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]

No results found