Finding Your “Why”: Jerome Aparis on How Breaking Feeds His Soul
Trigger Warning: Trauma, Sexual Assault
By Isabel Reck & Madison Huizinga. DWC Blog Contributors
At the end of AAPI month, Jerome Aparis shared his journey on becoming a co-founder and current member of the world-renowned breaking crew, Massive Monkees. From studying VHS tapes of breakers in sixth grade to creating an internationally acclaimed crew and achieving global accolades, Jerome recounts how the values of hard work and creativity from his cultural heritage have fueled his drive for success and purpose.
Jerome began his dance journey around age 12 by watching videos of breakdancing crews from Seattle. At the time, this art form was predominantly underground and information about it traveled almost exclusively through word of mouth. A movie that was particularly influential for him growing up was Beat Street, a film showcasing the NYC hip hop culture of breaking, MCing, DJing, and graffiti art in the early 1980s. Jerome had never seen dancing like what he witnessed in Beat Street and various other videos. He was immediately pulled in.
When Jerome was a kid, most people his age learned breaking at local community centers, which were relatively informal and open to the public. The community centers were usually packed to the brim, and Jerome recalls sometimes only getting a couple of minutes of one-on-one time with his instructor. Despite this challenge, the attitude he adopted was about “maximizing what [he] learned.” Jerome recalls often not understanding certain steps the first couple of times he practiced them at the center. He would go home and rehearse in his kitchen for hours so he could go back to the community center and show off his improvement. Being able to advance through practice and showcase his progress made him confident that he was worthy of his instructor’s time and worthy of being a student.
This attitude and commitment to breaking led Jerome to make an impressive and successful career for himself. He co-founded the world-famous breaking crew, Massive Monkees in 1996. This group and its members have shared the stage with the likes of Macklemore, Missy Elliot, Jay-Z, and Alicia Keys. Massive Monkees also finished third overall in MTV’s America’s Best Dance Crew in 2009 and won the 2004 B-Boy World Championship in London and 2012 R-16 World Championship in Seoul, Korea. Jerome later won ten national titles with the crew Massive Monkees. Today, Jerome coaches students at the Massive Monkees Studio: The Beacon, and at Cornerstone Studio with his wife, Lea Aparis, who’s also the studio’s owner.
“When you don’t have much, creativity is huge.”
Jerome shares that his Filipino heritage has largely shaped the individual and performer he is today. Jerome was born in the Philippines and moved to the United States at age three. When he returned to the Philippines at age 15, he remembers seeing how hard the people from his hometown worked, including his own family. He recalls kids in his hometown, outside of the city, walking miles just to get water and attend school. Community members who were lacking the resources that urban-dwellers possessed needed to act creatively to work around the challenges they faced. These values—hard work and creativity—Jerome recognized in the Philippines, pushed him to achieve the accomplishments he has today. “Mak[ing] something out of nothing” is a theme that he has carried with him throughout his journey. “When you don’t have much, creativity is huge,” he explains.
One instance in the Philippines that was particularly inspiring to Jerome occurred when he visited his sister at work. Jerome’s sister performs government work in the Philippines, working at a safe house for young girls who have been victimized by sex trafficking. The leads at the safe house asked Jerome if he was interested in speaking with the girls and perhaps teaching a workshop. They told him these girls were scared and felt like they didn't have a voice. Knowing that these young girls had developed significant fears, particularly of outsider men, Jerome knew “it [was] time to step up to the plate.” What occurred at the safe house was the “most life-changing 60 minutes of [his] life.”
At the beginning of the workshop, these girls, ages 5-17, were incredibly quiet. At first, the session centered on talking and why using their voices is important. Then, Jerome transitioned into teaching them choreography that communicated their strength and power. By the end of the workshop, he describes how the girls were “just going for it” and how their energy had completely changed. Later, they all sat in a circle and each girl opened up about her story. Jerome carries these stories with him today. “It’s way bigger than just winning a trophy,” he shares.
To be a successful professional dancer, Jerome makes it clear that a performer must know their “why.” Why do you do what you do? Jerome explains that in dance it’s easy to be driven to succeed to simply fuel your ego. You merely dance for the winning, the fame, and the glory. But beyond expanding your ego, your “why” must be fueled by the need to make yourself feel genuinely confident and feed your soul. Jerome’s experience teaching in the Philippines did just this. Helping kids “understand that there is so much greatness in them” is what coaching has become to him and is “one of his biggest passions.”
Jerome’s biggest takeaway from his career is simple: “find your why.” Once you know this everything else will follow.
“Find your why, once you know this everything else will follow.”
Madison Huizinga has been dancing for 13 years, and her favorite styles are ballet and contemporary. Currently, she attends the University of Washington and is studying Communications, Business, and Dance. Madison is presently a company member with Seattle-based dance company Intrepidus Dance. She loves working at Dancewear Center because it allows her to help local dancers find the best shoes, apparel, and equipment possible to further their dance goals and careers. Dance has always been a positive creative outlet for her to express her emotions—so it’s always nice to meet members of the local dance community that relate!
Outside of dance and work, you will find Madison exploring new cafés and restaurants around Seattle, hiking, reading, and traveling.
Isabel Reck has been dancing since she was 12; the majority of her training being at Cornerstone Studio. She has trained in ballet, contemporary, lyrical, jazz, hip-hop, tap, breakdancing, and aerial silks, although contemporary has always been her go-to. Her favorite thing about working with DWC is being able to explore a new side of dance she never thought she would be a part of.