Speaker 1: Welcome to Behind the Influence, a production of I Heart
Speaker 1: Radio and TDC Media. You know, like I slept on floors,
Speaker 1: shared meals, Like I didn't get to go to school
Speaker 1: and have that normal life of being a kid. I
Speaker 1: had to grow up really fast, recognize that it's okay
Speaker 1: to take left turns. Sometimes you take a couple of
Speaker 1: steps back as long as you're taking a couple of
Speaker 1: steps forward. Afterwards, videos and dance choreography started getting popular,
Speaker 1: and I was at the forefront of that. I've seen
Speaker 1: so many people succeed, and I see so many people
Speaker 1: that put the work in. Might not come when you
Speaker 1: want it to, but it always does come in some
Speaker 1: shape before me. We're here with Jade ch we just
Speaker 1: learned how to say it. Well, I'm sure you've known
Speaker 1: for years. Yes, I think I should have known. I
Speaker 1: hope so. Actress dancer extraordinaire. We are so happy to
Speaker 1: have you here today. Thank you for stopping, and we
Speaker 1: have a lot to cover, obviously, there's a lot to
Speaker 1: cover in the world of acting. Dancing is a huge
Speaker 1: part of your life, and it actually they go together
Speaker 1: at the moment. Who knows if that will always be
Speaker 1: the case. I mean you're probably gonna start in movies
Speaker 1: that don't have you dancing or shows that don't have
Speaker 1: you dancing. But it's kind of cool that you get
Speaker 1: to do two things that you love. We were actually
Speaker 1: just before we got started, we were talking about the
Speaker 1: Step Up series and helps us. Literally everyone in here
Speaker 1: is with the step How could you not? How could
Speaker 1: you not? I mean it combines dancing, some good looking people,
Speaker 1: some good looking people. You you included, by the way,
Speaker 1: in the new iteration of the Step Up franchise. They've
Speaker 1: had a lot of movies too, haven't they Six movies
Speaker 1: coming out and it's a China I was going to
Speaker 1: ask where is that located? Or I booked the series.
Speaker 1: I did the China film. It's based off of like
Speaker 1: Chinese culture and everything, so I'm not one of the
Speaker 1: main characters. But they battle in American crew. Oh are
Speaker 1: you in the crew that comes in with an attitude
Speaker 1: like hey, what's up? I mean, it's like they have
Speaker 1: this two competitive crews that are based in China, and
Speaker 1: then it's like the world series. And luckily they kind
Speaker 1: of kept it realistic because we did beat them, because
Speaker 1: it would have been kind of bad if we didn't
Speaker 1: because the level was different, so it was it was
Speaker 1: nice that they were still like, yeah, like, we're going
Speaker 1: to allow our main characters not to win. But they
Speaker 1: did beat the other crew that they had the bad
Speaker 1: blood with, so okay, so that's fine. That's so cool
Speaker 1: that they get to you get to cross over into
Speaker 1: the other parts of the franchise. It was really cool.
Speaker 1: I didn't even know I was doing the series at
Speaker 1: that point. So and then, do you think that that
Speaker 1: helps get the series? I would hope. So I don't know.
Speaker 1: I guess I just I think they really wanted somebody
Speaker 1: who who loved dancing, and I think that's what I
Speaker 1: kind of brought into it because we we're really looking
Speaker 1: for people who can act and dance, which is is
Speaker 1: a hard combo because even though we're storytelling as dancers,
Speaker 1: it's hard to use words to portray real raw emotions.
Speaker 1: So the combination of the two was really hard to find.
Speaker 1: But we got really lucky, Like, all my castmates are amazing,
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, that's that's incredible. So going back to
Speaker 1: the very first step up, what were you like to
Speaker 1: when that came? Yeah, somewhere around there. But I still
Speaker 1: had who didn't have a crush on Channel I know,
Speaker 1: the whole world. I mean, really, this man is just
Speaker 1: like God's gift. But to your point, I don't even
Speaker 1: think he knew how to dance. Wait was it? He
Speaker 1: didn't know how to act, but he was a dancer.
Speaker 1: It was one of the two. I think he like
Speaker 1: a male performer before Oh oh yeah. I think he
Speaker 1: actually had some legit, authentic experience in the stripping world.
Speaker 1: So I believe that. I believe. So he brought to
Speaker 1: the screen. He brought in to the musical world. He
Speaker 1: later made Magic Mike, but it was really actually him. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and then yeah exactly. And then on top of that,
Speaker 1: he goes on to be a part of movie franchise,
Speaker 1: TV franchise, which you're a part of your regular so
Speaker 1: you have two seasons on your belt already. For the
Speaker 1: Step Up television series Step Up, highwad It, they took
Speaker 1: it back to the school, which I think was really
Speaker 1: smart because the first movie was based in a performing
Speaker 1: our school, which makes sense. While we're dancing and there's
Speaker 1: not just random dancing happening it in the middle of
Speaker 1: the street. Everything kind of like tied in, and it
Speaker 1: has real stories because there are hardships and problems and
Speaker 1: struggles within the dance industry that people may not know.
Speaker 1: So it's cool that they shed light on that. But
Speaker 1: we also integrate the Atlanta culture in there and the
Speaker 1: street side of things and like the struggles with that side.
Speaker 1: So it's it's very dramatic, Oh my gosh, and also
Speaker 1: possibly a season three in the world Fingers Across, Fingers
Speaker 1: Crossed Toast Crossed, because you are actually in the world
Speaker 1: of dance and like you take classes, you're you're a
Speaker 1: legitimate dancer. Were you able to contribute some of your
Speaker 1: real life experiences to the show, Like do you go
Speaker 1: of to a director or an executive producer and be like, oh,
Speaker 1: what if we did it this way? Because this is
Speaker 1: like very real in my world. I think our show
Speaker 1: is really good about letting us have some freedom with
Speaker 1: how we do scenes, and sometimes as we can change
Speaker 1: different wording and stuff too, maybe tie in things that
Speaker 1: we would normally say in real life. And definitely there's
Speaker 1: sometimes I'm like a like, in a real dance class,
Speaker 1: I don't think i'd actually say this during that because
Speaker 1: he's my teacher, Like i'd have this respect or so
Speaker 1: on and so forth. There's little things that like we
Speaker 1: are allowed to contribute into the scene, which is really
Speaker 1: nice to make it more realistic. And there's definitely with
Speaker 1: my character specifically, she's a rich girl from Buckhead, but
Speaker 1: the school is for lower income families in a different area,
Speaker 1: so she kind of sneaks away why her parents think
Speaker 1: she's going to this college. She's actually going to this
Speaker 1: the school, and she's lying to everybody about who she is,
Speaker 1: and once they find out, it's all this drama. And
Speaker 1: everyone already didn't like her because she's one of the
Speaker 1: only white girls. She's white, she's rich, she's this. This
Speaker 1: is like all those stereotypes that are generally put on
Speaker 1: too a young female dancer, and it's sometimes tied into
Speaker 1: real life. A lot of people think that white girls
Speaker 1: can't do hip hop, but that's not the case. Culture
Speaker 1: is everything, and expressing yourself is what dance is really about.
Speaker 1: It's not really about where you come from or who
Speaker 1: you are. It's just about the passion and the love
Speaker 1: and the storytelling of it. Honestly, it made me, I think,
Speaker 1: connected to my character a little bit more to kind
Speaker 1: of show that circumstances don't define you. Where I didn't
Speaker 1: come from a rich background, but I did have some
Speaker 1: struggles trying to break into the industry and prove myself
Speaker 1: in that sense. So yeah, so we'll we'll take it
Speaker 1: back because I think that's really interesting. You're not from
Speaker 1: l A, but you've definitely made your mark on the
Speaker 1: dance scene in l A and obviously all the things
Speaker 1: we talked about at the beginning of this interview. You're
Speaker 1: on a really successful franchise series. Everyone knows the Step
Speaker 1: Up series you You're followed by millions of people who
Speaker 1: watch you dance on your many platforms, from YouTube to
Speaker 1: Instagram to Twitter. Let's take it back to before all
Speaker 1: this stuff happened. You're not from l A. Where are
Speaker 1: you from and how did you get involved in dance.
Speaker 1: I'm originally from Park City, Utah, and my family actually
Speaker 1: all still lives there, so that's kind of nice and
Speaker 1: makes visiting easy. I started dancing when I was about
Speaker 1: to My aunt had a studio it's called Martie's Rainbow Dancers.
Speaker 1: I definitely graduated from that, but my mom had me
Speaker 1: going there because she was teaching at the time there,
Speaker 1: and I just kind of got into dance at a
Speaker 1: young age and my family. We were definitely middle class,
Speaker 1: but it was one of those things if we were
Speaker 1: going to invest in something, we had to put our
Speaker 1: full heart and our full energy and passion into it.
Speaker 1: So I was training and dance just for fun up
Speaker 1: until I was about ten eleven twelve. My brothers were
Speaker 1: doing football, so I had my thing, they had their thing.
Speaker 1: My dad was with them, my mom was with me,
Speaker 1: and I started competing and as I was dancing, it
Speaker 1: went from like just running around in two twos to
Speaker 1: kind of really loving and understanding dance and for what
Speaker 1: it is, like a lot of people think it's just movement,
Speaker 1: it's just having fun, but there's really something so liberating
Speaker 1: about being able to express yourself through movement without actually
Speaker 1: having to say anything. You can really leave all your
Speaker 1: emotions out on the dance floor, cheessily putting it, but
Speaker 1: it is. I kind of just fell in love, and
Speaker 1: I kind of had a realization that I could make
Speaker 1: something more of it when I was around ten eleven,
Speaker 1: because I started going to conventions that were out of
Speaker 1: state every weekend to kind of train myself and see
Speaker 1: what else I could do with dancing. Because I think
Speaker 1: l A is one of those places that every person
Speaker 1: that thinks they're the best from their state comes. So
Speaker 1: it's definitely a route awakening. You think you're doing really
Speaker 1: good when you're in Utah. And I trained my butt
Speaker 1: off and I was always at every convention and I
Speaker 1: would go straight from school to dance until ten pm.
Speaker 1: Then I do have to do homework, so it's always
Speaker 1: been a grind, and my mom had to work at
Speaker 1: the studio to pay for my dance classes, so it's
Speaker 1: never been easy, and I don't think the best things
Speaker 1: are easy, So that's why I think it drove my
Speaker 1: passion for even more because it wasn't something that I
Speaker 1: just got handed to me. It was something I had
Speaker 1: to work for and that that excited me. I've always
Speaker 1: been really competitive with myself too, so I wanted to
Speaker 1: be the best that I could be, and I've always
Speaker 1: been super dramatic. I always was like playing pretend when
Speaker 1: I was younger, so being able to tell stories as
Speaker 1: I was dancing too was perfect for me. And from
Speaker 1: there I kind of got recognized by some choreographers. At
Speaker 1: a specific convention, it was called the Pulse On Tour
Speaker 1: and it had many choreographers that were working in the
Speaker 1: industry like Brian Freedman who choreographs for Britney Spears, and
Speaker 1: many other people, Dave Scott who has done most of
Speaker 1: the Step Up franchises, and Chris Judd, Lorianne gibbson Me
Speaker 1: and Michael's all these people that you see featured on
Speaker 1: so you think you can dance, or maybe if you
Speaker 1: see films, they're the choreographers of those or tours or
Speaker 1: anything like that. And I got the scholarship where I
Speaker 1: was able to assist them every weekend for a year,
Speaker 1: so I was up on stage with them, helping and
Speaker 1: teaching the rest of the students. So that how old
Speaker 1: were you at this point? I was twelve and at
Speaker 1: the time I was actually the youngest one that what
Speaker 1: were you doing at twelve? Right? It was? It was
Speaker 1: I mean I like lived and breathed dance like things
Speaker 1: that I looked back on now like that used to
Speaker 1: be my life. And I was so dramatic, like I
Speaker 1: messed up in that class, like my life is over,
Speaker 1: like it's just changes, you know. But I was really
Speaker 1: focused on it and it was a great time for
Speaker 1: me to have that opportunity too, because although I was
Speaker 1: still one of the youngest. They had different levels as intermediate, advanced,
Speaker 1: advanced pro, so I was intermediate because of my age group.
Speaker 1: But it really put me on the spot and kind
Speaker 1: of made me really decide if this is what I
Speaker 1: wanted to do, and it kind of opened my eyes
Speaker 1: to the possibilities of working as a professional and not
Speaker 1: just doing dance competition and competing. And they kind of
Speaker 1: really pushed me and tuned in on me, and honed
Speaker 1: in on my talent and was really trying to make
Speaker 1: me more than what I was. I think they saw
Speaker 1: my potential, which was really great because it's important to
Speaker 1: see that at a young age. Especially. It helped me
Speaker 1: further my career. I came out to l A when
Speaker 1: I was twelve, which is crazy. I've been doing this
Speaker 1: since I was twelve. So people saying like, oh, you're
Speaker 1: only twenty and you have all these experience and it's
Speaker 1: under your belt, Like I'm eighteen, I just moved out here,
Speaker 1: I have not like I'm like, yes, but I already
Speaker 1: went through those stages I was just twelve. I had
Speaker 1: to sacrifice a lot too, with schooling and friendships and
Speaker 1: everything because I had to start traveling every weekend for
Speaker 1: these conventions, and then from there, one of the choreographers
Speaker 1: made a little group and we auditioned for America's Best
Speaker 1: Dance Crew, and although we didn't make it to the
Speaker 1: Lives the live showings, it got me out to l
Speaker 1: A and I started taking classes out here, and I
Speaker 1: was like, Oh, I think I'm good, but I'm not
Speaker 1: that good, and I want to be that good. And
Speaker 1: it was cool because at the time, there wasn't that
Speaker 1: many kids taking class and social media wasn't that big,
Speaker 1: so I was really able to train with these adults
Speaker 1: and and the level of respect that I had for
Speaker 1: them was crazy. I mean, that's one problem that I
Speaker 1: think we do have now is the younger generation is
Speaker 1: so exposed to the dance world that the adults don't
Speaker 1: really have their separation in class, and kids think they
Speaker 1: can stand in front of people. But at the time,
Speaker 1: like I was so even honored to be in the class,
Speaker 1: and you had to get permission to take class when
Speaker 1: you were that age. Now you can just go in
Speaker 1: unless they say it's a certain age sixteen and up
Speaker 1: or eighteen and up. But I used to have to
Speaker 1: ask the teacher like, Hey, can I take your class
Speaker 1: because I want to train with you, or I'd have
Speaker 1: to get permission and they have to sign it. I
Speaker 1: wouldn't even be able to go in. And my mom
Speaker 1: would travel with me on the weekends, and I started
Speaker 1: coming to l A like a couple of days and
Speaker 1: then I'll drive back and we drive from Utah. Yes,
Speaker 1: so shout out to my mom. Mom is a rock group. Yea.
Speaker 1: But she obviously saw something in you, Otherwise I don't
Speaker 1: think she and and that's something that I've always been
Speaker 1: very blessed with. It is I've had a supportive family,
Speaker 1: and I know not not a lot of people have that.
Speaker 1: So it's nothing. It's something that I would never take
Speaker 1: for granted because I know all that many other people's
Speaker 1: circumstances are different. And I was lucky that they believed
Speaker 1: in me and they were going to see it through.
Speaker 1: Even though you know, we were sharing meals and sleeping
Speaker 1: on floors every time we came out. I would It
Speaker 1: wasn't something that I even saw is a bad thing,
Speaker 1: because I didn't even realize that it was because of
Speaker 1: money or anything. I was just like a road trip,
Speaker 1: you know, like, oh, you want to share a meal
Speaker 1: with me because you want to share a meal with
Speaker 1: me has nothing to do with how much it got.
Speaker 1: I didn't even realize it. So my family really made
Speaker 1: the experience good for me, and it's so very fortunately.
Speaker 1: I think that makes all the difference. It does. I've
Speaker 1: always owe everything to my family, but every every time
Speaker 1: I come out here too, you it's it's different. L
Speaker 1: A is different. People are different, and it's very competitive
Speaker 1: as well. So there's that little bit of you know,
Speaker 1: competitive air between everybody. Even when you step in a
Speaker 1: class and I was. I wasn't used to it. I
Speaker 1: was like, oh, we don't all love each other? Like
Speaker 1: what is this? Oh you don't like me because I'm good?
Speaker 1: Like what does that mean? Like? I like you because
Speaker 1: you're good of it. It's just this big competitive thing,
Speaker 1: and you know, eventually those couple of days turned to weeks,
Speaker 1: turned two months, and then I started being in l
Speaker 1: A more than I was in Utah, and I think
Speaker 1: around sixteen, I don't even have an official move date
Speaker 1: to California, but I think around sixteen was when I
Speaker 1: was here more than I was Utah. And um I
Speaker 1: roomed with three other people. My mom and I shared
Speaker 1: a room, a smaller room, you know, how like when
Speaker 1: you get in an apartment, there's the bigger room in
Speaker 1: the small room. We shared the smaller room with another
Speaker 1: mom and daughter. And were they also in the dance world?
Speaker 1: They were, yes, and I had met them through convention
Speaker 1: and she ended up being one of my best friends
Speaker 1: and we were roommates for seven years. So I just
Speaker 1: actually recently got my own apartment by myself. So like
Speaker 1: I saw that, I saw your little tour and very
Speaker 1: cute design. Congratulations, thank you so much, But yeah, it was.
Speaker 1: It was. It's been a journey, for sure, and it's
Speaker 1: been a long time. I've had a long time to
Speaker 1: really get into the industry and figure out what I
Speaker 1: like and other dancers and what I don't like and
Speaker 1: kind of take all of those things that I think
Speaker 1: that I could do really well and mash them up
Speaker 1: into the one well rounded dancer. And I always say
Speaker 1: that I have so much to work on still, like
Speaker 1: I will never stop growing. And I think that's what
Speaker 1: people commonly have misconceptions about is people are like, oh, Jade,
Speaker 1: like give me the secrets, Like how do I get
Speaker 1: into the industry, Like I want to book a tour
Speaker 1: like da da da da, And I'm like, well, you know,
Speaker 1: there are really no secrets, like you have to do
Speaker 1: it from the ground up. You have to take classes.
Speaker 1: If you want to be booked by somebody, you have
Speaker 1: to get in front of their face, take their class regularly,
Speaker 1: have to study what they what they like and what
Speaker 1: they book and you kind of have to Dancing is
Speaker 1: one of those hard things that you have to be
Speaker 1: a full package. So you have to you know, you
Speaker 1: have to keep working out, you have to you have
Speaker 1: to look. You have to keep yourself together. Your like
Speaker 1: body is your image and it's your it's your selling point,
Speaker 1: which is it causes a lot of hardships for I
Speaker 1: think everybody in the industry, females and males included. You
Speaker 1: are constantly being like judged and torn apart because they're
Speaker 1: they want the full look. And I think that comes
Speaker 1: with this entertainment industry in general. You have to always
Speaker 1: be on basically, and it's been it's you know, it's
Speaker 1: been hard because it makes people competitive, it makes people
Speaker 1: a little salty towards each other, and and you just
Speaker 1: have to really like seek out the people that are
Speaker 1: gonna want to grow with you rather than I want
Speaker 1: you to say where they're at. Because it is. It
Speaker 1: does get hard, and I think l A is like
Speaker 1: this big filter system. I always use it. A's like
Speaker 1: one of those those noodle drainers. You know. Everybody comes
Speaker 1: in and they think they can do it, and they
Speaker 1: really hope they can. But l A is so cut
Speaker 1: throat and it's it's so brutal and honest, and really
Speaker 1: only the people that are gonna really be willing to
Speaker 1: take those nose and keep going and hopefully turn them
Speaker 1: into yeses are the ones that end up here. A
Speaker 1: lot of people go home, which is it's really sad.
Speaker 1: I see a lot of people move out here. They
Speaker 1: did really well well where they're from, and then they
Speaker 1: come out here and they're like, oh, I'm not the
Speaker 1: best out here, Like okay, given up. You know. It's
Speaker 1: it's really hard, and especially with social media, and now
Speaker 1: there's not as many auditions as there used to be.
Speaker 1: There used to be like five auditions a week and
Speaker 1: sometimes you have too a day, but now they're rarely,
Speaker 1: like maybe every couple of months because people are just
Speaker 1: getting direct booked via social media. And there's also these
Speaker 1: like two sides in the industry of in the dance industry,
Speaker 1: specifically of people who love social media and people who
Speaker 1: hate it, and it's usually the older generation that doesn't
Speaker 1: really love it. But for me, in my eyes, I've
Speaker 1: always seen social media as a business tool, as a
Speaker 1: way to express myself and connect to people that I
Speaker 1: would never be able to without it. And I you know,
Speaker 1: obviously it gets hard because sometimes I'm in class and
Speaker 1: I'm like, oh, I really don't think I did good,
Speaker 1: but I'm still getting called out because they want me
Speaker 1: to be in this video. Like I don't know, I'd
Speaker 1: rather not go because I don't want to be on
Speaker 1: tape today. I just want to train. I want to
Speaker 1: feel always wondered about that. So I'm gonna cut, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna rudely interrupt you. So I always see these videos
Speaker 1: of like the playground is a playground or wherever, and
Speaker 1: and there's one person dancing in the front and then
Speaker 1: there's two in the back. Like this is a really
Speaker 1: uneducated question. I'm not in this world. Are you going
Speaker 1: to class that day not knowing that they're going to
Speaker 1: put you on tape? And then they put you on tape?
Speaker 1: How does that work? So basically, you go to class
Speaker 1: and you have about an hour or forty five minutes
Speaker 1: to an hour to learn the combo, and then you
Speaker 1: kind of do it in groups and focus on that,
Speaker 1: and then they'll end up calling people out. So you
Speaker 1: have no idea if you're gonna get called out, But
Speaker 1: is your goal to get called out? When I go
Speaker 1: to class when I was younger, it definitely was because
Speaker 1: at the time, it wasn't really about videos. It was
Speaker 1: about like getting seen by people. And well, I guess
Speaker 1: back in the day the social media, it wasn't There
Speaker 1: wasn't a pressure to be like I'm gonna go to
Speaker 1: class to day. It was just purely class, whereas now
Speaker 1: you go to class and you're like, my outfit needs
Speaker 1: to be on point, my makeup needs to be done,
Speaker 1: because if they call me out, there's gonna be now
Speaker 1: a video floating around exactly. And I think that's what
Speaker 1: it's really hard with social media is some people don't
Speaker 1: like that pressure. Some people don't want the camera and them.
Speaker 1: They just want to train, They just want to be
Speaker 1: there to learn. They want to be able to mess
Speaker 1: up and not feel bad about it. They don't want
Speaker 1: to put on this show, which I completely understand. And
Speaker 1: I think there's definitely a balance and a lot of
Speaker 1: people are like, oh, Jade only goes to the classes
Speaker 1: that get filmed, but I'm like, no, if you think
Speaker 1: about it, you don't know the classes that I go
Speaker 1: to that aren't filmed because they're not filmed. There's so
Speaker 1: many different classes, and I think a lot of people
Speaker 1: have like a bad taste in their mouth about people
Speaker 1: filming in class nowadays, but they don't realize there's always
Speaker 1: options for other things. And for me, I really wanted
Speaker 1: to utilize social media, and I think it's smart for
Speaker 1: any person in entertainment industry that's trying to make it
Speaker 1: is to not view social media as something to be
Speaker 1: showy and to get followers, but more to connect to
Speaker 1: people and to really get yourself out there because you
Speaker 1: never know who's going to be watching at that point,
Speaker 1: and as long as you remain like a good person.
Speaker 1: And that's something that I've always really tried to stay,
Speaker 1: is like to stay the same person that I came
Speaker 1: into this industry as because a lot of people change
Speaker 1: and it's really sad, and it's because a lot of
Speaker 1: people want to follow the mainstream of what everyone else
Speaker 1: is doing. They want to act, they want to be
Speaker 1: friends with certain people and and make those relationships, or
Speaker 1: they don't like this person because they got the job
Speaker 1: over them, or they have social media followers therefore they're
Speaker 1: not actually great dancers because they're just social media people.
Speaker 1: And I think lately a lot of the dancers that
Speaker 1: have been getting recognition are actually some of the best dancers.
Speaker 1: And obviously sometimes there's like people you're like, oh, that
Speaker 1: person is not, like, you know, really that good, but yeah,
Speaker 1: sure go follow them and think they're amazing. But it's
Speaker 1: always been my goal to not really prove myself, but
Speaker 1: just to stay who I am and to kind of
Speaker 1: maybe connect to somebody. And I love storytelling, which is
Speaker 1: why I love acting as well. And I think that
Speaker 1: the reason why people have connected with me is because
Speaker 1: I didn't shy away from the camera. It's hard because
Speaker 1: you just learned, you just learned choreography, you're like, I
Speaker 1: might forget it, and it's hard to kind of strip
Speaker 1: that away and focus on a camera and focus on storytelling.
Speaker 1: And for me, I just know that there's always a
Speaker 1: deeper message within dance, and whether it's an emotional dance,
Speaker 1: a happy dance, whatever, it can really connect to somebody
Speaker 1: and someone can feel relief from watching it, or maybe
Speaker 1: I have a realization of what they're feeling. And and
Speaker 1: that's always something that I've wanted to do with my
Speaker 1: social media per se is to really keep it raw
Speaker 1: and honest. I don't want to put this facade up
Speaker 1: that's not really me. I don't want to put images
Speaker 1: up of me on my Instagram that aren't what I
Speaker 1: really look like. I always want to keep it real.
Speaker 1: I'm not trying to be something I'm not, because the
Speaker 1: worst thing that could happen is somebody who needs me
Speaker 1: in person. They're like, oh wait, what that's you? Your
Speaker 1: pot isn't ten ft? Why? Like what happened? You definitely
Speaker 1: love those fakes tunes when you like think they look
Speaker 1: like something and you're like, you don't look like black China. No,
Speaker 1: it's crazy, it really is. And that that like, but
Speaker 1: you're doing yourself a disservice, like you said, it's almost like,
Speaker 1: why do you even put yourself in that position? And
Speaker 1: people do. Social media is hard, it's I mean, that's
Speaker 1: why people put these facades up is because I've actually
Speaker 1: been recently trying to stay away from my phone in general,
Speaker 1: because not that I thought I had a problem, but
Speaker 1: I was just like, Oh, this might be nice. I'm
Speaker 1: going to try it out, like a little social media
Speaker 1: cleansed thing where I'm only gonna go on for this
Speaker 1: amount of time per day and post what I need
Speaker 1: to post and kind of exit off. Because we're constantly
Speaker 1: looking and trying to be involved in everything and everyone
Speaker 1: else rather than focusing on ourselves. And it's called the
Speaker 1: lot of people to have insecurities. And that's why I
Speaker 1: started the Self Love Sundays was because I recognized it
Speaker 1: in myself. I was constantly searching other people and comparing
Speaker 1: myself to other people and seeing these Instagram models wondering
Speaker 1: why I didn't look like them, or seeing someone else
Speaker 1: dance and being like, oh I don't think I can
Speaker 1: do that or all of these other things, or these
Speaker 1: people have these opportunities that I wish I could have.
Speaker 1: And I found myself like which is ironic because I
Speaker 1: think a lot of people probably look at you and
Speaker 1: think the exact same thing. So it's really beautiful that
Speaker 1: you're pointing that out. Because even someone like you, who's
Speaker 1: a series regular, you're getting booked on things. Halsey wants
Speaker 1: you to dance with her. I mean you have things
Speaker 1: going on that are incredible, for sure, And I think
Speaker 1: that that's why it's important for me to try to
Speaker 1: keep the message of like, I am so grateful and
Speaker 1: there's never, like any any situation that I'm not grateful for.
Speaker 1: And but it's also important for me to showcase that
Speaker 1: it isn't always easy, because a lot of people think
Speaker 1: that these people have these lives that are so grand
Speaker 1: and then like, once you have this, once you achieve this,
Speaker 1: you're going to be happy. But then once you have it,
Speaker 1: you're not happy, and it's because you haven't really experienced
Speaker 1: the whole journey of it, and there's always ups and downs.
Speaker 1: This industry is really hard. It's not like a steady income.
Speaker 1: It's always job to job to job. You never know
Speaker 1: when you're going to book it, so it's it's very
Speaker 1: high stress. And obviously I'm so thankful that I'm not
Speaker 1: I'm not working a job that I I don't love,
Speaker 1: I don't love to do. I'm fortunate that what I
Speaker 1: do and what I make money from is something that
Speaker 1: I do love. But it definitely is really hard, and
Speaker 1: it it's built for certain personalities that can can withstand
Speaker 1: it because it's as much as there's it's a small
Speaker 1: world in a small industry. It's a very lonely industry.
Speaker 1: If you come out here, especially from out of state,
Speaker 1: there's you people come and go in your life because
Speaker 1: things are always changing and people are always trying to
Speaker 1: be something else or interests contrast or conflict with them.
Speaker 1: And I've had so many people come in and out
Speaker 1: of my life because not that I think I'm so successful,
Speaker 1: but I think my my confidence in the fact that
Speaker 1: I believe that whatever efforts I put in, I can
Speaker 1: always make any outcome that I want, and I know
Speaker 1: that one day I'm going to make it in how
Speaker 1: I want to make it, and it's always up to me.
Speaker 1: It has nothing to do with anybody else. And it's
Speaker 1: it's very intimidating to see somebody who's confident in their
Speaker 1: journey and confident in them and trying to love themselves,
Speaker 1: because if you don't feel that way, you you you
Speaker 1: feel a little insecure about it, and it's hard to
Speaker 1: watch your friends get your dream job. I get that totally,
Speaker 1: but it's always been something that I've had to really
Speaker 1: seek out those people that are really going to support
Speaker 1: me and love me in every circumstance, and it's been
Speaker 1: hard because that sometimes I'm like, I don't want to
Speaker 1: tell anybody that I got this because I don't I
Speaker 1: don't want them to feel bad, like even though this
Speaker 1: is something I did work for, so it should be
Speaker 1: something that I should celebrate and people should also celebrate
Speaker 1: and instead of turn away from be inspired by. And
Speaker 1: I find myself constantly inspired by my friends and all
Speaker 1: wakes of life, whether it be like my friends on
Speaker 1: tour with jave Alvin right now, and she's traveling the world,
Speaker 1: getting paid to travel the world and perform and do
Speaker 1: what she loves and and to me, that's that's amazing.
Speaker 1: That's living the life. That's one stepping stone closer to
Speaker 1: what she wants to do. And it's just I want
Speaker 1: everyone to really like feel the love in the support
Speaker 1: in the community, because if we create a community, people
Speaker 1: can grow so much easier and there's not just one
Speaker 1: spot at the top. There's room for everybody. And I
Speaker 1: think that's something that people might think otherwise on but
Speaker 1: I've seen so many people succeed and I see so
Speaker 1: many people that put the work in. Might not come
Speaker 1: when you want it to, but it always does come.
Speaker 1: In some shape or form, that satisfaction the success that
Speaker 1: you always want as long as you work hard, and
Speaker 1: you say a good person, that's really I think my
Speaker 1: key too. Yeah, what what is making it to you?
Speaker 1: Because I know that it's going to change probably every year. Right,
Speaker 1: you know, you may have never been a series regular,
Speaker 1: then all of a sudden you are, and that's like
Speaker 1: a moment. But then you're going to evolve and you're
Speaker 1: going to have another mountain that you want to climb.
Speaker 1: What is making it or successful look like to you?
Speaker 1: When I was younger, it was different. It was booking
Speaker 1: a certain job or doing something else. But for me now,
Speaker 1: like especially because I'm in my twenties, I'm a young adult,
Speaker 1: I am not just I'm paying my own bills. Like
Speaker 1: their stress of life. For me, it's always just to
Speaker 1: be happy in the process because a lot of times
Speaker 1: people place happiness on a certain accomplishment and then once
Speaker 1: you get it, then it's like okay, what now, Like
Speaker 1: I'm not I'm not happy, So I think, like exactly
Speaker 1: what you said. But my my my goals are constantly changing.
Speaker 1: I have life goals, I have I have relationship goals,
Speaker 1: I have job goals. But I think the most important
Speaker 1: thing for me to do and the process is to
Speaker 1: really experience and be present in every moment in the
Speaker 1: the stepping stones, because even though like the success in
Speaker 1: the accomplishment is so great, like I learned so much
Speaker 1: more getting there than I did once I got it.
Speaker 1: So for me, it's just to really be open to
Speaker 1: everything and too kind of have to You have to
Speaker 1: think on your feet, you have to be ready for anything.
Speaker 1: Life changes, the industry out here is constantly changing, and
Speaker 1: the rug will get pulled from underneath your feet. I
Speaker 1: wish I could put on my my resume like almost
Speaker 1: booked this, like was really close, but like no one
Speaker 1: even knows what I almost booked or how long I
Speaker 1: spent preparing for that job and then I didn't get it,
Speaker 1: because you only really promote your successes on social media,
Speaker 1: and that's all people can really see you as is
Speaker 1: what you what you put out there. And for me,
Speaker 1: my goal is to be happy, but obviously there's career
Speaker 1: goals that I would like to accomplish as well, And yeah,
Speaker 1: I think it always changes. I think, what's your current
Speaker 1: career goal? To be a lead in a movie theater movie,
Speaker 1: so in a cinema that I mean, I think if
Speaker 1: we were to look at the trajectory, it seems like
Speaker 1: you're on that path. You really trying acting as a
Speaker 1: whole another monsters. Well, obviously you know what you're doing.
Speaker 1: You wouldn't be booking series regulars. You would just be
Speaker 1: you know, dancing is incredible, but you would just be
Speaker 1: in that one lane. But you've kind of crossed over
Speaker 1: into bringing two talents together, which and it's working for you, right.
Speaker 1: And I think something that I've learned from being in
Speaker 1: this industry, and and because I started so young, I
Speaker 1: think I'm starting other things young as well. I've really
Speaker 1: seen that I can't just be a one trick pony.
Speaker 1: I need to be an entrepreneur. I need to have
Speaker 1: all of I want to be a business. I want
Speaker 1: to I want to do all of these things before
Speaker 1: everyone else thinks to do them. And I think that's
Speaker 1: kind of what I've always tried to do, is to
Speaker 1: step outside what the norm is and to do things
Speaker 1: before other people do it too, maybe inspire people to
Speaker 1: do the same thing. And for me, I am trying
Speaker 1: to use my social media to actually promote positivity and
Speaker 1: maybe address certain things that people my age might be
Speaker 1: going through where people need to hear, or just little
Speaker 1: tips and things that I've learned from my life. And
Speaker 1: and when I do these self love Sundays, I don't
Speaker 1: actually think I know everything, and it doesn't mean I'm
Speaker 1: always great at the things I'm talking about, but I
Speaker 1: always try to relate it to what's going on in
Speaker 1: my life currently, just to make it something that other
Speaker 1: people can relate to. So I want to start using
Speaker 1: my success per se for inspiring other people. But then
Speaker 1: I'm also working on being a choreographing my own things
Speaker 1: and being a dancer in training, and then I also
Speaker 1: want to be an actress and I want to do that.
Speaker 1: And then I'm also integrating the fitness into me into
Speaker 1: my lifestyle, and I have a fitness program that I've
Speaker 1: been selling to people and helping transformations with that and
Speaker 1: really learning about health. And I'm trying to manage my
Speaker 1: money properly before you know, you never know what's going
Speaker 1: to happen, and so that's why I really want to
Speaker 1: utilize all the time that I have and and utilize
Speaker 1: the materials that I have right now, because we we
Speaker 1: don't know if social media could die out it could
Speaker 1: be a MySpace thing and now it's not a big
Speaker 1: thing anymore. And it's you're so evolved and already grasp
Speaker 1: that concept because I think so many people and I
Speaker 1: hate saying influencer, but if you're an influencer and you
Speaker 1: are one, you have influence. It's just a fact. They
Speaker 1: think this is forever and and they'll be and there's
Speaker 1: nothing's forever. So you always have to think five steps ahead,
Speaker 1: and it seems like you're doing that. I'm really lucky too,
Speaker 1: because my family works with me on my business side.
Speaker 1: So my older brother he kind of is like my
Speaker 1: personal manager, and he's he's always been so intelligent and
Speaker 1: he's really into business and marketing and stuff. So he's
Speaker 1: been really guiding me and helping me with all these things.
Speaker 1: And he always tells me that Jade, like, you can't
Speaker 1: just be on on Instagram. You have to really project
Speaker 1: yourself all over because once something's gone, like what's left,
Speaker 1: will you still be remembered without that? And that's something
Speaker 1: that I always want somebody to look up to me
Speaker 1: without social media. I don't want it to be just
Speaker 1: because I have a certain amount of followers and I
Speaker 1: think the word influencer is often missed used, and I
Speaker 1: think so many people are categorized as influencers, but what
Speaker 1: are they influencing to be anorexic and not eat, or
Speaker 1: to go party and do all this thing, or just
Speaker 1: to take selfies all the time. Like I really want
Speaker 1: to use what I have and actually influence people for
Speaker 1: the better. And it took me a while to realize
Speaker 1: how I wanted to do that, and so I just
Speaker 1: started incorporating things that happened my day in my daily life.
Speaker 1: And I know that I have so much to learn,
Speaker 1: and I think even social media and this industry is
Speaker 1: constantly teaching me different lessons, whether they're good or bad.
Speaker 1: And I think it's really ultimately about how you bounce
Speaker 1: back from these hardships, because this industry, like everybody says
Speaker 1: thirty knows to one yes, and it's created the amount
Speaker 1: of Like if you guys knew how many self tapes
Speaker 1: or auditions in acting that I've done, and I've I've
Speaker 1: booked this one series, Like I would really hope so
Speaker 1: I booked something because otherwise I might need to change
Speaker 1: my career. Bath But it is hard, and it's really
Speaker 1: hard to keep going and to keep inspiring yourself and
Speaker 1: pushing yourself and trying to see new areas that you
Speaker 1: can grow in, because a lot of people plateau, especially
Speaker 1: in dancing, there's you know, you go on tour or
Speaker 1: you become a choreographer, Like what else is there? I
Speaker 1: just always like tried to be inspired by everyone and
Speaker 1: tried to learn something new and not really allow myself
Speaker 1: to settle, because once you settle, that's that's when you
Speaker 1: start opening yourself up to the same opportunities into the
Speaker 1: same outcomes as you're you're not really trying to even
Speaker 1: see anything else, and a lot of people see failure
Speaker 1: is something so bad. But I've really like, if I
Speaker 1: look back, you know, I'm twenty, I haven't had that
Speaker 1: many things that are super crazy happened in my life,
Speaker 1: but there have been some things that really threw me
Speaker 1: off my game, like whether it be personal or job related.
Speaker 1: Looking back, those are actually like my favorite memories because
Speaker 1: I learned so much about myself in that process. And
Speaker 1: also when you when you get these nose or or
Speaker 1: you feel a certain way, whether you let's say you're
Speaker 1: depressed right now. I used to never be able to
Speaker 1: relate to people that were like that I was like,
Speaker 1: why don't they just bounce out of it, like they
Speaker 1: still have so much There's so much great going on,
Speaker 1: and and I actually went through a period where I
Speaker 1: was stuck with who I was as a person and
Speaker 1: I was never letting it integrate into my business, which
Speaker 1: and my dancing in my career, which was Yeah, I'm
Speaker 1: pat myself on the back for that because it could
Speaker 1: have really messed things up. But I felt lost and
Speaker 1: and I had to really push through and find that
Speaker 1: self love. And that's actually why I started self Love Sundays,
Speaker 1: was because I realized that I wasn't giving myself the
Speaker 1: same love that I was giving everyone else. I was
Speaker 1: filling everybody else's cups, but I wasn't allowing people in
Speaker 1: my life that were filling mine back. So I was
Speaker 1: just drained and I was empty, and I lost a
Speaker 1: bunch of friendships all at once, and I just felt
Speaker 1: lost out here. I don't have my family out here,
Speaker 1: so it's it's really tough industry. You feel isolated. And
Speaker 1: I now feel like I have this compassion for people
Speaker 1: that are going through that, and I feel like I
Speaker 1: can relate in maybe approach different aspects of my life
Speaker 1: because of those lessons I learned in failure or whatever,
Speaker 1: however you look at it. So it's just you know this,
Speaker 1: this is it's been a journey only twenty but you
Speaker 1: know it's nothing's easy, and I think it's good that
Speaker 1: nothing's easy because it breeds you for to be able
Speaker 1: to take on so much more. Do you attribute your
Speaker 1: success to this attitude? Because it seems like, first of all,
Speaker 1: you're very young, and it's not knocking. I'm not an agist,
Speaker 1: but for you to be so evolved and to understand
Speaker 1: these concepts, some people don't understand this till they're in
Speaker 1: their forties fifties. They haven't be life crisis. They're like, oh,
Speaker 1: this is why this didn't work out for me. What
Speaker 1: do you attribute to this, this mentality, in this attitude.
Speaker 1: One thing that I've always believed was that I have
Speaker 1: the power to create or manifest any opportunity or any
Speaker 1: job or any goal in my life. And I've always
Speaker 1: really tried to hold onto that. Most importantly, I didn't
Speaker 1: want to change who I was, and I think I
Speaker 1: was raised in an amazing way. And shout out to
Speaker 1: my family because they always taught me that it doesn't
Speaker 1: matter how much you have or where you're at in life,
Speaker 1: like down to the tea, Like it matters if you're
Speaker 1: a good person. And I think when you have good karma,
Speaker 1: good karma comes out into the world and you get
Speaker 1: you get gifts and and success is back because what
Speaker 1: you put out is what you always get back. And yeah,
Speaker 1: you always see those people you're like, they don't deserve that,
Speaker 1: Like they didn't even work hard, they're not even a
Speaker 1: good person. But ultimately, it doesn't really matter what everybody
Speaker 1: else is doing. And that's something that I've definitely had
Speaker 1: to learn and I think that's helped me gain the
Speaker 1: success that I have, is to not be too involved
Speaker 1: in everyone else's successes or opinions. And it's it's a
Speaker 1: very fine line of being selfish and selfless and really
Speaker 1: focusing on yourself. Like it there's you know, it's hard.
Speaker 1: Some people would cain, girls, oh, that's selfish if you
Speaker 1: don't care about anybody else. But it's not that I
Speaker 1: don't care about anybody else. But you just always have
Speaker 1: to put yourself first in the matter of what's going
Speaker 1: to benefit you as a person and your happiness and
Speaker 1: your overall drive. And you need to surround yourself with
Speaker 1: certain people, and if there's people that you feel like
Speaker 1: are draining you or or you don't really deal with you,
Speaker 1: you should exit that situation and you need to leave.
Speaker 1: And I think that me just I've always been competitive
Speaker 1: with myself and not really with other people. And I
Speaker 1: think that's a a good characteristic that I've carried out
Speaker 1: throughout my career. And I think that's something that's really
Speaker 1: pushed me to gain the success that I have is
Speaker 1: because it's never been about if someone else got something
Speaker 1: or if they have something over me. It's always been
Speaker 1: about what can I do to be better? And to
Speaker 1: be really honest with yourself. That's it's really hard. It's
Speaker 1: so hard to be like, oh, yeah, I really didn't
Speaker 1: do good. They're like, I need to assess how I
Speaker 1: handled that situation and I need to be better from that.
Speaker 1: And to be brutally honest with yourself and your career
Speaker 1: path is really hard to because you have do you
Speaker 1: take a lot of pride in what you do and
Speaker 1: you don't want to fail and stuff. But unless you
Speaker 1: you recognize you your areas of weakness, there's no way
Speaker 1: to make those strengths. And I think I've just really
Speaker 1: just tried to stay constantly evolving and evolving with this
Speaker 1: industry because the world is evolving, like everything is always
Speaker 1: changing around you, and it's it's really important to adapt
Speaker 1: to those changes and to embrace them and to really
Speaker 1: just like have your eyes set on where you want
Speaker 1: to go in life and recognize that it's okay to
Speaker 1: take left turns. Sometimes you take a couple of steps
Speaker 1: back as long as you're taking a couple of steps
Speaker 1: forward afterwards. But yeah, I just have to I've always
Speaker 1: stayed motivated and I don't let things get me down,
Speaker 1: which obviously there's those days where I'm just like this sucks,
Speaker 1: like dang it, like man, life sucks. But I really
Speaker 1: have to like pull myself out of that, and I've
Speaker 1: been really focusing on that. Anytime I get any negativity
Speaker 1: or any thoughts in my head, I really have to
Speaker 1: pull myself out of that and start thinking about everything
Speaker 1: that I do have, because, like you said, like many people,
Speaker 1: I would love to have the life that I have,
Speaker 1: and I always have to realize that that, like everything
Speaker 1: that I do have is although I've earned it, I'm
Speaker 1: also very fortunate and very lucky to be where I'm
Speaker 1: at And it's all about timing too. I think I
Speaker 1: came into the industry at a really great time. I
Speaker 1: came in and I started dancing. I was able to
Speaker 1: train under these amazing people, and then by the time
Speaker 1: social media came around, I was already adjusted to this
Speaker 1: lifestyle in this industry, and I got hit by social
Speaker 1: media at a great time where there was no other
Speaker 1: dancer that was getting popularity. So videos and dance choreography
Speaker 1: started getting popular and I was at the forefront of that.
Speaker 1: So if I didn't come out to l a maybe
Speaker 1: at a certain time, I wouldn't have been in the
Speaker 1: same position. So everything's about timing. And I know that
Speaker 1: everything happens on its own time, and we all have
Speaker 1: our own path, and you really just gotta know that
Speaker 1: like everything happens for a reason. It's like one of
Speaker 1: my favorite quotes of life, Like everything happens for a reason,
Speaker 1: whether it be something you don't really want, and that's
Speaker 1: something that I have conversations with all my friends or
Speaker 1: like my family all the time. It's like you usually
Speaker 1: are in a bad situation when it's not necessarily something
Speaker 1: you want and it's something that you need a lot
Speaker 1: of times things happen happen to you and you're like,
Speaker 1: but I don't want that, so you fight it and
Speaker 1: you end up being in this bad relationship with whatever
Speaker 1: it is, this this opportunity or this situation, and you've
Speaker 1: got to really see that, like, it's not always going
Speaker 1: to be about what you want. Sometimes you're going to
Speaker 1: veer off the path of what you thought was what
Speaker 1: you were going to do for life, and your life
Speaker 1: takes a different turn, and you just really have to
Speaker 1: embrace those turns and those you know, all these things
Speaker 1: that you don't necessarily want but you need. I don't
Speaker 1: want everything that happens to me, but I definitely think
Speaker 1: I needed it, and I feel like I've grown from it,
Speaker 1: and it kind of helps me tune and hone in
Speaker 1: on what I really want to do in my life
Speaker 1: and ultimately for me, like I just want to. I
Speaker 1: want to. Everybody says it, but I really do want
Speaker 1: to make a difference in the world, and I want
Speaker 1: to once I have the means to be able to
Speaker 1: travel and give back to people and help. I'm a
Speaker 1: big naturehead, so I I'm a total hippie at heart.
Speaker 1: I want to be able to like plant trees and
Speaker 1: go to these different places and be able to help
Speaker 1: people and give back because ultimately, like this world when
Speaker 1: we when we all die, like, is it really going
Speaker 1: to be measured about like what accomplishments we have. It's
Speaker 1: it's more about how we change the world and how
Speaker 1: we changed other's lives. And and that's what I do
Speaker 1: love about social media. It's one of my favorite things
Speaker 1: about it is that we have the opportunity to connect
Speaker 1: with people from everywhere dancing. It allows me to have
Speaker 1: different countries and different convention people reach out to me
Speaker 1: and be like, hey, would you like to come teach
Speaker 1: in this place? Hey, I get to go meet new
Speaker 1: people and inspire new people and embrace this new energy
Speaker 1: and see this new culture, and I get to travel
Speaker 1: and I get to do what I love. Like there's
Speaker 1: so many positives to social media. Obviously with everything, there's
Speaker 1: positives and negatives. But that's one of my favorite things
Speaker 1: about it is I can connect to some any different
Speaker 1: people and it's really cool. And you know, it's also
Speaker 1: kind of cool for for especially my mom loves it.
Speaker 1: You know, she gets to always know what I'm doing,
Speaker 1: and and it connects with family and I'm grateful for that,
Speaker 1: but you know, it also is kind of like I
Speaker 1: get a look back on it sometimes sometimes I scroll
Speaker 1: all the way down and I'm like, oh, wow, I
Speaker 1: have gotten better. Like, you know, I think it's super important.
Speaker 1: And with videoing and dancing, a lot of people see
Speaker 1: it as oh, you're just showing off, you know, like
Speaker 1: you're showing but like, I actually learned so much from
Speaker 1: every video that I post, and people don't know that
Speaker 1: I don't just post them a lot of times. I
Speaker 1: will watch them in slow motion and go through them
Speaker 1: super slowly and critique every little second of my dancing
Speaker 1: because I do. I want to be the best, Like
Speaker 1: why not be the best if you're capable of it?
Speaker 1: And I've always thought that, like what are you waiting for? Like,
Speaker 1: and I have to inspire myself and motivate myself sometimes too,
Speaker 1: Like it's like when you haven't gone to the gym
Speaker 1: for a while, it's really hard to get back into it.
Speaker 1: But you just really have to motivate yourself to want
Speaker 1: to be better. You're not always going to be at
Speaker 1: your best, and that's okay. You should always have that
Speaker 1: motivation and inspiration to try to maintain that we're never
Speaker 1: going to be perfect, but it's always a goal. So
Speaker 1: there's so many dancers on Instagram are posting videos all
Speaker 1: the time. It feels like in the last two years
Speaker 1: it kind of became like a trendy thing to do, right.
Speaker 1: What do you think sets your content apart from there's
Speaker 1: so much content out there and you have so many followers,
Speaker 1: what do you think sets your content apart from some
Speaker 1: of the others? And if you if you have some
Speaker 1: feedback or a tip to give somebody who wants to
Speaker 1: be a dancer. And obviously being on social media has
Speaker 1: helped you book jobs and people find you there, So
Speaker 1: what advice would you give someone who wants to be
Speaker 1: the next Jade? For me, I think what has actually
Speaker 1: really like set me apart is I really embrace the
Speaker 1: story of it because people don't want to just watch
Speaker 1: for entertainment, They want to feel something. That's ultimately what
Speaker 1: we do. We do everything to feel something, We eat
Speaker 1: to feel full, we watch certain things to get a
Speaker 1: certain emotion out. And for me, I really embraced the
Speaker 1: storyline of it. And I think what has set me
Speaker 1: apart from maybe other dancers and I can't really speak
Speaker 1: for everybody else because I don't know what they're thinking
Speaker 1: when they're dancing. But I'm really trying to be like
Speaker 1: honest when I'm dancing, and whether that's like a fun dance,
Speaker 1: I'm trying to tap into that a great memory or
Speaker 1: something like that. And for me, I never just put
Speaker 1: out content because I need it. I really want it
Speaker 1: to be because I'm inspired by it or I feel
Speaker 1: like it could help somebody. And I don't just take
Speaker 1: classes that are because they're filmed, like I'll take certain
Speaker 1: classes that I really enjoy and I connect with and
Speaker 1: I can learn something from. So I think that the
Speaker 1: difference between I don't know, it's hard because there's so
Speaker 1: many amazing dancers that deserve all the light and but
Speaker 1: you're definitely different. You're definitely I mean, there's a difference
Speaker 1: between you and a lot of the dancers. There's a
Speaker 1: reason why you're getting booked on things that others aren't.
Speaker 1: And I'm not knocking anyone, but there's something. I honestly
Speaker 1: think it's that I'm not trying to be anybody else. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you're super authentic. I mean it it comes across in
Speaker 1: all of your content. You're never trying to be the
Speaker 1: cool girl, which I really know what you are, but
Speaker 1: you are. I think that's what's so cool about you.
Speaker 1: I saw so cool Amelia, Like no, but like seriously,
Speaker 1: I think that's what people really love, authenticity and you
Speaker 1: can't fake that. And I think with social media there's
Speaker 1: like a certain stigma that you have to be something,
Speaker 1: You have to be a certain person to be a
Speaker 1: social media influencer or what do you think that person
Speaker 1: is that people think they have to be. You have
Speaker 1: to be perfect. They don't want to see that you're silly.
Speaker 1: They want to see that you have You're pretty, and
Speaker 1: you're always put together and you you only do this.
Speaker 1: And there's certain lanes like I'm the funny person, or
Speaker 1: I'm that pretty person, or I'm this person, or I'm
Speaker 1: the you know, there's so many different categories. But like
Speaker 1: I think I'm all of those things combined, and I
Speaker 1: can be all of those things combined. And and I
Speaker 1: did realize for a while that after my videos were posted,
Speaker 1: like I have this alter ego when I dance, I
Speaker 1: call her Jo It's not actually Jade because I get
Speaker 1: really serious when the music comes on because I'm so
Speaker 1: inspired by music. I love music. And that's why I
Speaker 1: think I love dancing so much, is because I love
Speaker 1: the feeling that I get when listening to it, and
Speaker 1: I want to portray that with movement. And I think
Speaker 1: like a lot of people are like, oh, like, you're
Speaker 1: actually nice, because I can come across intimidating if I'm
Speaker 1: doing like a serious dance or like something like maybe
Speaker 1: it's a heels class, like people might think I think
Speaker 1: I'm something I'm not. So I always make sure that
Speaker 1: I use my social media to show all aspects of
Speaker 1: my life and all aspects of my personality because I'm
Speaker 1: not just one thing, and I don't have to be
Speaker 1: just one thing, and I want people to know that,
Speaker 1: like you can you can put like on a little show,
Speaker 1: but you can still be a good and humble person afterwards.
Speaker 1: You can go and do a solo and get called
Speaker 1: out in this awesome class which is so cool, but
Speaker 1: then come back down to earth right back after it.
Speaker 1: And also I like to post things like even when
Speaker 1: I mess up, because it's important for people to know
Speaker 1: that I'm not perfect, because nobody is, and everybody messes up.
Speaker 1: And and I think that in regards to a little
Speaker 1: message for aspiring dancers and aspiring artists. I think it's
Speaker 1: super important for you to really utilize the means that
Speaker 1: we have now social media, or if you're not in
Speaker 1: l A and you don't have the opportunity to come
Speaker 1: to this place where it's the land of opportunity, to
Speaker 1: really make the best of your situation at home. To
Speaker 1: train in every style because you never know which style
Speaker 1: you need. I trained in ballet, tap, lyrical, contemporary, jazz,
Speaker 1: I have a little bit of salsa, even acrobatics and
Speaker 1: all of these things and hip hop. You need to
Speaker 1: know you're you need to know your career. You need
Speaker 1: to know what you're trying to pursue. Otherwise, how are
Speaker 1: you going to be able to tell a true story
Speaker 1: if you're not even speaking the truth because you don't
Speaker 1: know this movement or you have to know your history.
Speaker 1: Just like when you're doing a job, you need to
Speaker 1: go to school for it. This is your school, taking
Speaker 1: classes your school. So I would just really suggest to
Speaker 1: train in every style and to stay consistent and stay
Speaker 1: honest with yourself. And if you don't have somebody filming you,
Speaker 1: ask somebody to film you on your phone and to
Speaker 1: study it and to to try to become better after
Speaker 1: each video. And if you don't have the opportunity to
Speaker 1: stay in l A and you come learn a class.
Speaker 1: If you think I didn't get all the moves, dang it,
Speaker 1: like how did they learn that so fast? Like I'm
Speaker 1: not there yet. Take that combo and take it back
Speaker 1: home and keep rehearsing it every day until you feel
Speaker 1: like you have perfected it in how you want to.
Speaker 1: And I think it's just to stay motivated, and you
Speaker 1: have to keep pushing yourself and keep realizing new areas
Speaker 1: and watch people that inspire you and don't try to
Speaker 1: copy them, because I think a lot of people are
Speaker 1: Even in the dance industry, it's always like trends of
Speaker 1: movement that happened, Like now it's like the super hardful
Speaker 1: out trend. Now everybody's doing slinky like wavy movement, and
Speaker 1: I'm like, why can't we just do it all all
Speaker 1: at once? And That's what I've always tried to do,
Speaker 1: is I see these people that inspire me, and instead
Speaker 1: of like, oh, I want to be like them, I'm like, Wow,
Speaker 1: that was really cool. What what about them could I
Speaker 1: add to me that would that would work well with
Speaker 1: what I already have going and just to really try
Speaker 1: to be a like a jack of all trades and
Speaker 1: to you know, be well rounded and and to really
Speaker 1: keep growing because there's always different ways that you can
Speaker 1: keep getting better. And I think that that's super important
Speaker 1: to remember, even if you don't have the opportunity to
Speaker 1: come out to l A, to utilize the social media.
Speaker 1: Watch these answers that you love and figure out why
Speaker 1: they why you love them, and see what you can
Speaker 1: apply to yourself. So on the outside looking, and I
Speaker 1: think it'd be easy for somebody to have the common misconception,
Speaker 1: like you said, like, oh, Jade's got it easy. All
Speaker 1: these things happen. They don't know that you've been here
Speaker 1: since twelve, the age of twelve, dancing since too. You've
Speaker 1: had a lot of big wins, but there have been
Speaker 1: days that you didn't win, and there have been days
Speaker 1: that you probably wanted to quit. How did you get
Speaker 1: out of that mind frame and show up to class
Speaker 1: the next day? Honestly for me, because yeah, it is.
Speaker 1: That is one thing that I would like always tell people,
Speaker 1: like no, like it isn't. It isn't easy. Just because
Speaker 1: it looks easy. You only get to see a glimpse
Speaker 1: of my life through social media. You don't really know
Speaker 1: who I am, you don't know what I'm going through,
Speaker 1: and no one wants to hear the bad days, so
Speaker 1: people only showcase their great days, you know, like I
Speaker 1: slept on floors, shared meals, Like I didn't get to
Speaker 1: go to school and have that normal life of being
Speaker 1: a kid. I had to grow up really fast, and
Speaker 1: those are certain things that I had to sacrifice, but
Speaker 1: I would do it all over again. And I think
Speaker 1: when I have these these like let downs, are these
Speaker 1: these failures or whatever it is in my eyes that
Speaker 1: didn't go well, I I just really have to tell myself.
Speaker 1: First of all, I let myself feel the feeling, because
Speaker 1: I've always been bad at that. I've always kind of
Speaker 1: internalized my emotions and I'm like, nope, can't be sad.
Speaker 1: I'm good, I'm good, I'm fine, I'm fine. But then
Speaker 1: eventually the things pile up and I have this big,
Speaker 1: you know, big panic attack or something like that where
Speaker 1: I'm like, oh, like everything's wrong, but like really it's
Speaker 1: just built up emotion. So I really let myself feel
Speaker 1: the emotion of of not having what I want, and
Speaker 1: I allow that to be okay. I give myself that
Speaker 1: day to really sit in it, to to you know,
Speaker 1: like allow myself to be sad, but to realize that
Speaker 1: that means that it just wasn't meant for me. And
Speaker 1: I think that's always what I have to keep in
Speaker 1: my mind, is that if I didn't get something, it
Speaker 1: wasn't meant to be mine. And it's a hard pill
Speaker 1: to swallow. It's it's a kind of an ego bruiser,
Speaker 1: but it's it keeps me going that I know that
Speaker 1: something else is on the horizon. And it's always when
Speaker 1: people have these really hard times that these great things
Speaker 1: happen for me. When I had my my little moment
Speaker 1: at the end of this last year beginning of this year,
Speaker 1: I ended up getting Halsey right after, and during the process,
Speaker 1: I was like, why did this happen to? Like why
Speaker 1: am I in this place? Like why am I so negative?
Speaker 1: I don't see a way out. I at the time,
Speaker 1: I didn't have an apartment because I just got back
Speaker 1: from filming in Atlanta and I gave up my apartment,
Speaker 1: so I didn't have my own space. I didn't feel
Speaker 1: I wasn't sleeping enough, Like it was just all these
Speaker 1: pile of things, and I didn't know why this was
Speaker 1: happening to me, and I didn't know why I wasn't
Speaker 1: happy because I still had so much to be grateful for.
Speaker 1: And then, although like I was in this depressed state,
Speaker 1: I was still fighting to be better. I wanted to
Speaker 1: be happy and I wanted to figure out what it
Speaker 1: was that wasn't making me happy. And once I started
Speaker 1: allowing myself to embrace that side of me, but to
Speaker 1: see the positive and the positive, the silver linings of everything,
Speaker 1: that's when I got this great job and I was
Speaker 1: able to actually you is those emotions that I was
Speaker 1: going through in the story that I told with Halsey.
Speaker 1: That was a beautiful performance, by the way, and you've
Speaker 1: got a lot of a lot of press for that
Speaker 1: because it was just I think it really resonated with
Speaker 1: a lot of people, and for me, with that job
Speaker 1: like it was, it was such an honor to tell
Speaker 1: such an important story. And that's why I respect Halsey
Speaker 1: so much, is because she utilizes her platform to actually
Speaker 1: address things that need to be addressed. You should be
Speaker 1: able to love whoever you want and there should be
Speaker 1: no judgment on that. And I love that her music
Speaker 1: video had a mail, but then she used the female
Speaker 1: for this story. And I also love that she's so
Speaker 1: confident and loving of herself that she's able to share
Speaker 1: her light with somebody else. It's also not like even
Speaker 1: on beyond the story that we were telling, in the
Speaker 1: message that we're portraying as a dancer, that's huge. No
Speaker 1: dancer has ever been put on an equal level as
Speaker 1: the artist. Were always behind them. You were performing with you,
Speaker 1: guys were rumming together, and that's what I love about it.
Speaker 1: And she was so willing to do that. She didn't
Speaker 1: She doesn't always dance, so she was like, oh, this
Speaker 1: is nervous, nerve wracking for me too. And I'm like,
Speaker 1: were you teaching her how to dance? We we had,
Speaker 1: we had a choreographer for the job, but she already
Speaker 1: could move, really killed it. She's amazing. So I was like, Okay,
Speaker 1: I mean, you were clearly the dancer, but she killed it. No,
Speaker 1: she's she's amazing, And I think she's like really tapping.
Speaker 1: I have such a crush on her, I haven't I
Speaker 1: were going down that like maybe I'd consider it. I
Speaker 1: would too. I don't really follow a lot of celebrities,
Speaker 1: but She's somebody that I love following because she just
Speaker 1: doesn't give a ship. She's so authentically all the time,
Speaker 1: unapologetically herself, and I love that about her, and I
Speaker 1: hope that artists start doing that more because I think
Speaker 1: it's really empowering, especially for this new generation that to me,
Speaker 1: feels kind of lost, like everyone's like who am I?
Speaker 1: What am I? A Jake Pauler, like everyone who's just
Speaker 1: you know, like whatever into ay, whatever trend is. And
Speaker 1: then you see someone like Halsey, who one minute she's
Speaker 1: doing a pop song, the next minute she's doing like
Speaker 1: alternative rock, which is so incredible. And also like from
Speaker 1: a dancer perspective, you don't get treated very well on
Speaker 1: tours or things like that. Dancers are kind of like
Speaker 1: at the bottom of the food chain in that sense,
Speaker 1: we don't make nearly as much money as artists or
Speaker 1: actors or singers were probably at the bottom of that.
Speaker 1: But I also think it's one of the most physically demanding,
Speaker 1: So it's it's always been unfair like, oh, like, why
Speaker 1: are we all in one trailer when I like, one
Speaker 1: time I was on a show and we're dancing and they,
Speaker 1: let's say, upgraded me and I had a line. I
Speaker 1: got my own trailer, people asking me what I needed.
Speaker 1: But before I was in this hot room with fifteen
Speaker 1: other dancers that was the same size as my my
Speaker 1: room that I had now by myself. It's it's like
Speaker 1: and you you're like always like okay, you gotta keep going,
Speaker 1: like hey we're going again. You're like I need a breath,
Speaker 1: like my body is gonna die, like and people don't
Speaker 1: realize that. And and a lot of people just think
Speaker 1: that because dancing is so entertaining, it's kind of like
Speaker 1: a dance monkey dance, Like they don't realize like, no,
Speaker 1: this is this is hard, Like even with Step Up,
Speaker 1: because we incorporate so much dancing into it. I think
Speaker 1: like even the producers and and everybody on the set
Speaker 1: had to learn that, Like our time is very valuable.
Speaker 1: Our bodies are valuable because you can you can't do
Speaker 1: this forever. You can't just do take after take after take.
Speaker 1: And what I love about Halsey as she made sure
Speaker 1: all my needs were met. She's like, oh, do you
Speaker 1: need your nails done? Like I'll have my my nail
Speaker 1: artists come get your nails done. And no one would
Speaker 1: ever do that She's like, oh, come chilling my trailer
Speaker 1: and I'm like, wait, wait what you don't want me outside?
Speaker 1: Like no, like co hang out or like make sure
Speaker 1: she's there. And I did the Billboard Awards with her
Speaker 1: recently and I was in dancer holding before and and
Speaker 1: all the people that were working with Billboard were like, no,
Speaker 1: you can't. You can't go backstage with her. You can't
Speaker 1: go there. And she's like, I was like no, but
Speaker 1: like my outfit is in her trailer and they're like, yeah,
Speaker 1: we'll bring it out. And then she sent one of
Speaker 1: her people to come get me so that I could
Speaker 1: come into this zone with all the artists and everything,
Speaker 1: and and honestly, like it's kind of crazy, Like no
Speaker 1: one does that for for dancers. And that's why I
Speaker 1: respect her so much as she she knows her worth,
Speaker 1: but she doesn't think she's better than anybody in that
Speaker 1: sense where I think that's this industry has a lot
Speaker 1: of people who have entitlement issues, and I you, right,
Speaker 1: and you know I've never interviewed one of those, right,
Speaker 1: you know, ultimately, like we're all on the same level
Speaker 1: if you strip all the like fluff in the sparkle
Speaker 1: away from everyone. We're all just human beings, so like
Speaker 1: we should all be treated fairly. And I think that's
Speaker 1: like something that she's great about. And she really just
Speaker 1: sees like passion and genuine energy and people. And that's
Speaker 1: what I love about her too, is I see the
Speaker 1: same and I'm attracted to people that are genuine. I'm
Speaker 1: attracted to people that are going to add to my
Speaker 1: life rather than try to keep me down because they
Speaker 1: want to succeed and it's hard, but we can all
Speaker 1: grow together. And I think that's what she's doing for us.
Speaker 1: And she's opening up this whole world for dancers and
Speaker 1: for artists to utilize dancers in a whole another way
Speaker 1: because we really are artists in our own sense too,
Speaker 1: and we we can really portray a story and really
Speaker 1: help with the performance rather than just cater to them.
Speaker 1: You know. So, so you you're booking these incredible opportunities
Speaker 1: like the Halsey opportunity, and you have these series regulars,
Speaker 1: There's going to come a point in your career, I'm
Speaker 1: assuming where there's going to have to be I don't
Speaker 1: want to say you have to choose between one or
Speaker 1: the other, but dancing, like you mentioned, requires so much maintenance,
Speaker 1: Like you can't just say I'm gonna go do a
Speaker 1: movie for a year and then not dance, and you know,
Speaker 1: you kind of have to focus on one thing. Is dance?
Speaker 1: Do you envision it always being a part of your
Speaker 1: package or is it something that do you have a
Speaker 1: game plan in that sense? Honestly, for me, my career
Speaker 1: is definitely going in more of the acting side, so
Speaker 1: that's definitely what I want to be my thing. But
Speaker 1: dancing is just kind of like at this point a
Speaker 1: part of me. I dance all the time. When I
Speaker 1: hear music, I can't help but to move. So for me,
Speaker 1: I don't think I've gotten to a certain point where
Speaker 1: I don't need a train anymore. But I have trained
Speaker 1: enough where I think that if I were to step
Speaker 1: away from it and it wasn't my goal to be
Speaker 1: the best, greatest dancer ever, I would still have it
Speaker 1: in my life. There's always ways to take class, and
Speaker 1: even when I'm in Atlanta filming or if I'm in
Speaker 1: New York, there's there's classes that I can go take
Speaker 1: just to dance, and I can also turn on music
Speaker 1: and dance for myself and film myself freestyling or I
Speaker 1: can choreograph while I'm not on set, so I definitely
Speaker 1: want to pursue more the acting, But there is like
Speaker 1: I've always been a little a little like scared that
Speaker 1: I'm gonna have to give it up. But for me,
Speaker 1: it's it's just a part of who I am, Like
Speaker 1: I'm always going to be a mover and I'm always
Speaker 1: going to be genuine with that, and it's always going
Speaker 1: to be something that's special to me. But that doesn't
Speaker 1: mean that it can't branch off into different ways. And
Speaker 1: for me, it's actually helped me with my acting career
Speaker 1: because ultimately I want to be like a heroin action,
Speaker 1: badass female superstar, movie star, like I want to do
Speaker 1: like Avengers roles, like I want to do all my
Speaker 1: own and Avengers have to do some choreographing, so like
Speaker 1: you already have that down. The fighting is all choreographed.
Speaker 1: But actually my first job as an actress was for
Speaker 1: three hundred the second three hundred, and I got to
Speaker 1: sword fight and they were actually very impressed with how
Speaker 1: I was able to learn the sword choreography because for me,
Speaker 1: it's like movement, like I'm learning the choreography. It was
Speaker 1: easy for me to retain and to kind of mimic
Speaker 1: how they were doing it, and they're like, yeah, like
Speaker 1: and and that's what they kind of realized. They're like, oh, like,
Speaker 1: you can't just tell her to do it, like show
Speaker 1: her and she'll be able to really mimic how it is,
Speaker 1: because that's what we do as dancers. We are learning
Speaker 1: choreographer choreography from what's one person, and we're mimicking how
Speaker 1: they're doing it, and then we're adding us into it
Speaker 1: after and so I think it really helps me with
Speaker 1: where I want to go. And I've always been super
Speaker 1: sporty and kind of I have two older brother there,
Speaker 1: so I'm definitely more of a tomboy than I am
Speaker 1: a girly girl in that sense. I want I don't
Speaker 1: care to get dirty. I want to be like I
Speaker 1: want to get beat up in a film. I want
Speaker 1: to you know, I want to beat somebody else up
Speaker 1: in a film like. I want to utilize my strength,
Speaker 1: and I think that's also what I have in dancing
Speaker 1: that kind of sets me apart, is I have this
Speaker 1: strength behind it, and I utilized my athleticism into the
Speaker 1: dancing as well. Because it's for me. I want to
Speaker 1: be like a real life superhero if that was possible.
Speaker 1: So I'm gonna do everything my power to do it.
Speaker 1: And that's why I love fitness as well. There's just
Speaker 1: so many aspects in my life that I think are
Speaker 1: all kind of helping me to really go down the
Speaker 1: path of acting. And I think dance will always be
Speaker 1: there no matter what. Well, I'm just going to speak
Speaker 1: for myself, but I feel like there's nothing that's stopping
Speaker 1: you from anything that you put your mind too. And
Speaker 1: you know, this last hour of talking to you, I
Speaker 1: think we've all learned some things. And right really though,
Speaker 1: like I people think that I don't get like even
Speaker 1: like a couple of weeks ago, I got told like
Speaker 1: I was going back and forth to New York. I
Speaker 1: was getting flown out for this like acting to be
Speaker 1: a lead on a series that would have changed my life.
Speaker 1: Literally it would have changed my life. And I got
Speaker 1: told no, and I was like what why? And like
Speaker 1: instead of like sitting there and soaking, like I actually
Speaker 1: started filming myself. I was like, guys, I'm really going
Speaker 1: through it right now. But I want you to know
Speaker 1: I'm gonna push through this, like I want people to
Speaker 1: realize like I do get told no, Like you know
Speaker 1: what I mean, But it really there's just always like
Speaker 1: a bigger plan or a bigger opportunity waiting around that.
Speaker 1: I mean literally every every super A list person that
Speaker 1: I've I look up to where I've interviewed, has always
Speaker 1: said that they've been told no more than they've been
Speaker 1: told yes. But it's those few yes is that are
Speaker 1: game changers. So the nose don't really matter in the
Speaker 1: big picture of the knows don't matter, and they're all
Speaker 1: learning lessons to Like, I learned so much auditioning for
Speaker 1: that part, Like I actually think I got the best
Speaker 1: acting lessons of my life I've ever had, So like,
Speaker 1: I'm like, now I can utilize this for the project
Speaker 1: that I am going to book. So well, I feel
Speaker 1: like if we called you back a year from today,
Speaker 1: we have a lot of new content and new stories. No,
Speaker 1: I really, I really feel that from you, and I
Speaker 1: think it takes a very unique type of person with
Speaker 1: a type of attitude, and that's why we want to
Speaker 1: do on this show, because not only are you successful
Speaker 1: in the lanes that you are choosing to focus on,
Speaker 1: but you're also influencing in a positive way the people
Speaker 1: that are following you. So I think that's really inspiring
Speaker 1: and it makes me happy for our future. Doesn't make
Speaker 1: me as scared as certain I will not name names,
Speaker 1: but some people scare me. I'm scared for our future,
Speaker 1: but you give me a little bit of hope. But yeah,
Speaker 1: so congrats on everything you have going on. Make sure
Speaker 1: you come back in a year when you've booked that
Speaker 1: like next Avengers when they decide to redo it even
Speaker 1: though they said they wouldn't, and they will, and you'll
Speaker 1: be the lead. But yeah, thank you so much for
Speaker 1: stopping by. I mean, I feel like we just so much. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I talked a lot, but it was good, like no, no,
Speaker 1: it was a gift from God, like so many good nuggets,
Speaker 1: lots of good content. We hope you guys enjoyed. Jade
Speaker 1: say your last night for us? One more? Did you
Speaker 1: get that? Guys, that's chanoff. Don't mess it up on
Speaker 1: my watch? All right. We'll see you guys next time
Speaker 1: or listener here. I don't even know. I'm so not
Speaker 1: used to not being on camera. I'm like, I'll see you,
Speaker 1: but but I won't see you anyway. Bye. Behind the Influences,
Speaker 1: a production of I Heart Radio and TDC Media