The choreographer I'm talking about, is Dejan Tubic. He's based out of California (of course, because that's where all the cool people are) and he teaches his own style of Hip Hop. Just from watching his videos, he seems to have a fun personality, a great grip on life and an idea of what it means to have a good time in class. Great teachers know what it means to show their kids a good time, and make them strive for more. That's exactly what he did for me, and my kids.
I'll share a little side note with you. I did email Mr. Dejan Tubic and ask him what it would take to book a class with him so he could come here to New Mexico to teach our kids. It would have been great to give our students an opportunity like that! He was not the only choreographer I had tried to email, but he is indeed the only one who responded to me, which made me respect him even more. I explained to him that New Mexico has very limited opportunities when it comes to pursuing their dreams. Dance in this area, (good/well instructed technique and dance) is hard to come by, and most students decide to leave their dreams behind once leaving high school. I can't tell you how many dance students embarked on the college journey to pursue dance, and decided to give up. I wanted them to all realize that there were plenty of opportunities out there, they just had to go after them. I also explained to Dejan why I started Dancers Anonymous, to give him a better understanding of what I was trying to achieve with my students, and to let him know I would do anything for these kids. I want the best for them. Dejan so kindly wrote back, and here's what he had to say:
Hi Courtney!
First of all I want to say that you are absolutely amazing for what you are accomplishing and I commend you for that. I do have some bad news unfortunately and would not be able come that day or even that weekend due to a job that I am doing. I am literally booked out from the 26th of July all the way to the middle of August. I hope you don't take this email as a set back and continue to what you are doing. I want you to let everyone know involved that I wish I can be there and to have an amazing time at your workshops. Dance Dreams are Reality and I hope you all achieve it.
Thank you Courtney and I do hope to hear from you soon." -Dejan Tubic
So, to show him our appreciate that he even responded to us, we taught one of his routines during one of our Dancers Anonymous classes. We taught it, made a video, and emailed it to him to show him. Before you proceed to watch the video, please note that their are a few bad words in the song, so if you're offended by that kind of thing, we apologize ahead of time. We again would like to thank Dejan for his encouragement and for all he does in the dance world! We hope to book him for next summer, or possibly around winter time for the kids to have such a great opportunity. Below is the video, and under that is the comment he left us on YouTube after watching the video :) he truly is a great person for the kids to look up to!
-Dejan