Born June 30, 1988 and raised in sunny San Diego, CA(juicy stuff right?). I say I started dancing at age 15. Well this was when I attended my first dance class. Before this I was an absolute victim to family dance parties, Michael Jackson/Usher/NSYNC/etc music video binge watching, “c-walking” and “harlem shaking”, dance movies, dvd’s, garage parties, and more. So although I started at 15 I like to think I was groomed from the beginning.
At 15 I took my first class with KJ Gonzales (my first mentor). I probably looked like a fool because I had just come in from football practice wearing shorts and athletic gear. Everyone else was either in classical dance attire, or some baggy sweats, wristbands and a trucker hat. Yea not the best start Keone. But strangely enough, from there I would begin to fall out of love with my first passion, basketball, and fall in love with a new passion, dance. I joined a junior dance team called Future Shock San Diego which was directed by Belle Abuyo and Rainen Paguio. I was a huge fan of Rainen growing up and I was very fortunate to have him as a second teacher/mentor. Over the next year I joined an all-male dance team called Formality and the following 4 years I danced with my dream team, Culture Shock San Diego, also directed by Rainen along with Sherman Shoate.
At this point my training was more so hip hop focused, but I dabbled in other things. Because of the influence that Rainen had on me I wanted to not stick to one style. But what I didn’t know is that teachers that I was learning from like KJ Gonzales, Tessandra Chavez, and Jaffar Smith were very much uniquely blended styles of not just hip hop but also hints of contemporary. This would play an important role in how I chose to create. And over the years I would continue to meet other teachers, creators, and choreographers that would inspire my own craft. My own choreography.
Choreographing was never a serious thing for me. I loved to dance, but choreographing only happened for 2 reasons. One, because I was creating something fun with my friends for a school show. Two, I had learned every move through classes or dvd’s, and I just wanted to do more. Through my friends and witnessing my teachers I unintentionally started to develop teaching. But it wasn’t until I taught a kids class where I really learned about teaching. From there I was given an opportunity to teach an intermediate class at a local dance studio in San Diego called Culture Shock Dance Center. With the commitment of choreographing on a weekly basis and sometimes more, I really began to develop a style, music choice, and how to educate through movement. I also gained the opportunity to direct the team I first started dancing with, Future Shock, which taught me a lot about how to lead and direct. But what REALLY taught me how to lead and direct were two words… Choreo Cookies.
To fast forward a bit (we’ll rewind in a bit) Choreo Cookies was a full circle thing for me to come back to. I started dancing with most of these guys back in high school through school shows, dance classes, future shock or formality. So there was a bit of a homecoming feeling for me. What I didn’t know was that this homecoming would turn into a family gathering. For 8 years I danced with this team. For 6 years I directed them. That ability to teach, lead and learn with a group of people was truly amplified by working with them over the years. I had never been a part of a group that was so down for each other. Definitely life-changing. Speaking of life-changing, or maybe just society-changing let’s get to that rewind. Youtube…
Back in 2008 one of my students had posted a video of one of my classes.Youtube was really a place for funny kitten videos, so I thought nothing of it. Low and behold the following week I was sent a Myspace message(yeah myspace) to come to Norway for a month to teach! I only had a limited amount of time to respond because some other girl was also asked for the job and whoever said yes first would get it. Her name was something like… Mari? 
Of course I jumped on the job. So fast that I didn’t even ask my mom (sorry mom). Unfortunately I had to take a semester off from college, but at the time this truly felt like a once in a lifetime opportunity. I mean the furthest I had traveled was down the street! Ok kidding, but I hadn’t really traveled up to that point let alone overseas. Through this job, a ton of doors were opened. A ton. More countries started asking me to teach, so I promised myself that once I had seen the world and the opportunities stopped coming, I would go back to school (oops that didn’t happen).
Of course I jumped on the job. So fast that I didn’t even ask my mom (sorry mom). Unfortunately I had to take a semester off from college, but at the time this truly felt like a once in a lifetime opportunity. I mean the furthest I had traveled was down the street! Ok kidding, but I hadn’t really traveled up to that point let alone overseas. Through this job, a ton of doors were opened. A ton. More countries started asking me to teach, so I promised myself that once I had seen the world and the opportunities stopped coming, I would go back to school (oops that didn’t happen).
What did happen though was that I met a girl. The same girl that I stole my first travel opportunity from. Mariel Martin. You guys know how this story ends, but she changed everything for me. Everything. It was wonderful because we were both doing the same thing. Dancing, choreographing, teaching, traveling, youtubing, etc. So much to share with each other. Funny thing is it took us 6 months to choreograph together. We were afraid it would mess up our relationship, but I guess it worked out. The first song was Coldplay’s “Viva La Vida” and the songs after would keep coming and coming. Aside from all of these songs, the most important song started to become more real and real. Marriage. This is what changed our outlook on our careers. We wanted a “real” life. One that would sustain a future family. So much so, that we almost quit dancing. Yea in 2010 we almost stopped dancing…
Just as we were on the verge of stopping, God really called on us to keep going. That we were meant to be doing this. Well good thing we listened. It led to some pretty cool opportunities, amazing new friendships and most importantly it allowed us to impact people positively through dance. The opportunity to impact people’s lives will always taste so much sweeter than a viral video, or the biggest TV show. And that’s what really continues to drive us today. God, providing for our family, and elevating the art form of dance to positively impact people everywhere.
So yeah I started dancing at age 15, but really I like to think I was created for this. Created to create.
Major appreciation if you made it all the way to the end. I look forward to continuing this story. No idea where it goes next!
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