Students at Mile 108 Elementary School got into the hip-hop groove last week.
Everest Shi, a dance instructor with Vancouver-based Jess Dance, spent Tuesday and Thursday teaching students the latest dance moves.
“We just share dance with the kids. When I was in high school we had people come in and teach us line dancing which I don’t think was really relevant for us,” Shi, 28, said. “I think (Jess Dance) is a really cool opportunity to open people’s eyes.”
Jess Dance, founded by Jess Dexter, teaches dance to schools across the province, from hip hop to popping and locking, whacking and Bollywood-inspired musical numbers. Shi, who has worked with the company for three years, said the goal is to show children there’s more to dance than they think.
108 Mile principal Elaine Colgate said the classes are part of an effort to get students to participate in more activities like they did before the pandemic. While she’s had dance instructors come into the school in the past, she said it was a parent who suggested Jess Dance.
“It’s nice to have the opportunity to bring something new and fresh to the students. Things that are exciting and we would normally be doing pre-covid,” Colgate said.
One thing Shi impressed upon his students before teaching them any moves is that they’ll never be too old to get into dancing. He got into dance when he was 20 studying material sciences and engineering at the University of Berkely.
On a whim, he joined a competitive dance club that he said was one of most enjoyable experiences of his life. He then committed himself to master dance and by the end of his time at Berkeley had become a director for one of the club’s teams.
“I had never really danced before but while I was in university it became something I absolutely fell in love with,” Shi said. “When I was graduating I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to do. One of my co-directors just suggested why don’t you just dance for a living? I was like, you know what, maybe you’re right.”
When he returned to Canada, Shi got himself a talent agent and has since appeared as a dancer in several movies and T.V. shows. In between gigs, he took up teaching at a dance studio which eventually led to him joining Jess Dance, after subbing in for a friend.
Children these days are being exposed to dance at a younger and younger age, Shi said, be it through social media or video games. He finds it rewarding to explain to them the story behind the culture and loves watching students discover their love for dance.
Shi chose to teach hip hop because he finds it’s a fun relevant style of dance that allows dancers to move their bodies freely. With its origins in house parties, he said meant to be fun and a little goofy, which is perfect for children.
At Mile 108, he said his lessons went smoothly with each class picking up the moves at a good pace. After teaching them the basic groove of hip hop he taught them a step touch, shamrocks, the Koo Moe Dee and other fun simple moves. The Kindergarten and Grade 1 classes were fun to teach, he said.
“They soak up so much and just go, go, go. They can just keep going but all the kids were great this week.”
Colgate praised Shi for not only his dance skills but also his teaching ability. It’s one thing to be good at what you love, she said, but another to keep children engaged while doing it. All the students seemed really dialed in and even complimented Shi after their lesson.
“A lot of kids as they were leaving said ‘you’re really good at this and you’re fantastic.’ I don’t know if I always hear that from kids, direct feedback to performers,” Colgate said. “It obviously really hit home for them and was something really meaningful and relevant for them. He was an amazing teacher.”
patrick.davies@100milefreepress.net
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