Arts / Alex goes dancing with Janet Jackson

ALEXANDRA Carson’s passion for dance knows no bounds as she will soon be dancing for Janet Jackson on her world tour this year.

Originally from Belconnen, Alex began her dancing career at the age of 11 with a style called “street funk” at a studio at Gorman House. She has since represented Canberra and Australia at the World Hip-Hop Championships in Las Vegas with Dance Central and danced for many groups such as Bliss, Beatphonik and Deja in Sydney.

Now 23 years old and living in NZ, Alex will soon be a principal dancer for Janet Jackson’s “Unbreakable” world tour this year.

“The feeling of knowing that I’m going to dance for Janet Jackson is unlike any other. It is still quite overwhelming to think about,” she says.

“I’m obviously still quite nervous, but overjoyed and excited is probably the best description for it.”

After establishing herself as a dancer, teacher and choreographer at Dance Central in Canberra, Alex took as many dance classes as she could in Sydney before making the decision to move to Auckland to join three-time world hip-hop dance champions, The Royal Family and ReQuest.

“Many opportunities arose in Auckland, which was surprising to me, but the reputation of The Royal Family brought global opportunities,” says Alex.

“I have travelled to Korea, working with top girl group 2NE1 and toured through Australia, America and Europe.

“I also feature in NZ’s first dance film ‘Born to Dance’ as ‘Sophie’ from K-crew. These were all dreams I wished of pursuing as a kid and teen and to be able to say I’ve achieved them is just amazing. Janet is just the icing on the cake.

“The audition for the world tour was intense. I had to take two trips to LA for the process, but in the end it was well worth it,” she says.

“The room was full of the industry’s best dancers, which was very daunting. Knowing that you’re up against people who dance for the likes of Chris Brown, Rihanna and Ariana Grande is nerve wracking in itself.

“Then doing that in front of Janet herself was definitely a trying moment. The audition started with 200 female and 200 male dancers in the room, after four rounds and with the group radically reducing, finally there were only seven dancers left and I was one of them.

“It was such a surreal moment, I dropped to my knees and cried, this is my biggest dream come true.”

Director of Dance Central, Julie Scheer, says: “It wasn’t long ago that Alexandra Carson was training here in the hip hop crews and now she is one of our biggest role models and mentors who all the students look up to, respect and admire.”

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