#MonsterArtist Melissa Marie Dance On Breaking Competitive Norms

2021

The one and only Melissa Marie shares her experiences as a dance instructor and trying to break the norm of competition among Indo-Caribbean dance groups in Brampton

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ABOUT MELISSA MARIE DANCE
Melissa Marie Dance was established in hopes of inspiring self-confidence and discipline while sharing the love for culture and dance. Melissa Marie Dance strives to bring young women together to celebrate their heritage through Bollywood styles of dance and more.

ABOUT MONSTER CREATIVE COLLECTIVE
Monster Creative Collective is a not-for-profit organization, committed to providing entertainment for the young and old alike. In the spirit of giving back to the community, Monster Creative Collective produces the #MonsterArtist Development program, now in its fourth season, to help develop the professional and artistic careers of Canadian artists.

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EntertainmentThe one and only Melissa Marie shares her experiences as a dance instructor and trying to break the norm of competition among Indo-Caribbean dance groups in Brampton
 

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Autogenerated Transcript from YouTube (if available)

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0:02

[Music]

0:14

>>Melissa: Hey everyone, my name is  
Melissa from Melissa Marie Dance

0:16

and you’re watching MAD.

0:19

[Transition Music]

0:24

Experiencing so many different genres of dance 

0:27

whether it was South Asian, hip hop, ballet,

0:30

Bhangra, learning all different aspects of dance in general,

0:33

really gave me a feeling like this was meant for me.

0:36

Also teaching I went back to teach in my
high school after I graduated

0:39

and seeing the kids so happy.

0:41

There was actually one girl, 
and I remember the story so vividly

0:44

because it was the moment that I felt like
this was for me,

0:47

um she was

0:48

very embarrassed to dance

0:50

and I kept encouraging her.
I’m like you can do this. 

0:52

She’s like no kids make fun of me when I dance  

0:54

and I’m like you’re an amazing dancer,
because she was, and 

0:57

she started crying because she hasn’t had that reinforcement in her life. 

1:01

So to see how happy she was
and how happy she was taking my class, 

1:04

it really made me feel like dance was for 
me and teaching dance was for me.

1:07

Probably 90 percent of my group is from Brampton

1:09

or maybe 95 percent of my group 
is from Brampton.

1:12

They go to school there, they live there,
everything, their roots are in Brampton.

1:15

I guess one struggle with Brampton is that there’s  

1:17

a lot of, personally, Indo-Caribbean  
dance groups  

1:20

that reside in Brampton and take place in Brampton  

1:22

so technically there’s a lot of competition.

1:25

So we’re trying to break this norm of
competition and come together as

1:28

one, you know, Indo-Caribbean 
groups together.

1:30

Some great things is the diversity,
there’s so much going on in Brampton,

1:33

so many opportunities,
so many people to meet, so many  

1:36

experiences to experience.

1:37

So I think that there’s always pros and
cons in every city, but I love Brampton,

1:40

it’s a great city of diversity.

1:42

A little bit of every experience
comes with me whether it’s good or bad

1:45

it’s a learning curve.

1:46

There was one
performance we did last summer and

1:48

the track kept cutting maybe a minute
and a half into the track   

1:51

so we’d have to pause on stage and it happened five times.

1:54

And it was very frustrating 
for us.

1:57

It was an Indo-Caribbean show so

1:59

it was outside, we’re in the 
heat, two hours of waiting already  

2:03

and I think it really helped us grow  

2:06

our stamina, discipline, just making
sure we’re still professional on stage

2:10

not sighing and going oh my gosh like what’s going on.

2:13

And I think it really toughened the group,
to be honest, that experience.  

2:18

[Get Ur Freak On by Missy Elliott playing]

3:06

>>Melissa: I started Melissa Marie Dance  
back in November of 2018

3:10

and we specialize in Bollywood, classical  
Indian, Chutney, Soca and hip-hop.

3:14

So far working with the
MonstrARTity team has been incredible.  

3:17

I felt very professional, it felt like we were 
always communicated with.

3:20

We were valued.  
And we even felt that on the day of the

3:23

performance when we were filming,
even though it was awkward  

3:24

not having an audience, I think just enjoying what we do 

3:27

and loving dance in general kind of fed off that.

3:30

And everyone was so kind and again 
treated us like professionals.

3:33

>>Zora: My name is Zora and I’m a hip-hop dancer part of

3:36

Melissa Marie Dance.

3:38

Yeah, the experience has been amazing so far like

3:40

I remember the day of the performance
when we were in the like stage room

3:44

the whole crew around like they were all very friendly and nice, and they were like

3:48

asking us if we needed more time
and it was just like felt really welcomed.

3:52

I’m a hip-hop dancer
so doing this Bollywood fusion piece was  

3:55

very nerve-wracking for me because I 
didn’t know how it was going to be taken  

3:59

from other people.

4:00

But my team worked really well with me
and they helped me get through it

4:03

and I think the final product was really good. 

4:06

>>Melissa: It’s definitely challenging to get certain team

4:08

members on board because everyone has 
different

4:11

challenges that they’re facing personally in regards to the pandemic.

4:15

So practicing was a little bit
of a challenge and then we also faced 

4:17

some other challenges because two of our teammates got injured.  

4:21

So we kind of had to recreate our whole
vision and our performance.

4:24

The time to set aside for our passion
for me specifically it’s hard.

4:28

I work a full-time job
and I have another job as well so  

4:32

it’s kind of whenever you have a minute.

4:34

Sometimes I dance at 3am,
sometimes I dance during my lunch break.

4:38

I don’t really set aside specific times,
I kind of just do it whenever I feel inspired.

4:45

[Music]

4:55

>>Melissa: I think seeing any performance
for the first time is nerve-wracking,

4:58

but um it was very exciting to see.

5:01

We got together as a team
and we watched it all together

5:03

and I think we all really enjoyed it.

5:05

It was my first time really
performing Bollywood fusion on stage live.

5:10

We’ve always kind of done it separately,

5:12

so kind of performing it both together
on stage and bringing those

5:14

art forms together was exciting for us
and really inspired me to do more. 

5:18

>>Zora: And seeing the reaction that we got back 

5:20

from everyone and seeing all the positive feedback

5:23

was really amazing because we were  
nervous as is.

5:26

>>Melissa: Yeah I think social media is
kind of our power right now

5:28

in terms of connecting with our
audience still and staying connected  

5:31

even through Zoom and video chat and  
stuff like that.

5:34

I think it’s a great way to interact,

5:36

to build your brand and to really get
yourself out there. 

5:39

I think we got a lot of positive feedback

5:41

and again it was really inspiring for us 
to continue just to create more content.

5:47

[Music]

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