All about: Kayla Mak - Dance Saturday
Hello everybody and welcome back to another blog post,
In today's All about:______ post, I'll be talking about the prima ballerina, Kayla Mak!
I think that there's a very distinct reason why Kayla Mak just has to be talked about today. Not only is she a very good dancer but she's also an incredibly hard worker, who has independently worked tirelessly for many of her own dreams. Around February of this year, I watched one of Teen Vogue's videos that they did on her, where they showed what she gets up to on a day-to-day basis during an average week in her life. I honestly believe that I do work hard but I'm sure I'm not the only one who thinks that Kayla is a SUPERWOMAN, after watching that video! She gets up early, goes to school, takes the train to her dance studio, dances for 5 hours, goes back home, eats dinner, does her homework at midnight, and somehow manages to fit everything she wants to do in her day. I understand that this is a bit on the extreme level but it honestly just shows how dedicated she is to dance and the sacrifices she's willing to take to become a professional dancer. Very admirable! Let's find out what else she's managed to do!
Teen Vogue
Kayla Mak is a young dancer of Japanese, Chinese, and Cuban descent. She was born on February 11th, 2003, in Rye Brook, New York and began dancing at the Westchester Dance Academy when she was just 4 years old. She also began competing at the age of 5 winning many awards including National Mini Female Outstanding Dancer at New York City Dance Alliance Nationals, as well as the Young Dancer of the Year at American Dance Awards.
However, she began her training in ballet when her mother, who was also a former dancer, enrolled her in classes but Kayla has since extended her skills to a more diverse range of styles. She currently studies ballet, pointe, jazz, lyrical, contemporary, hip hop, and tap. This plethora of dance styles has allowed her to hone her own unique way of moving, that has become popular amongst many of her audiences. At the age of 16 years old, Kayla produced a jaw-dropping acrobatic pointe routine on World of Dance season 3, impressing ballroom and Latin dancer Derek Hough and singers J-Lo and Ne-Yo. Since then, she has gained a loyal fan base and has created a whole new name for herself!
Amazing Danc3rs
Some people may say that her dancing isn't exactly ballet. However, I would have to say that Kayla's style celebrates a whole different way of dancing. Although there are many great dancers out there, I often find that many of them tend to dance the same, without doing something that makes them stand out from the rest of the other dancers out there. The common styles seem to be emotional contemporary pieces or cool street dances that, whilst are enjoyable to perform and watch, kind of get repetitive after a while. Kayla's dancing isn't ballet because I guess it isn't really trying to be. She's more using ballet and her technique, mixed with her contemporary feeling and emotion, to break from the norm and create something that no one has ever really seen before. I think this is why she could compete as a ballet dancer on World of Dance because she was offering something new and that's another thing that I really like about her work because it's actually really difficult to come up with something original.
After her debut performance on World of Dance that went viral, Kayla also collaborated with the famous dance photographer, Jordan Matter. They did a 10 Minute Photo Challenge, where Jordan's Instagram fans picked their favourite poses from her performance and she executed them with ease. The video now has over a million views on YouTube and at just 17 years old, I think it's fair to say that Kayla is a dancer to remember! I've also done an All about:_____ post on Jordan Matter and you can read about that here!
Jordan Matter
There are many things that we can learn as dancers, from Kayla Mak. Firstly, taking risks in our performance can actually enhance the way that we dance. Secondly, having the right work ethic as a dancer, can get us opportunities. However, the third and most important thing that we can learn from Kayla is to be confident in our dancing. Kayla is a great dancer but she also owns what she does and has the confidence to work towards new things and has the confidence to take risks. No matter how good you are at dance, things can go wrong all the time and unless you have the confidence to perform, you can never really achieve great things in dance. That's what I think we can all learn from her and why she had to be talked about today.
Have you heard of Kayla Mak before? Do you like her style? Let me know in the comments below and I'll be sure to reply to them. I ♡ hearing from you!
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Bye,
XOX, Juliette
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