Meet Jordan Blake – one of Wagga’s most promising young hip-hop dancers.
After impressing talent scouts at a dance workshop in Canberra, Jordan landed an invitation to the Summer Jam Dance Camp – the biggest urban dance convention in the Asia Pacific.
“It's a big dance camp in Singapore that goes for seven days, and there's a different choreographer for a different style each day – and I find it fascinating to learn new styles,” Jordan said.
“It can help you get noticed, learn more about dancing, and network, because there's going to be about 300 people there.”
Jordan said he is now looking for sponsors to help him get to Singapore so he can participate in this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
“I'm reliable, I wouldn't let them down, and I'll use this opportunity to impress them even more and make them stand out as a great sponsor,” he said.
“Dancing just means everything to me, I want to do it for the rest of my life and inspire others.
“It helps me be free, allows all the emotions and feelings inside me out, and it's also about getting the dance right – that move you're trying to do – it's really rewarding, like you've achieved something.”
The 18-year-old has been dancing since he was just six; now, he wants to become a role model for other young Indigenous people.
“The little ones, when they see what I'm doing, they always ask for me to come and teach them, because there's not many Indigenous people that can come out of something small and make it,” he said.
“I'd tell other Indigenous people out there – it doesn't matter where you come from, or where you've been, you can still make something of yourself.”