Today we’d like to introduce you to Ben Chung.
Ben, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I began dancing in high school. I took it more seriously in college where I was introduced to the competitive dance circuit. After graduating, I wanted to put my degree in Film Studies to use so I immediately began working in TV production as a P.A. All the while, my curiosity for dance as a career was very much tugging at me. I took the leap towards full time dance in 2006. In 2007, I joined a group called Jabbawockeez. We ended up winning a TV dance competition called America’s Best Dance Crew in 2008. That eventually afforded us an opportunity to headline our very own show on the Las Vegas strip. I spent almost 5 years in Vegas, where I felt a strong pull to move back to LA in 2014. I left Vegas and came back to LA where I linked up with my very good friends, Mike Song and Anthony Lee. They had a crew called Kinjaz that they decided they wanted to take to the next level…into a full-blown entertainment company. They asked me to join them in making this into a reality. I believed in them as individuals, and I saw the vision they had. I joined them on this journey in 2014, and since then, we’ve turned what was just once a dance crew into a thriving entertainment company.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
As is the case with anything that is worthwhile, nothing comes easy. We have definitely faced our struggles along the way. Being that dance as an art form has rarely had the opportunity to be taken as a main “center stage” act, the hardest part has been being able to show “big business” execs that we are more than a simple dance act, but rather a complete, full scale entertainment company that delivers a fully packaged immersive experience that is narrated by the thread of dance. We recognize that we can’t expect people to just use their imagination and figure out what we do, so we have gone, and continue to go to great lengths to develop very easily digestible examples of what we are capable of by way of creative new media.
Kinjaz – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
On the most elementary level, we are a dance entertainment company. But to zoom in on all the different avenues within our company, that only scratches the surface of what Kinjaz is. We perform, we teach, we inspire, we influence our culture, and we do it all in the name of leaving a global impact for our dance community. Our home and creative space is called the Kinjaz Dojo, located in Monterey Park, CA. We run a good majority of our business from the Kinjaz Dojo. It is open to the public Monday – Friday as a dance studio where students at all levels of dance can learn from not only their favorite Kinjaz, but from a full roster of the most respected and well-qualified dance instructors within the dance community. The first floor of the Kinjaz Dojo serves as the flagship store of our rapidly thriving apparel line called “KIN Aesthetik.” We have full plans to take this line to the furthest lengths of functionality for those that live life to the fullest, while absolutely valuing the aesthetic of fashion consciousness. On a very tangible front, we want to not only expand the reach of our passion for dance by creating more branches of our creative space, the Kinjaz Dojo, but we would like to eventually create our very own full-scale production stage show. A large part of what we do is brought to life through the avenue of creative new media. Much of our creative work lives online, primarily in the YouTube space on our channel YouTube.com/thekinjaz.
What is “success” or “successful” for you?
My definition of “success” has greatly matured over the years. At this stage in my life, I define “success” as simply being able to achieve goals that mean something significant to you, with people that you love and believe in just the same. If this can be accomplished while being able to sustain a livelihood for all parties involved, that is success. Of course, there will always be varying degrees of success, but at the very base level, this is success to me.
Contact Info:
- Address: 670 Monterey Pass Rd. Suite 200
Monterey Park, CA. 91754 - Website: www.kinjaz.com
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: @kinjaz
- Facebook: facebook.com/kinjaz
- Twitter: @kinjaz
- Yelp: Kinjaz Dojo
- Other: YouTube.com/thekinjaz
Image Credit:
VIBRVNCY
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