How does a girl with “bad feet”, who started dancing late, and never trained in ballet, even after multiple rejections by The Queen B herself, finally accomplish her dream of dancing with Beyoncé? Yes, Kim is very beautiful and incredibly sexy, but so are the hundreds of girls she auditions with. Why her?
Kim only started her dancing career at 15. “My sister started a few months before me and it looked cool, so I decided to try it.” By 17, she was hooked. Midway through her education as a physical therapist, she decided to make dance her focus. “I was trying to get good marks and missing out on auditions. My heart was with dancing, so I quit.” She laughs. She auditioned for So You Think You Can Dance Canada and was rejected the first time. “I wanted it so bad, I thought it was mine. But if I had made it the first time, I never would have met Mel Mah, and we never would have started You Got This, Girl’; a school in LA where the two dancers teach self-esteem building workshops.
On So You Think You Can Dance Canada, Kim was eliminated in the final eight and she used that as a springboard to move to LA and get a work visa. She had three years to make it and that time limit pushed Kim to audition for former Pussycat Doll Nicole Scherzinger. “My agent told me that I wasn’t what she was looking for, but I called the choreographer anyway and he said I could audition. There were 200-300 girls. We danced all day, and they kept cutting and cutting, and halfway through Nicole came in. She was deciding. We had to do a solo for a whole song, one by one. I think they knew it was for more than just the video. We did the video and that opened a door. We went on Ellen DeGeneres, we did X Factor, we did So you think you can dance US and American Idol, and then we went to Europe on tour. I’ve been touring with her on and off. I've had the best trips with her in China, Turkey, Malaysia. I was just in Bangkok last year with her. It’s been insane.”
Kim’s dream was always to dance with Beyoncé. Why? “At first it was her music. It makes me want to move.” Rejected several times, Kim finally got the call that she made the list just moments after telling her mom via skype that she hadn’t heard anything and it was probably a ‘No’. Not only did she get to dance at the Super Bowl, but she went on tour with Beyoncé, and appeared in many of the videos from the secret visual album “Beyoncé”.
What is Beyoncé like in person? “She is such an incredible woman. She’s all about women’s empowerment. She’s strong. She's fierce. She works so freaking hard. Everything I thought about her is true. She's involved with everything 120 percent. Everything she does is her baby, so she won't be that artist that just shows up and says ‘OK where do I go?’ She's there from the beginning. She's involved with the visuals, the lighting, the choreography, the band, and the music. You have no choice but to be at the top of your game when you're next to her. She's all about women. If you look at the dancers she had around her when I was on tour, there was every ethnicity, every shape, size, and hair colour. She’d go up to you, and instead of saying ‘I want everyone to look the same’ which happens for the look of it, which I get because it’s cleaner. She’d ask me ‘Kim, how do you like to wear your hair? What feels sexy for you?’ ‘O, I think down, sort of wavy’. ‘Great, do that.’ She's so great. Of course, she's a businesswoman. She's also a mom. She doesn't have time to hang out with us for hours on end. She works really hard, but when you get to be in her presence, she is so grateful. We do a prayer before every show, and she's super thankful to have all of us there.”
What goes into rehearsing for the Super Bowl? “The whole process took 4 weeks. They built a replica of the stage. It was surreal to be learning the choreography for Crazy in Love. I felt like ‘Pinch me!’ Then she comes in, and I just felt “Wow”. They were trying different wigs on everyone, so she was checking me out, and she was so close to me. She’d say ‘O, you look cute!’ and I thought ‘She sees me!’ We had an added pressure because she was about to go on tour two weeks after, and they were secretly auditioning the 35 girls, so you put in that extra work, you put your lips on, some lashes, and you work your hardest!”
What does it feel like to perform in front of millions? “The feeling is insane. It’s almost like you black out. It was great, it was so fun. We also had in-ears because of the echoing of the music and because the stage was so big. If you are in the back, then you are half a beat behind her, by the time the music gets to you. The in-ears cut you off from the world because all you hear is the her and the music. That’s bizarre too. You are seeing it, but not really hearing it. There’s so much to think about and you’re trying to enjoy it. You blink, and it’s done. Then everyone started crying. We were all so proud and exhausted after weeks of working so hard. I just wanted to do it again.”
I ask Kim if she can replay the moment in her head. “Yes, I can see flashes of light. We had to walk the whole catwalk as a group. We were just five girls. That’s always a moment as a dancer that you love because you're just walking, and you don't have to do anything else, so you can embrace this moment of ‘I feel so important right now’”.
How does the rehearsal process with Beyoncé work? “Because she’s a perfectionist, it’s a camp that you work really hard in, you can't settle. For the Grammys, which we did two years ago when she was pregnant, we rehearsed for close to two months, and you’re talking about a five-minute performance. We had version A, B, C, and D. If there are chairs, if there aren’t. If there is that amount of people. It there are skirts. If there aren’t. If she starts in the middle. If she’s on the side. She’ll come in and say ‘I love this part of version A, and I love the ending of version B.’ She creates what she sees from what has been done. She’ll sit down. She’ll be involved. She learns so fast too. She’ll say ‘Do it again. Again.’ And she just gets up and does it, and you’re like ‘Whaaat?’ She’s a dancer. She’s so talented.”
How does a backup dancer give everything and not outshine the artist? “When it comes to an artist like Beyoncé, she wants us to be as fierce as she is. She doesn’t ask you to hold back. She's a beast. Sometimes we’ll get a note from the choreographer that Beyoncé is out dancing us, and so you have to work even harder! You are a part of their baby; the concert is an important part of their career, so you want to be a positive presence. They don't want to be surrounded by people who are going to gossip, who are going to bring negative energy, or are going to complain. They have to trust you. Blue Ivy came on tour with us. She’d come and play in our dressing room, and Beyoncé trusted us not to take pictures and start posting them on Instagram. This is her private life, it’s not just ‘I show up and I dance’. There's this whole environment that you're a part of. You want to be trustworthy and bring a positive energy.”
Dancing with Justin Timberlake was on Kim’s bucket list. Seeing him in concert was part of the reason she decided to be a dancer. “Rehearsal (for the video Filthy) was so much fun. He is so cool. He looks at you in your eyes in a way that you feel like you've worked with him for years. He asks ‘Are you good with this? I’m going to touch you here. I just want to be sure you feel respected,’ because it was a sensual thing. We were treated so well. It’s not on every job that they’ll make sure you have food for lunch, or water, or a chair to sit on. We fight for that as dancers. Conditions are hard. With him, everything was great. The shoot was over three days because of the robot, it’s usually only one day. Our bodies were so tired, but it was so cool to be a part of it. I got a bottle of wine afterwards with a note, personalized from him that said ‘You’re a badass Kim, thanks for all your hard work.’ You look at these iconic artists that could not be humble after everything they’ve done, and they are so humble. Him and Beyoncé are those two artists you want to work with because in every aspect it’s so rewarding.”
What do these icons have in common? “Their work ethic. I don’t know how they do it, and they have kids. Jennifer Lopez wears so many hats, she’ll sing, she’ll judge, she’ll act, she does everything. They are these powerhouses and you feel their presence as soon as you come in the room. They are so confident. They know their worth. They aren’t going to take ‘No’ for an answer. It’s really impressive and empowering.”
Kim is not only using her voice to support the #metoo movement “I can relate, it’s happened to me, and it happens too often”, she wants to continue to help women build their self-esteem with “You Got This, Girl” and teach what she’s learnt. “Building your confidence is a huge tool that anyone can use in any industry. Mel Mah (Kim's business partner) wanted to dance with Janet Jackson and she did. I wanted to dance with Beyoncé and I did. We’re like everybody, we’re not extra special, everyone is special, we’re not more so. If anything, she had her limits, she had knee surgery. There were things in our way. We had to stop and ask ourselves: How did we get there? What are the tools that we used? Why do we have friends who are incredibly talented, but who haven’t worked in a year? There are tools that we’ve learned to use to our advantage that helped build who we are, and self-esteem was a huge one. We teach women to listen to their thoughts, to pick their thoughts. Shift a few sentences and all of a sudden, you’re wearing this cape and standing tall. Just do your best in that moment.”
Kim recently pulled away from the day to day of the school. “Starting a business is really hard work. It was supposed to be a small side project but it grew faster than we thought it would. We were supposed to do 5 events a year, and in the first year we did 40. I had to make some decisions. I’m not ready yet to say ‘No’ to so many dance jobs. I still want to perform!”
What is next for Kim after her current role as a judge on Danser pour gagner? “That’s always the question in this business. Ha! I will be teaching on my own in Australia and potentially in Italy. On The Run would be amazing. Beyoncé is working on Coachella right now for that big performance. I definitely told her I was available! (she laughs). I’d love to join that camp. There is also word that Christina Aguilera is working on a new album. I’m open. I’d love to work with Ryan Heffington, Sia’s ‘Chandelier’ choreographer. I’d love to do another tour.”
You can see Kim dance with the Royal Family at Olympia with the three final teams from Danser pour gagner this Friday. “Paris Goebel is the face of Royal Family. She is so talented. Her and I did a show ten years ago. We were picked for the Monsters of Hip Hop. We got to be together for 2 weeks. We were so new to LA! Fast forward, to ten years later. I haven’t performed for 3 months because I’ve been doing this show, so I’m itching to perform!
Kim’s Favorites:
Dance move: “My go to is a backbend.”
Dancer: “Liana Blackburn comes to mind. She's another redhead. She's just an incredible dancer. She can do it all, and I'm always so drawn to her. We've been able to work together a lot too, and she does this whole class called ‘Body Language’ and it's about femininity, power. It's not raunchy, it's classy, and she gives women the confidence to be feel good in heels and embrace who they are.”
Concerts: “Bruno Mars and the Rolling Stones. I was front row at a private show in LA. They are how old, and they have more energy than anybody!”
LA neighbourhoods: “I love the ocean. If I have a moment, I'll drive to Malibu or Venice and just walk around and listen to the waves. It's so therapeutic for me. There is something magical about it.”
LA restaurant: “Sushi at Sugar Fish. It’s so fresh.”
Bar: “No Vacancy. They have a speakeasy. It’s pretty cool.”
Travel destinations: Ireland. The people are so sweet! There is such a cool vibe there, probably because the bars open at 2 in the afternoon! And Iceland. It’s a whole other planet. You drive an hour and there are icebergs, and snow. Then you drive another two hours and you're at a waterfall. Then there’s a mountain, and then a black beach. It’s insane.”
Canadian Idol: “I went to this dance convention called ‘Triple Threat’ created by one of my idols Kelly Konno. She showed me that you can make it as a Canadian. You can move to Los Angeles and live off of your passion, and not have to have a side job. That put things in perspective for me. I want to be able to give back, especially to Canadians.”
How Kim deals with competition: “Years of building my confidence. I always tell my students that I knew what my weaknesses were. I'm not classically trained, my feet aren’t great, my flexibility isn’t great, so I knew I was missing those things. At first, it's easy to focus on that, and think ‘I’m not enough’. But I told myself ‘Look at your strengths. I work really hard. I’m a professional. I'll arrive there on time, I’ll do the extra work. I bring a positive vibe. I’m a good performer. Put your money on that.’”