Today we’d like to introduce you to Jessica dos Santos.
Jessica, please kick things off for us by telling us about yourself and your journey so far.
I started dancing when I was 3 years old. My mother, Anna Nunes, is a professional dancer and instructor, so naturally I grew up in a dance world. I attended a performing arts school from grades 6-8 and was involved in different dance companies and teams as a child/teenager, gaining a great amount of dance education from many different instructors.
After graduating high school, I pursued dance professionally; booking various gigs including a backup dancing position for a signed pop artist. At 20 years old my mother and I opened up our own dance studio, Downtown Dance, in Lake Worth. We have since been running a successful business teaching various styles of dance to students of all ages and levels.
I have taken on many roles including instructor, choreographer and director which has expanded my knowledge of dance greatly. At the same time, I still dance in professional companies, the most recent being AGWA Dance Company, and have had the opportunity to travel around the U.S. and also abroad to perform.
While co-running the studio, I still am involved in other projects, which has allowed me to pursue my other passions, the latest being my longtime passion for music. I have been DJ’ing for about 2 years now, which has also turned into another full-time career, booking weekly gigs in different restaurants, bars, and clubs from Miami to West Palm. Dance and Music go hand in hand, and they both have played such a huge roll in my life. So, I am beyond grateful to have been able to turn both of my passions into careers.
Can you give our readers some background on your art?
My art, dance, has always come naturally to me and has always been my creative outlet. Coming up with different ways to move my body to different kinds of music is my true passion. It is one of the most freeing feelings. My favorite style of dance to choreograph as well as perform would have to be Contemporary, it is a broad genre that allows you to incorporate different styles of dance into one. My choreography incorporates technical steps with abstract movement backed by a lot of feeling and emotions. I tend to create movement that is more fluid and sultry, that is where I feel the most authentically creative.
I never force myself to create a piece, I let it start and grow organically. If it is forced, it never comes out the way I envisioned it to. I usually am always inspired by a piece of music first. I can listen to a song once and can immediately connect with it, I then will know what kind of feeling and emotion I want to convey through a dance to that song, then from there I play around with different movement that will translate those feelings without using words. I create pieces for myself, as on outlet of creative communication to others. I don’t create pieces with concerns if people will “like it”, I create pieces to connect with people. Performing my pieces is how I connect with others. I just want the people watching my work to feel something, whatever that feeling may be doesn’t matter to me, as long as they just feel.
How do you think about success, as an artist, and what do quality do you feel is most helpful?
Everyone’s definition of success is different. My definition of success would have to be based on the people I reach and effect with my art. It’s not necessarily about the amount of people I reach that makes me feel successful, but more about if I can make some sort of impact on their life through my art. I can perform for twenty people or a thousand people, it doesn’t matter either way, as long as I know I have reached at least one person in the audience and made a connection with them while dancing.
Authenticity plays a huge role in success, stay true to yourself and give everything you have to your art.
For me, as long as I leave the stage feeling I gave one hundred percent of myself to the piece, I am fulfilled.
And if someone connected with me during that process, then I succeeded.
What’s the best way for someone to check out your work and provide support?
I show my work in different shows and productions at different theaters and venues throughout each year.
My next showing will be in the Downtown Dance Summer Concert August 24th & 25th. It is a professional dance concert that will be showcasing different professional companies and dancers from around South Florida.
I will be showing pieces as well as performing in the show.
Social Media has also been a way that I can show my work in a more accessible way to people. It doesn’t compare to watching a show live but posting videos of rehearsals or classes I feel helps me reach more people with the intent for them to be intrigued enough to come watch my next show. I think it’s a great tool to connect with more people, so even if they never some see a live performance, they still saw my work in a video.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.downtown-dance.com
- Email: jdos.ent@gmail.com
- Instagram: @jdosvibes
- Facebook: facebook.com/jdosvibes
Image Credit:
Alexa Tiller Photography (personal photo)
Photo By Jurassic (Street photo, and 2 photos with tan skirt)
Others photos: Unknown
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