Life & Work with Brandon Juezan

Today we’d like to introduce you to Brandon Juezan.

Hi Brandon, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I was born and raised in Azusa, California, a suburban area about 45 minutes away from Downtown Los Angeles. I came from a multicultural background, being half African-American and half Filipino, but growing up in a predominantly Latinx neighborhood. Music, dance, and family time were big parts of my life starting at an early age since my grandparent’s house, which I lived in with my mom, stepdad, half-sister, and uncle was the “party house” for most of my childhood. I also spent a lot of time with my biological father, stepmom, and half-brother on the other side of my family. I didn’t really have a deep connection with my artistic side until middle school, where I found myself drawn to music, visual art, and dance. Dance was the form I happened to excel at and enjoy the most, so I pursued it into high school just as a fun extracurricular activity, not realizing it would mold and define most of my life until now.

I went to Gladstone High School in Covina, and I joined my school’s dance team, which is where my dance career began to take off. I was recruited for various other dance teams/organizations outside of school and began training professionally, which is how I met my current mentors/directors Jackie Lopez-Foaad and Leigh Foaad, who are the Co-Founders of Versa-Style Dance Company. After 10+ years of training and working professionally, I have become a Hip Hop and street dance practitioner, educator, and an advocate for mental, physical, and emotional health and social justice within my community. I went to Cal State Fullerton to get my BA in Entertainment & Tourism Management, and that sent me on a path to also work administratively for Versa-Style as a non-profit entity and professional dance-theater performance group, while also integrating financial literacy into my educational practice. My current goal is to go back and get my master’s, most likely in psychology/behavioral science or a related field, and continue my journey being an educator and advocate within my community.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I don’t think the journey of life is smooth for anyone, regardless of your upbringing. However, I am blessed and happy to say that I have not had to deal with any exceptional struggles throughout my life and have always lived full of gratitude and love, surrounded by loving individuals. I have always had food on the table, a roof over my head, clothes on my back, and bills paid. Of course, working in the artistic and creative economy comes with its own set of hardships. This is the type of work you carry with you 24/7, it’s not something you can just leave at an office. There is always a project to work on, always a new technique or skill to learn and master, there is a new opportunity to search for. Balancing that lifestyle with your health and maintaining strong relationships can be difficult, which I, unfortunately, have had to face the reality of finding myself spending a lot of time away from family.

There is also the issue of financial stability within this industry. The creative economy tends to not be valued in the same way as other fields, and there is a tendency to not pay artists, ESPECIALLY dancers, fairly for their work, and most times we aren’t given job benefits or financial security like workers in other industries. We have to find new ways to make money, constantly innovating and adapting, which comes with a unique type of stress and anxiety due to inconsistency. I’m just lucky that my co-workers are also my closest friends and confidants, people who I consider family, and we’ve all supported each other through this journey. Versa-Style Dance Company has also been blessed by support from our community and other organizations who believe in our work, so we are all able to continue doing what we love without worrying too much about finances.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
When it comes to my individual work, I am a professional hip hop and street dance artist and educator, specializing in styles including Krump, Hip Hop, House dance, and more. I compete in freestyle dance competitions as well as choreograph and teach for art centers, dance teams/organizations, and academic institutions. As part of my work as an educator, I am currently an instructor for the world’s biggest online dance education platform, Steezy Studios. Administratively, I work as the Project Manager for Versa-Style Dance Company, predominantly handling our professional booking logistics, contracts and other legal paperwork, and organizing our community events. I also work with other members of our administrative team to handle marketing, budgeting, planning, and any miscellaneous organizational needs.

I am also an active member of The Beast Camp, a worldwide Krump family and organization. I represent them in competitive dance spaces, in online content creation, and am good friends with many members internationally.

Who else deserves credit in your story?
I am extremely grateful to have multiple mentors invest in me throughout my career as a professional artist, administrator, and with my personal growth. Jackie “Miss Funk” Lopez-Foaad & Leigh “Breeze-Lee” Foaad are two of my closest mentors. They have been in my life since I started high school and have helped me sustain my livelihood through their company, cultivated my artistic craft, fed me, housed me, helped me financially, have been there for me during most of my struggles and successes, and have overall taught me life lessons that I carry with me daily. I also give appreciation to Salome Valdez, John Aratan, and Collabor8 Dance Company as a whole who provided me with some of my earliest experiences in the performing arts and training as a professional artist. More recently, my “big homie” (leader of our crew/group) in Krump, Sherwin “Beast” Salonga, has been one of my biggest inspirations in dance but has also been a brother to me for the years I’ve known him, being there for me during my low moments and celebrating my successes while also providing me with tools and opportunities to become a better artist and person. Last but not least, my family has been a driving force and inspiration for me to work hard and become the best version of myself and have been my biggest support system throughout my life.

Contact Info:

• Email: brandonjw238@gmail.com
• Website: https://www.steezy.co/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/beastboithehypegod/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/BeastboiBih
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/VersastyleDanceLA
• SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/beastboy238
• Other: http://versastyledance.org/

Image Credits
George Simian, Jenny Kwak, Rudy Martin