Today we’d like to introduce you to Jay Gutierrez.
Hi Jay, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
Well I was always intrigued with dance I remember there was a specific point in my childhood that shifted my life forever, and that was when I went to a skating rink and saw some young cool looking guy he did an arm wave thru his arm to his face and blew a kiss to a girl sitting next to him. The smile that she had and just how damn cool that was made woke something up inside me, I thought to myself wow dancing can make you cool with the ladies haha I was about 8 or 9 years old, long story short I went home and showed my older brother who told me that style was called Waving showed me a vhs tape of Poppin Taco R.I.P who I molded my style based off him he was the magic of the dance and he later became a teacher and hero for me. My life since that time has been nothing but a deep dive into the artistry of Waving/Animation/Popping. I became a world champion in 2006, my journey has lead me to compete in 17 diff countries not just compete but teach share and build. I’ve taken the knowledge of what my elders have given and transformed and created on top of it innovating styles and introducing new ideas to the street dance world. I’ve never known anything but hard work so I’m short it was hard work that brought me here, hard work and the desire to discover more about myself through movement.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
As any life choice, nothing is ever a smooth road. You know dance is not the most successful career financially, there is no reward for thousands of hours spent perfecting a craft but it’s all I’ve ever known. Some of the biggest challenges was getting my family to understand why I couldn’t waste my time in college or why I couldn’t get a normal job because for me anytime away from my art was wasting time.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
Within Movement art, I’m multifaceted with being proficient in many types of movement. I think about it like creating different characters of myself each type of movement is a different character different rules and flavor. I’m Known as the King of Waving. Waving is a very fluid style of dance that can look like water or wind or electricity or any type of element that can move through the body in flow. I’ve also been building this community for a long time. I’m known for Popping as well because of the competition aspect of the dance. I’ve won many of the world’s biggest titles In Japan in France In China USA etc. I also pioneered a whole new style of dance called finger tutting. I was blessed to be in the movie Step Up 3D with a whole end credit scene solo which changed the world forever. The dance became very popular and my signature moves have become the foundation for the dance. Did you see the viral TikTok magic finger challenge? If so That was from one of my original concepts from the movie it’s called the Tiger Claw. I guess what I’d say separates me from others is I fully commit to these different characters as if I were a separate person to each and I truly embody study and go as deep as I can in each Avenue all while being 100% true to my art and my heart.
Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?
Before Dance, I think I was just a curious kid always had an extensive imagination. I would create scenarios for my action figures and spend hours imagining battles and fights and all kinds of stuff. I kept myself entertained for hours. After I found dance, I don’t think I had a normal pre-teen or young adult life. My thoughts were always revolving around movement. I didn’t like to go chase girls at the mall or go to amusement parks or anything like that. I just wanted to dance and practice and get better.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: jsmooth_theking
- Youtube: @jsmooth
- SoundCloud: Jsmooth_official
Image Credits
Estnyboer Gr818ers
