Life finds its way for each and every one of us. For Nickson, what started off as a move to impress a gal became something which took deep roots into his life and eventually became an avenue for him to express.
1. Hi Nickson! Can you please tell us more about yourself.
Hi, my name is Nickson, age 24, doing dancing for a living and currently living in Seoul, South Korea. I also dance with a crew called Just Jerk Crew and I’m still in the middle of pursuing my business degree in Korea University.
2. At what age did you start dancing?
I started dancing back in high school, when I was 15.
3. What inspired you to dance?
Its pretty simple actually, I just wanted to impress girls! One day I was watching a dance movie called Step Up with a girl I had a crush on, a really amazing dancer came out on screen and that girl whispered to me saying she’d love to date a guy like that. I knew I had to learn dancing!
That aside, when I was still in school, I enjoyed competing a lot. Whether it was basketball, football, badminton, swimming or track and field, I did it all and I’ve either represented school or won medals. But I was born with a heart disease (SVT), and it didn’t really affect me until I had a loss in a track and field race due to an attack. The symptoms began to show more and it began to affect my performance and eventually I stopped competing because I would blame it on my heart for all my losses. I grew into depression and it was one of the hardest time of my life.
Our school had a yearly performing arts competition and dancing was one of them. It was when I was 15 (2009), my close friends decided to form a group and join the dance category of the competition just for fun, something to do together. After I was able to learn more about it, I bailed and didn’t want any part of it. A few days before the competition date, one of them had an appendix and was not able to dance. The competition had a rule where a group minimum has to have 5 members, and they were short of one. My friends begged me to join them and eventually I gave in and helped them. That was the first time I tried dancing it was something I’ve never felt before but I still wasn’t sure what it was, at that time it was just fun. We lost in the finals however it sparked my competitive spirit again. A year flew by, when I was 16 (2010) I had my first victory in that same dance competition, and it gave life to me again. We followed to win it again the next year (2011), we were basically unstoppable back in school.
But eventually I got hooked to dancing, and I wanted to get better at it. I went on to joining Astro Battleground in 2014, and won with my crew Fearless and that very year where Astro held their first Asian Battleground, its where I met my current crew Just Jerk and I thought they were amazing. They inspired me to go further and to take my dance reach a height I probably wouldn’t reach before.
4. Your performance with Just Jerk Family for America’s Got Talent is truly amazing! How do you feel when you performed on AGT?
I think no words can describe how it felt to be there. I think to put in simply, its just such an honor for me to be there and it was also inspiring. I remember when I first stood on the stage of AGT, I looked around me and the stage was huge. I never get jitters anymore since I was already experienced performing on stage but on AGT stage, I actually told myself, “What is a boy who used to dance to impress girls doing on a stage like AGT”. Also to meet Simon Cowell in person it was truly an honor, not to mention impressed him. I also had this thought if I were the first Malaysian to actually stood on AGT (America’s Got Talent), that’d be really cool.
5. What is your dream job?
This is a tough question. Honestly being where I am at now, it was never planned in the first place. I did my A levels in Malaysia and was planning to go to London to further my studies but somehow I ended up being a dancer in Korea, which really tells me you never know whats going to happen in life. I guess to put it simply, my dream job is to do something that makes me happy. For now dancing is what makes me happy, and I hope that whether I keep dancing in the future or find something else to do, I always want to wake up and feel excited for the day.
6. The most memorable experience you had since you first started dancing?
Besides AGT, I think it was the recent PyeongChang Winter Olympics opening ceremony performance. First of all, it was below -20 degrees cold and we had to wear the korean traditional clothes called “Hanbok” and dance outdoors. During rehearsals, I thought I might actually freeze in the middle of the performance. Also coming from Malaysia which is a country that has a hot weather all year long, I wasn’t used to dancing in the cold weather. But the cold aside, it was definitely and honor and lifetime experience to perform for the PyeongChang Winter Olympics.
7. What was your most challenging dance routine? Do you have any favorite?
So far there isn’t, but it’s only because I’ve practiced a lot. It’s hard to pick a favorite, there is so many dance routines I love but if I had to pick one of the many I’d say the most recent “James Brown” routine done by the 5 original members of Just Jerk.
8. Any dancers that you look up to? If yes, who and why?
I look up to all the members of my crew. Every single time I dance with them I realize I’m in one of the best crews in the world. There is just so much to learn from them and they have a humble mindset to be open and learn from each other.
9. In 3 words, describe what dancing means to you.
Peace, love and unity. I’m pretty sure every dancer will say the same.
10. Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
Like I mentioned before, you really never know where life takes you. I may still be in Korea, or I may even head back to Malaysia. By then, with all the knowledge and experience I gained I should be ready to head home and and start contributing to the scene in Malaysia. Hey who knows, I may even bring a Malaysian team to a world wide staged competition like AGT.
11. If you could give any advice to younger dancers out there, what will it be?
Even though I started out dancing to impress girls, but at where I am at now, my advise would be don’t dance to impress but dance to express, if that makes sense. Also try to have patience with your craft, don’t rush it. Every one progresses at their own pace. And most importantly have fun, think about why you started in the first place. A lot of dancers now stress on videos, getting selected in classes, competitions, and battles, and forgot the true meaning in dance which is to party and have fun. That’s why dancing was created in the first place, it wasn’t even created it just occurred naturally to people to dance when they’re happy. Even for me, I’m still improving on that part, I would go to a jazz bar, see a man or woman, who has never taken dance lessons in their life but dancing their hearts out, their genuineness got me more impressed than any of the performance I’ve seen in any world stage competitions, they’re the real dancers.
