeople behind because I'm also
like a father.
Like I have the father vibes,so I'm making sure that all
surrounding is safe.
So if something happens, Igotta be wake up, sorry awake to
react right away, while you'redancing.

J.R. (22:00):
While I'm dancing, the heck.
Yeah.
You're like, oh, I'm looking,so looking out, see, I'm usually
supporting so I can look at allof our stuff and everything
like that.
But when I'm like, obviouslyI'm not dancing, so I can look
out for everyone, but if I'mdancing, oh, that's tough adhd,
adhd.

Yerson (22:16):
There you go.
Like you're in focus, you'redancing.
Yeah, that's when I do mistakes, sorry there you go.

J.R. (22:21):
Next question is how do you have more energy?

Yerson (22:27):
We come back to the gym, I really feel like start the
day with something like moving,like something like an exercise.
It wakes all your body up.
So then you just keep going.
Eat healthy.
I'm a fruit person.
I don't eat candies or all thestuff.
Maybe Gatorade is my onlyaddiction, my only sugar is I

(22:51):
always drink that thing.
But fruit is really good.
Having a good diet helps a lot.
Having also a training moment,it helps a lot, and if you come
to my classes, you notice that Ialso warm up and sometimes I
warm up a lot.
If you come to my classes, younotice that I also warm up and
sometimes I warm up a lot, oryou are already sweating.
When you warm up, it's becauseI actually wants to wake up my
body too.
Sometimes I have to wait, waitin the car like an hour and a

(23:13):
half while I'm driving, so mybody's dead.
So I start the class withsomething a little bit intense,
that way I can wake up.
So stretch or warm up and startwith all of that.
You create a habit and yourbody start like feeling this
momentum and you just keep goinguntil you rest.

(23:34):
Because actually when you'regonna rest, rest, rest, you're
resting for two days, three days.
You feel lazy again.
Like what am I so tired?
Come back to move.

J.R. (23:43):
I guess that's what helps me yeah, I think for people who
are just starting dance, you'dbe surprised that the dancers at
the highest levels, who havecrazy energy and stamina, they
are very intentional with takingcare of their health and
conditioning and training andcardio and everything.
You'd be surprised that they'reactually they treat their
bodies like they're athletes andthat's how they can dance crazy

(24:05):
like that.
We're athletes bro.

Yerson (24:06):
Yeah, we are exactly so, if you're approaching it and I
get it.

J.R. (24:09):
If you're new, you just started dancing, you're taking
your since class, you're like,oh, I'm always so gassed out and
winded right.
But you have to realize thatpeople like your sin and other
people.
They treat their bodies likeathletes.
They have to rest, they have totrain, they have to do cardio.
Yeah, have to rest more restmore.
Eat.
Yeah, exactly, eat.
Well, it's funny because Idon't think most of them are
gonna listen to this, but so Iagain, I dance on a team.

(24:30):
They're all college students,so they're like 12 plus years
younger than me.
They're like, consistently,most of them gas out really fast
, they get tired, they can't domore than one take.
I'm like way older than themand I know I can do more, but
because I'm out more intentionalwith taking care of my health
and so my stamina and cardio isbetter than at least half of
them yeah, but see, I'mintentional about that.
But also because I'm older, Ihave to take care of my body

(24:52):
more, and so it just pays off.
So start early, start now.
Take care of your body if youactually yeah yeah, yeah, and
don't lie to yourself.

Yerson (24:59):
I hate that when they're like, oh, it's because I'm not
a dancer, yeah, but you're doinga kpop, kpop cover right now,
like you are already in the film.
You don't want to take care ofyour body, and you're like it's
because, no, I'm not a dancerprofessional.
No, it's not about to be aprofessional dancer, it's just
it comes with it, like it's partof it, it's part of the out of
it.
Yeah, if you are really liketaking this hobby, taking it

(25:21):
well, like there's when you'regonna have well, like there's
when you're going to have thewhole experience, there's when
you're going to feel likeoverpowered.
There's when you're going tofeel like, damn, I want to do
more.
That's how you get it.
No, it's not just.
I know two, three steps and I'mgoing to go and I'm a dancer.
No, don't lie to yourself.
Everyone who's doing coversright now guys, take care of
your body, take classes, make alittle bit more like effort on

(25:42):
those areas, and you're going tonotice, damn, my life changed
because I'm a dancer.
I'm getting better, I lookbetter, I'm doing better, my
self-esteem is getting better.
Yeah, you got the whole packageand you're just not just doing
a cover, and that's it.
Do more.

J.R. (25:55):
Yeah, I'll reiterate that just really quick because, like
what Yerson's saying, if youjust put a little bit more into
it, commit a little bit more todancing as an art form, and when
you develop that level of skillyou will love it more, you will
feel better about yourself,you'll have more self-confidence
in everything.
But if you stop yourself fromcommitting a little bit more,
you're never going to feel howwe feel about it.

(26:15):
It gives us a lot more, but youcan't get there until you try.

Yerson (26:20):
And then you complain, and then yeah, yeah, and then
you're like oh, I wish I candance like you.

J.R. (26:24):
ah ah, but you don't want to condition exactly, you don't
want to put more into it yeah,sorry it's okay okay next one,
this is more technical and itmight be hard for non-dancers to
conceptualize, but weightshifting, weight distribution
and shifting for me.
When I dance with people whohave just cover dance
backgrounds and they don't havefoundational backgrounds, I can
always notice that the reasonwhy they are off timing or they

(26:47):
don't know how to transitionfrom move to move is because
their weight distribution andtheir shifting is off.
So the question for you is howdo you distribute your weight
and shift your weight?

Yerson (26:56):
better.
Okay, this is something that Ilearned with some freestyle
sessions and also myspecifically house, because the
house is actually moving all thetime and the base comes from
your hips.
Yeah, all the dance comes fromyour core, of course, and your
hips, right.
So, at the moment that you feelcomfortable falling from back

(27:18):
side diagonally, that is whenyou notice how your weight can
move your body itself.
So some people feel so heavywhen they're dancing, but it's
because you are actually don'tlet yourself get out of the
floor, you are not lettingyourself be unbalanced, so
you're trying to keep controland your body still shy to like

(27:39):
to explode.
Make sense.
I'm not saying that that's theonly way to dance, but I'm
feeling like it will help foryou to be a little bit more
lighter if you let the gravityworks, or if you let your joints
work, space out a little bitmore, so if you won't have
problems with your balance sorry, no, the space of your, like
your weight, weight shifting isbecause you will maybe feel

(28:02):
comfortable being in the middleof your body like this is all
your legs, right, wait, wait,where I am.
This is all your legs, this isyour hips and you always hear.
You never hear or you neverhear.
So there is when you gotta becomfortable and get just one
side and try to this leg, likefly away or do something
different, and you're like thisside of your body and we come
back to conditioning becauseyour leg has to be strong to

(28:25):
deal with all your weight.
And also, if you're here, youcan also move a little bit out,
like almost falling, and findthe balance with your hands
maybe or your head going to theopposite side, like things.
Balance with your hands maybe,or your head going to the
opposite side, like things likethat kind of like a circus,
acrobats or acrobatics, yeah,all this stuff.
So that will help to likeunderstand how it feels being in
those places and dance in thoseplaces.

(28:45):
And that's the funny part, likethat's the fun part.
You want to freestyle and youwant to learn how to save your
weight, get in a weird positionyou know weird position of your
hips and your body when you arejust like maybe just on your
toes or maybe just on your heels, almost falling, and try to
dance.
Right, you're gonna fall, butthat's part of that's a part of
the challenge.
I guess you gotta get used toit.

J.R. (29:06):
I like that.
Actually, that's a lot to thinkabout, especially if you're a
dancer.
Basically, if I'm understandingcorrectly, be comfortable with
dancing outside of your balance,your comfort zone, and that'll
help you be more familiar andwiden that ability to shift your
weight and distribute yourbalance, because if you're
trying to always dance aboveyour center and always trying to
be in control, now you're onlyhere and you can't dance further

(29:29):
out.
How about tips to learningchoreo from just watching videos
?
Again, this is for K-popdancers.
A lot of us we watch videos andwe have to learn core.
It's not like learning from aclass or a teacher.
How do you?

Yerson (29:40):
do it.
Okay.
People think I teach k-pop andI'm like just learning the
choreo and teaching right, butit's something behind them,
behind behind that, I've beentraining all the kind of styles,
right.
So all those styles have basedfrom the basic steps and now
what we're watching on videosare those basic steps and
sometimes it's just a little bitof decoration or modifications

(30:02):
small, but you understand it.
So for me it's easy to see thatdance when I see it in a window
right in my phone, for example,you see a plane, a plane, a
scream yeah, okay plane scream.
So you see all the all themovements in 2d.
But I had experience before.
I can see the step, what itmeans or how it goes or where to
go, and so I would recommend toeven if you don't want to take

(30:25):
classes search about the stylein YouTube.
Okay, and now it's a wholeproblem.
Right, you don't know whatstyle is, or you don't know what
step or where it comes from?
Okay, I get right, you don'tknow what style is, or you don't
know what step or where itcomes from?
Okay, I get it.
Another solution focus on thejoints, their hips, their
shoulders, their elbows.
Don't think like it's just arms, legs, torso, head.

(30:47):
There is more than that.
Okay, see how the hips aretwisting sometimes.
Focus also on the dancer whoactually feels more natural when
they dancing.
No, don't look just for yourbias.
Look for the person whoactually feels comfortable with
it.
Sometimes it's even the backupdancers, because the backup
dancers don't focus on facialsor looking good.

(31:08):
They try and commit to do thechoreography because that's what
they've been paying, right?
So look for those places thatperson find the joints, the
weight, what is he supporting byleft, right?
And try to make sure that youunderstand the step and counts.
Counts will help a lot.
We're talking aboutchoreography choreography with a

(31:30):
lot of people, so everybody hasto be coordinated.
Everybody has accounts.
There is songs special, theyhave special sounds.
Okay, got it.
But most of everything is incounts.
Okay, if it doesn't have counts, get the counts until it counts
and add the special soundslater.
It's a practice and, again,that's why there's dance

(31:51):
teachers for support you andhelp you with that.
But if you want to go throughit, it's going to be tired.
It's going to be tired, it'sgoing to be, it's going to be
hard, but you're going to getused to it.
So get to the one song that youlike that you can listen to it
all the time and at those pointsthat we just said and I hope
it's going to help you.
But that's what I do.
I go over counts, I check thesteps, where it comes from,

(32:13):
where it goes or what I'm tryingto say.
If I can see the choreographer,great.
If I can see the choreographerdoing it, even better.
Check the dancer Joins andforget about that.
It's just a 2D step and try tofind how it looks.
If I see it from the side, if Isee it from the back.
Just imagination, then that'sit.
That's how I do it.
I hope it helps.
Yeah it.

J.R. (32:36):
I hope it helps.
Yeah, no, that was good tips.
If you are k-pop dancing,you're wondering how to do all
this stuff.
Just rewind that part.
So now I'm gonna give my ownhot takes on all this stuff too,
kind of like what yerson issaying.
Because he has a experiencewith foundational styles, he can
see what the move should be and, similar to myself, I'm have
familiarity.
So when I'm watching k-popchoreography I'm like I know
what this move is supposed to bebecause I know where it comes
from.
And if you guys are new to K-pop, those choreographers your

(32:59):
favorite choreographers or K-popgroups they all have
familiarity with these stylestoo, Because if they're a good
choreographer, they've trainedin all these styles.
So they are, it's not.
They're just not making this upfrom their brain.
Everything is from something,and so if you can identify those
patterns and it's hard becauseif you're new to dance you're
not familiar with all thesestyles you can't see what is a
house step, what is a breakdancing step, what is whatever.

(33:21):
But to Yerson's point, if youcan familiarize yourself and we
talked about this in your firstepisode with more styles and
foundation than just K-pop, youwill see it and you will be able
to pick up from screen better.
And the second part youmentioned counts and this is
another hot take because I dancewith a lot of K-pop cover
dancers who are mostly that.
My biggest pet peeve is whenthey say oh, I don't know counts

(33:44):
, and if you're just dancing forfun, sure that's fine.
If you're a dance teacher, youneed to learn counts and if
you're leading a dance cover,you should definitely learn
counts One.
It's not hard.
So if you make excuses of oh, Idon't know how to count, I just
do sounds, I say that's BS.

Yerson (33:59):
Bro, that's a red flag.

J.R. (34:00):
You're not a real dancer, and I've made this analogy.
It's like you're trying to be amusician, but you don't know
how to read music.
Sure, you can play music by ear.
Yeah, you have the talent.
Sure, 99% of situations.
You should learn how to readmusic.
You should learn how to countto music.
Counting to eight is not hardand one and two is not hard and
a three and a four is not thathard.
But if you're a dancer andyou're leading a team or you're

(34:23):
leading a cover, learn how tocount.
It's not hard and it's easierto get people on the same page
because I've had so manysituations I've had.
So where I'm like the count isthree and four and they're like
what's the sound?
Is it the drum in the back?
I'm like it's three and four,it's three and four, can you
just?
Follow, and so for me I mightbe a little bit harsh, but I'm

(34:44):
like.
You have no excuse, as a leader, to not learn how to count.
And as a dancer, if youactually take dance seriously,
my dance teachers were like tolearn how to count and don't
make excuses for yourselfbecause that's low standards.

Yerson (34:58):
In case you are not a teacher, you don't plan to be a
teacher, or you are not going tobe like a leader or stuff, and
you want to be a dancer andthat's your excuse.
I will let you know something.
Of course it's a balance ofboth.
If you can feel the music, youcan feel those cap boom, the

(35:19):
lyrics, the soft part, like thedrums and all the stuff.
You can also have to feel thecounts behind.
I'm not asking you counts allyour life and counts is the main
thing.
No, because actually when youlisten those, those notes, those
sounds, you can pronounce it astep better.
Cool, I got it there I also.
I started dancing, like that.
I learned how to count in thathalf of my life of dancing.
So when I started dancing andcounting, I mix it.

(35:39):
I'm not telling you, just blockyourself on counting, but mix
it.
Get that sound, thatpronunciation, that boom, that
cat you're looking for, butplace that cat boom and that
count and your life is going tobe more understandable and
people will understand youbetter.
And at the same time, whenyou're going to work on
something or someone is leadingto you, you're at least going to
understand when someone saythree and four.

(36:01):
And yeah, we don't want to havea problem after make sense.

J.R. (36:05):
Yeah, no, exactly 100.
It's like if you have toolsavailable to you, why not just
learn how to use them instead ofmaking your life hard and being
like let's everyone figure outthe in the back?
Like, why just count it?
It's easy, it's one, two, three, yeah, unless it's pretty
obvious you know?

Yerson (36:20):
yeah, it's pretty obvious sometimes, like the beat
is there and people is whatbeat the beat?

J.R. (36:25):
yeah it seems like it's.
It's such an easy thing.
That'll make everyone's lifeeasier.
But I guess my pet peeve is thementality of oh, I don't, so
therefore I'm not going to.
I'm like, but don't you want tolearn.

Yerson (36:38):
My anger is coming out, Sorry bro.
Yeah, I know.

J.R. (36:39):
It's like an ego thing, Like just learn, Like I get that
.
And you're right to your point.
Sometimes choreographers don'tdo accounts, and that's fine, it
is on sound effects.

Yerson (36:51):
It is on music.
Don't make an excuse.
Just don't make an excuse.
Just try, bro, work harder.
Oh my God, I feel so bad.
I feel like I'm just hittingpeople right now.
No, it's fine, you get off.
I'm so sorry.

J.R. (37:02):
It's tough love Like it's valid perspective.
I think, listeners of mypodcast have an open mind, and
if you're not of a mind, you'reprobably in the wrong place.
Did you have any questions youwanted to answer?
Yeah, I have a lot right here.
You want to just read out thequestion that you want to answer
?

Yerson (37:16):
Yeah, because some of them are connected.
It's like how to manage to feelmore relaxed when performing or
recording.
How can you shake the nervesand let loose?
This is something that I do,Ice cream Like dessert, like no,
no, like literally like icecream.
Yeah, in the middle, before I'mdancing or something, Because

(37:37):
everything is on here, you gettight, you get like tough, or
just because you're thinkinglike expectations, right,
someone is still looking at me,the camera is on, I'm in the
center, I'm on the side Am Ilooking good and the camera is
pointing at me, or not?
Like what the people isthinking?
Oh, people make a scream sounds.
It's for me, it's for someoneelse.

(37:57):
Bro, you dancing?
Yeah, all those thoughts wereon mine too.
It's on my mind too.
So I got to scream before, likejust to shout those voices out,
shock yourself out of it.
Yeah, just ah.
Or also shaking my body alittle bit, yeah, to relax those
muscles.
Muscle relaxes, it's better,more energy to throw, but yeah,
so I would say scream.

J.R. (38:17):
I mean no, I scream and scream, just find some way to
disconnect your brain, ah, todistract you or get you in the
zone or something.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yerson (38:26):
Or think about more, like getting to this music.
If you're a sensitive person, Ithink, really believe, that
it's going to be easy for you ifyou actually listen to the song
before you.
The music is on, you arealready starting connecting with
it.
You're just connecting with itand closing the room, imaginary
room on your head of like it'sme, music, me and music, and you

(38:47):
want to add something more thatyou want to perform me music,
camera, me, music, camera.
Okay, there's a lot of bunch ofpeople, me, music and those
people, but no, nothingexpectations or nothing, and
just like trying to be me with asong once.
But more important, music, likeconnect with the music at the
point that you forgot that whereyou are and that song is that

(39:09):
song, bro, it's addictive.
I love that.
Yeah, I just get it when I'mfreestyling.
Yeah, yeah, I love that.
Yeah, I just get it when I'mfreestyling.

J.R. (39:15):
Yeah, I have my thoughts on this and you can ignore me
because I'm not as amazing asyou're Sin.
But, for me, you know, what'sweird is that when other people
in my group are nervous, itmakes me more calm and confident
because it gives me perspective, like, why are you guys nervous
, like?
Second thing, I do my best toprepare.
I drill myself beforehand.
So, yeah, my best to prepare, Idrill myself beforehand so I do

(39:38):
not see, yeah, he doesn't, butI have to because I'm not as
talented.
So I drill myself so that bythe time I show up to filming a
performance, I'm confident.
So I know I did my work.
If I mess up, I mess up, andthe oh no, yeah, I do, I do,
yeah.
And the third thing is usuallyin performances is better.
But for me I realize that forother people the stakes are so
high because they don't want tomess up, they don't want to look
bad, and it's scary For me.
I'm like there's no stakes, Imess up.
Who cares?

Yerson (39:59):
But it's also because you don't, you don't, you don't,
you're not trying to look good.

J.R. (40:03):
No, I see that's.
The other thing is, for me it'sa mind game, because I know
they're trying to look good andto me I they're so like, oh my
God, it's the end of the world,I will die if I don't do this.
Perfect take.
But see, my point is they putthat mental burden on themselves
and now they mess up.
But if they just realize, okay,this is not serious, I will do

(40:24):
my best, and I want to do mybest, but I'm not putting this
unneeded pressure, they willperform better more time.

Yerson (40:30):
Yeah, actually I do that when it's so tough, when we
like filming.
Recording is the seventh time.
Oh, we are ready likeeverybody's tired.
So what I'm doing in thatmoment is try to change the
topic like let's have fun guysyeah yeah and yeah.
I started joking with peopleright out of it yeah, yeah, yeah
.
Relax the body, relax ourbrains with some jokes, and that
is when it comes back again.
Okay, let's have fun, andsometimes, when you're having

(40:53):
fun, the facials scum.
It just comes, it just appears.

J.R. (40:57):
That's what I mean by if you rephrase it, reframe it, as
this isn't the end of the world.
Obviously we want to do good,but if I think of it as it's not
a big deal, then now I havemore fun and obviously I look
better and I want people to feelthe same way.
Obviously it might be a seriousgig or whatever, and you want
to do your best, but I think ifyou can reframe, it like what

(41:23):
you're saying.

Yerson (41:23):
It will help you out.
You have one more question?

J.R. (41:24):
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, switch topics after this yeah,
how's this, you guys?
It's got us all hyped up andspicy we got our hot takes
already oh, I had to.

Yerson (41:30):
I want to get better at dancing, want to move like a
k-pop idol and also like a realdancer.
I want to learn both styles.
Okay, this is from one of mybiggest students that I have.
That's a good point.
Like, k-pop idols and realdancers are different.
Like you're, when you see k-popidols, you see a product,

(41:52):
you're watching a product.
It's made it for you to likeyou, you it's made it to make
you buy it.
Dancers like actually dancersperformance who, like care more
about the feeling what is goingon.
Like theatrical dancers,contemporary dancers, b-boying
all those stuff has differentways to show their talent or

(42:14):
their passion.
Right, so all of them arecompletely opposite.
You want to dominate both ofthem.
It's gonna be hard, I will say.
If you want to be an idoltheater, maybe it can help you
to control your facials, yourperformance, how to show your
body in front of the camera orall the stuff, because it's
connected.
You want to be a real dancer,like full dancer, like artist

(42:37):
dancer, and start connectingwith the actual feelings or
emotions, because the facials,or like the body language,
change when you stop thinkingabout to look good.
So both of them are connectedbecause both of them are dancing
, but at the same time it's adifferent training, different
intentions, different trainingand different purpose, like what

(42:58):
you're saying.

J.R. (42:59):
The purpose, matter.

Yerson (43:00):
Like everything, the meaning of the steps matter too.
Yeah, so idols kpop idol isharder, so yeah, it's just take
some theater if you want to.
I have big friends who actuallydo theater and musicals and
they're the best facials that Ihave seen.
And the control of the camerais amazing.
Yeah, it's crazy exactly, okay.

J.R. (43:20):
Do you want to switch topics?
Sure, okay.
The last one is social mediabeing a content creator,
influencer and then friendship.
So, yeah, we were talking aboutthis before, but sometimes
social media, we both feel thesimilar way.
Sometimes it can be drainingand sometimes it can feel fake.
Obviously, if you've ever beenon the internet, you know that a
lot of it is fake and sometimesthe social media landscape we

(43:42):
feel scared to share ourdownsides, the bad sides, or
like when we're feeling likeit's not a good day and we feel
like we have to share ourhighlights or the best parts of
our world and things like that.
This is when it becomes to be ajob, exactly when of our world,
and things like that.
This one maybe comes to be ajob exactly when it comes to
jobs.
Yeah, if you want to share yourthoughts because you shared how
, like you shared a postrecently that was more
vulnerable and it wasn't allhappy and sunshine, but you

(44:04):
found that you got a lot ofsupport for that you have any
thoughts on, like, how we canapproach?

Yerson (44:09):
yeah, like that last video.
No, it was not last video, butone of the videos.
I was like Okay, whole story ofthe video, I post those videos
because it's like three songs,freestyles that I had to do.
At that moment I was reallystressed and I was in the
parking lot and I was like Idon't have to go home early, I
don't feel like I want to be athome with presence of nobody

(44:31):
because I have roommates.
I was like I'm just going todance a little, so I put some
earplugs and start moving.
By the way, when I have with theearplugs on, like this cancel
sound so I don't hear anythingelse more than that, right?
So it's very personal, intimate.
But I was like I'm going torecord it Because I'm sometimes,

(44:53):
when you have the more deepestfeelings in your heart happiness
, sadness, anger, sadness, angerwhatever you produce beautiful
things.
Even that it's sad to see it,but it's beautiful things.
So I was like I gotta becomfortable and I cannot lose
these good ideas and I'm gonnado some freestyle, because I'm
also working in choreographingand stuff to add in some of my
pieces.
So I recorded, I edited it andI just posted as a my close

(45:15):
friend stories and one of myfriends told me like you should
post it and I just posted it inmy close friend's stories and
one of my friends told me, likeyou should post it and I was
like, but this is very personalIn my head.
I didn't answer that it's verypersonal and at the moment I
noticed it that my Instagrambecomes to be just my good
things, because it's my resumeof that answer.
Right?
So my good things, good things,good things, performances, show
, classes and stuff.
And when I wanted to share this, I actually thought it.

(45:43):
So I posted five days later andI wanted to show that I wasn't
okay.
I'm okay, okay, I'm okay.
But at that moment I wasfeeling like I'm not going to
try to be okay and I'm justgoing to go deep on my I'm not
okay.
So I just danced, I'mfreestyling and so if some

(46:05):
people felt it.
And then it's when I when Inoticed instagram, social media
it's become to be just it'sbecoming being like something
very I gotta show what is goodfor me.
I gotta show what is good forme and know what is what it
looks good for the people.
I want to show a product, aproduct, and it's not yourself
and that's sad.
Even before Facebook, you usedto share so many weird things

(46:28):
pictures, random pictures and itwas fun the beginning of social
media.
But now people know that youcan do money in social media.
People know that some of theself-think comes from likes,
comments and stuff.
So you don't want to bevulnerable on social media and
this video was actually me beingvulnerable and I got so many

(46:49):
good feedbacks from all people Ididn't expect that.
At that moment I forgot tocancel the comments, but it was
like glad I didn't, because Isaw some people get touched.
I saw some people I read somepeople that come for me and
texting me back like, yeah,you're fine, everything I'm fine
, like literally, if I post itit's because I've already get
over it, but I'm happy that youguys feel related and you feel

(47:14):
something real in a page that isbeing very fake lately.
So I wouldn't say social mediais a bad thing, but I feel like
now it's just a job thing.
It's like a, it's a work shitlike it's, and it's annoying,
though I don't want to be partof it, but I have to I'm an

(47:35):
artist, you don't have to so Ihate you.

J.R. (47:39):
He's jealous yeah, so we don't want to trade our problems
for anyone else's, but on thattopic, so we both know friends
who do social media like as ajob, a career, like content
creation, and they make moneyfrom it, and we also have
friends who do it for fun, right, and both sides of it.
You have any thoughts on that?

Yerson (48:00):
Yeah, so this is funny.
I have friends who just madesocial media for work and it
worked.
They made so much effort on itso they didn't get any money.
I have friends who just saidjust because they were bored and
they were just having fun, andit worked.
I have friends who started likethat as a social recreation

(48:21):
because they don't have socialfriends or anything and it
becomes to be a job at the endof the day, but they don't want
to accept friends on anythingand it becomes to be a job in
the end of the day, but theydon't want to accept it.
So it's like interesting to seethose people like showing random
videos and stuff and somepeople get the followers, some
people not, and people who hasthe work.
The job is become to be verystressful for them and most of

(48:45):
the time they are not actuallywhat you see on videos, right?
My friend who also does thisfor fun and he's himself, he's
like that, he's actually likethat.
So it's like I can trustnothing.
I mean, and the other person,she's very good at all of that,
but she doesn't take it as awork, as a job, but it's giving

(49:07):
instagram is giving her a lot ofopportunities, big
opportunities.
She's taking it, sometimes not,but because she doesn't realize
that it's a job or not, likeshe doesn't want to take as a
job, so it confused me, bro.
What should I do here, though,if I'm being real, or I should
go for the job because it'smoney, right and we need it USA,

(49:27):
we need it.
It's getting tough, likenowadays, so, unlike my friends,
who does it for fun, they areactually having fun doing it,
but at the same time, it'sstressful to keep on touch of
Instagram or keep the followersand stuff, because they
sometimes burn out too and it'shard to make a pass of it.
I don't know, I can make videosevery day, and I don't know how

(49:48):
they do it.
I guess the guy who's makingfun is having fun with it.
It's not hard for him, I guess,but the people who's working on
it, I know that they areactually taking hours and hours
editing and making filming, andso I personally, I don't like it
, though you're stuck man, butyeah, I get that too.

J.R. (50:08):
I was gonna ask like what you think the approach is.
But for me personally and Ishared about this with my
episode with Blessy because wedid content creation and we made
like good money on that and sonow I know what it takes and I
know what it pays, and for me Ihave, like you said, I have the
fortune and I'm ability to.
Now I can choose what I want todo and I found that being on

(50:29):
the hamster wheel of contentcreation for me.
I didn't enjoy it.
It's not my personality, it'slike fake, it's cringe.
And it was fun when I wasbuilding our channel for a year
and a half and people enjoyedwhat we put out and that's great
, but I had the self-awarenessto know that it was draining me,
because I don't like filming, Idon't like editing, I don't
like being fake, I don't liketrying to create something for

(50:50):
someone else to enjoy.
I would rather put out contentthat I.
So now I only put out contentand focus on content that gives
me energy, that I don't care wholikes it or who, whatever, who
resonates with it, and I don'twant to do something that I feel

(51:10):
like I'm have to do it beyondthe hamster wheel and being
drained and like the job,because if I'm treating like a
job I better get paid good money.

Yerson (51:13):
But yeah, it's tough no, it's really hard to get to the
moment when you can live with it.
Of course, when you get thatpoint, it's like you got stuck
because you're stuck because nowyou rely on it.
Yeah, if you just stop that,what do you have?

J.R. (51:27):
Exactly.

Yerson (51:28):
Yeah.

J.R. (51:28):
I like if the social, if TikTok is banned, if Instagram
is banned, or if your followersleave you or there's some sort
of scandal, then you're out ofluck, because if that's your
livelihood, for me personally,my philosophy is always you have
multiple things, you have goodfinancial habits, so that you
never feel stuck, and that'swhat I tried to do for my first
half of my life.
I'm not sorry he'll get there.

Yerson (51:49):
He'll get there.
He'll figure it out.
I'm not so I, yeah, no, I'mgonna throw myself somewhere.

J.R. (51:54):
Please collab, I'm dying, just start, an only fans bro,
it's on my head, don't bring itup leave in the comments if you
want him to have an only fans ifhe gets a hundred comments.

Yerson (52:05):
What kind of content also okay?

J.R. (52:07):
OnlyFans is not just that you can't just say OnlyFans, you
have to also say what kind ofcontent you want from Yersin
yeah, yeah, don't, don't, don't,just, don't just drop it and
buy, just get ideas.

Yerson (52:16):
Give me content, ideas 100.

J.R. (52:21):
I don't have ideas for that.
Unique requests for Yerson tohave an OnlyFans and he'll think
about it.

Yerson (52:25):
I don't know what to do on Instagram.
Honestly, if you're watchingthis, just let me know what to
do.
What do you want to do?
What do you want to hear?
Like, I wanted to make videosabout dance and stuff.
Like post videos about teachingand stuff.
It's hard.
I tried.
I cried.
It was so hard for me to standup and watch the camera and be
like talking to somebody.

(52:45):
There's no feedback.
Some of my friends record myclasses when I'm talking Did you
take my classes?
You know that I always open aTikTok from nowhere and I start
talking about life or dance ingeneral.
Come, classes is funny, youcome to laugh at least.
And so they record it.
So I saw me talking and, yeah,I'm not sure if I should post it

(53:07):
.
You don't like it, I kind oflike it.
But, sometimes it's like the waythat I speak is not properly
and I'm still thinking.
It comes back to social media.
Right, I want to show something, perfect, maybe I shouldn't
care, I shouldn't care and Ishould share it, maybe.
But what do you want?
What do you want?
Share it?
Yeah, maybe.
But what do you wanna?

(53:27):
What do you want?
Just ask them, yeah, let usknow guys.
Yeah, but it's on social mediain general, guys don't take
anything like is the main thingyeah you're gonna meet the
person.
You got to see the person beforeyou judge, if you like.
What you're watching is aproduct, is is.
The person in the screen is nota real person.
So some of them also go to theperson on hey, make a joke, make
a dab when it's in the street.

(53:48):
Come on, let me leave.
I am sad.
It's sad that some of myinfluencers or content creators,
friends, when they outside,they have to hide themselves.

J.R. (53:58):
I see, yeah, yeah I feel like that, to be different or
persona.
Yeah, okay, last question, lasttopic, we'll see how far we get
into this.
But we talked about fakefriends.
No, I'm just kidding realfriends.
But I think this is somethingI've been pondering and I feel
like you have thoughts on thistoo, which is friendships.
I think as we get older and wego through, we have more
networks and friends.

(54:20):
We see the signs andcharacteristics of people and we
now have a better idea of whatwe gravitate towards, what, what
we don't like, what we do like,and maybe I can start off.
But for me, I've been a littlebit more selective with who I
hang out with, because for me,the biggest thing that I look
for in good friends is integrity, meaning they are the same
people to my face and behind myback and they do what they say

(54:45):
and vice versa.
But I found that sometimes I'maround people who will treat me
one way in person and thenanother way in social media or
another way behind my back withother friends, and I don't have
energy or time for that, and soI'm more easily to cut you out
if I feel like you don't havethat integrity At the same time,
if I feel like you haveintegrity.
I will invest more of my energyinto you, because I'd rather be

(55:07):
around those types of peopleyeah what I was telling you and
when we were at starbucks.

Yerson (55:12):
We're talking about this and it's now it's even harder
because sometimes they don't doit in purpose.
But if you're trying to make afriend, actually friend, you
gotta be yourself right, likecompletely open yourself, like
your type of jokes, that type ofyou are, that way that you walk
, the way that you talk isharder, I know, but that's the

(55:33):
only way that you're going tofind an actual friend, because
you're going to start being thefake friend, even though you
think that, oh, my people arefake.
But do you worry?
Like when you were being withthem, you actually said what you
think, what you thought, or doyou actually did what you like?
Did you?
If you did that, okay, maybethey are the problem because

(55:54):
they've been trying to be yourfriend.
They've been trying, but I feellike friendship isn't something
that you can't try.
You gotta just let it happen.
It could be for somecircumstances that you met each
other in the same k-pop team, inthe same friendship zone or in
the same school language,whatever that you met and you

(56:14):
share something that we bothhadn't come on and you start
talking and blah, blah.
But at the moment that you haveto say, oh, I like this, but you
don't.
Yeah, why are you trying to betheir friends?
Are you actually earningsomething?
And that is when I notice it,like people comes to me, it's
also like, oh, there's that, oh,yeah, I like it too.

(56:35):
I like that too, but it feelssometimes like do you actually,
though, because I actually askedabout it and oh, yeah, I'm no,
no, it's not what I'm saying,like it's not actually the same
thing what I was talking, andlike why you want to be my
friend.
Are you seeing that you can saytake something from me because
I have nothing else to do, likeI'm just a teacher, I'm just a

(56:57):
dancer, or maybe you want thatlike classes and stuff.
I don't know.
It's kind of, but I wouldappreciate more if you just
being honest with yourself, likeit feels, I can feel it.
I'm very sensitive and I canfeel when someone is being fake,
and not all the time, because Ijust realized that someone that

(57:17):
was really close to me andknows everything about me, and
that's a problem.
I open myself so much to thatperson, open like, oh, oh, my
good and bad size, and theyended up using against me, or I
just realized that one year ago,this person opened it, opened
it up to some, to people, thatit shouldn't be, it was

(57:39):
something private, and so whatdo you earn with it?
Like, why?
What are you earning with allthese problems?
What do you earn with it?
Like, what are you earning withall of these problems?
What do you want?
Like you cannot be that kind offriend, like it's annoying,
though Don't be fake, bro, comeon, try to be yourself like all
the time, and if I like it ornot, it's fine.
We never going to like eachother so much.
Okay, whole thing.

(57:59):
There's things about you that Ireally appreciate all the time,
and one of those is like youalways being honest and you
always tell me how the things orthe things that you think, how
it is and I also share.
There's moments when we are notagree each other and then we

(58:20):
fight, and there's when we'renot agree.

J.R. (58:24):
I don't think we ever fight, but we obviously don't
think the same all the time,obviously that he hit me in the
face three times no, I'm kiddingI wish no, no, no, no, no, no,
no, no, you never I wish.

Yerson (58:37):
Yeah, I'm just kidding but yeah, sorry, go ahead.
No, yeah, it's just that it'slike, even that I have so much
experience with fake friends,it's always someone there.
So the only thing I'm trying tobe myself, even when there is
moments when I'm hanging outwith people new people, hi, new
people.
If you I ever hang out with youand you found me so weirdo or
like I'm doing weird jokes andstuff, sorry, that's me, that's

(58:59):
him, that's me, it's just mebeing me.

J.R. (59:02):
That's the thing about your son that I appreciate is
that he's authentic.
He doesn't really try to befake.
He's obviously a nice guy andsocial, but I've never felt like
your son is being fake.
That's why he's so weird,because he's normal, right, and
I get it, I get.

Yerson (59:15):
There's some things that I always cross the line because
sometimes I get into a littlebit mean with jokes and stuff I
am at least he's authentic,that's a thing thing.
But yeah, just let me know, Iwouldn't say I'm the nicest guy,
nicest guy, yeah, nicest guy inthe world, but I would say,
yeah, I have my own bad thingstoo, but that's me, that's my
whole package.

J.R. (59:41):
I was going to say that because I'm starting to
appreciate more when people aremore honest and they tell me no
or I tell them no and we're like, okay, cool, that's fine,
because now I know what you'reall about and I don't feel like
you're trying to manipulate meor people, please, or put on a
fake front, because I know wedon't need to agree about
everything.
I don't need to agree with youon everything for me to feel
like you're a good friend,because as long as we're honest
with each other I like this, youlike this, or we don't agree.
If we get to the disagree, thenI know that I trust you more

(01:00:10):
because you now trust me enoughto tell me what you think and
you're not being fake, and so Iappreciate those types of
friends more.
And, of course, you don't haveto like your friends like all
the time no, well, yeah, I knowall the time, of course like
meaning like you don't have toagree with everything, right, as
long as they don't cross theline ethically.
But what I mean is I trustpeople more if they can tell me
no and be for real, and becauseI know I can do the same thing
with them and they won't betrayme because they know who I am.

Yerson (01:00:27):
I guess like people is scared of rejection too Of
course, like they're scared.
If I do this or I said something, my friend is going to hate me
and I don't want to have friendsanymore.
Trust me, you don't need thosefriends.
If you see somebody who justwalk out because you did or you
said something wrong and itdoesn't even try to like, try to
guide you or do it for askingyou about hey, this is exactly

(01:00:49):
what you mean, it's exactly whatyou try to say, or you know
that this is wrong, this is blah.
It doesn't try to educate you,doesn't accept you with your
mistakes, on your behaviors.
It's actually your friend,though that's not a quality of
friends that you have.
If you have to be the coolestguy in the world or you have to
be the nicest person, theperfect person for your friends,

(01:01:09):
it's draining.
So there's when you actually belike my social battery is over.
I cannot be social and blah,blah, blah.
It's because you're not beingreal.
Then yeah, that's a sign If youfeel like you're being drained
in your social circles maybeit's because you feel like you

(01:01:30):
can't be yourself, and sometimesit's not even their fault.
Are they willing to listen toyou?
They're willing to accept youhow you are.
Just go for it, try it.
If you lose it, you lose it.

J.R. (01:01:35):
I know it's hard I'm just saying it's easy.
Yeah, we know we get it like weunderstand, because we talked
about this too.
Like we know, everything ishard.
We're saying what we should do,but it's even hard for us too
as well so just try your bestguys.

Yerson (01:01:47):
I'm.
You're talking with two guys.
This is really old right now.

J.R. (01:01:51):
Yeah, we're really old 40, 48, 50, 52, 52, 52, right,
whatever, yersin okay, we're attime now so let's wrap it up,
but it was a great conversationso far, so I appreciate you, man
, don't worry.
One with gratitude, yersin,shout out to my mom Yersin, what
are you grateful for?

Yerson (01:02:12):
I guess, like after all these three years teaching right
here, I'm really grateful forhaving the best community about
teaching.
Like the students, thank youfor coming with the best energy
ever.
Thank you for always listeningwhen I'm saying random things,
the tech talks and sometimes itdoesn't even make sense, but I

(01:02:33):
know that you get touched.
Thank you for always being onclasses the best way that you
can support me, or sharing andall the stuff.
Thank you for always reach outif I'm okay or not.
You know that you are my familyat this point and I love
teaching and I wouldn't love itif I didn't have so many good
experiences on it.

(01:02:54):
I'm really, really grateful forall.
Every single older student.
I always see people coming backand it feels amazing.
And even when you're having abad time and we can talk about
it after and and you share yourexperiences with me, it made me
feel more important in thisworld, like, at the same time,

(01:03:14):
that this is not my intention.
It's not my intention to bethere and help you for
everything.
My intention is inspire you.
I cannot control your mind, butwhen you get touched and you
tell me like you went throughbad things and you just go
better because classes or yougot inspired or you just got the
energy that you needed.
It just made me feel like we'remaking a better world and even

(01:03:39):
if it's just in our area, itfeels great.
So I feel really, reallygrateful for all of that.
So thank you guys for the great, great, great, great energy and
so much support.
Love and especially how you'regrowing is the best way that you
can say thank you.
A teacher is growing likeseeing you growing, it feels
great nice, love it.

J.R. (01:04:00):
All right, any last ask from the audience, anything you
want to ask them or any finaltakeaways you want them to have
from our conversation.

Yerson (01:04:08):
I will say, guys, if you ever see somebody or if you
ever feel like you're doing toomuch for somebody, question
yourself if you actually want todo it because you want it, or
you're just trying to thesepeople like you, or you're
trying to those people you'regetting something for them,
because sometimes we made amistake of being greedy like you

(01:04:31):
.
You want to approach somewherethat you will do anything is
being fake for it.
So it's, we don't notice it,but we sometimes do it.
Yeah, know yourself, know whatyou want, and if those people
around you want the same thing,why not work together, go
through it together, but don'tforce yourself to be part of a
social circle.

(01:04:52):
The social circle gonna comesonce that you are real, and it's
hard to be real, but it's theonly way to have real people
around you.
Cool, I love it.
All right.

J.R. (01:05:04):
Pearson, thank you so much for being here.
I really appreciate it.
It's always fun to have you onthe show, so maybe we'll do it
again, cool, yeah.
Final sign off.
Be sure to like, subscribe,comment everything below.
Thank you guys for tuning in.
I really appreciate it.
Thank you, yeah.
Reminder to always.
Oh, sorry, yerson.
You'll find all of his links tothe socials.
Check him out, follow him signup for his classes.
He's one of my favorite, if notmy favorite, k-pop teacher.

(01:05:26):
Yeah, reminder to be kind toother people, especially
yourself, and remember that youcan always learn something from
someone if you take the time tolisten.
So thanks for being here.

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#38: Yerson Ochoa - Authenticity in Friendship, How to Improve Your Dancing, and the Dark Side of Content Creation

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}#38: Yerson Ochoa - Authenticity in Friendship, How to Improve Your Dancing, and the Dark Side of Content Creation