May 11-14: Boxcuttuhz: Bam Martin, JP Goldstein, Lando Wilkins & Lydia Paek

MAY 11-14: BOXCUTTUHZ WEEK: BAM MARTIN, JP GOLDSTEIN, LANDO WILKINS & LYDIA PAEK

MEET BAM MARTIN
Brian “Bam” Martin, was born and raised in the city of Chino, CA. He is 20 Years to this day. Bam began his dancing career in early high school when he took his first hip-hop class at a local dance studio. At that time, Bam began to train and compete with their competition team. During that time at the studio, he focused on his jazz and technical training rather than any hip-hop styles. However, he always had a love for anything that had to do with hip hop music. In May of 2006, Bam got signed to be represented by Bloc Talent Agency, and began his quest in the industry. After several months, he began hanging with the community scene a little bit outside of L.A., where he was introduced to such teams as Team Millennia, Kaba Modern, Culture Shock, and much more. He knew this was the scene he wanted to be apart of at the time being. Bam then joined a collegiate dance team from Cal Poly Pomona called GRV in early 2007. Since then, Bam has trained and done projects under various choreographers such as Gigi Torres, Jay Chris Moore, Jun Quemado and Lando Wilkins. In early January 2008, Bam was asked to train and perform with the Boxcutters for local shows and competitions. Bam and the “Boxcuttuhz” recently made their appearance on the first couple episodes of MTV’s Americas Best Dance Crew.

BAM'S VIDEOS:
BZ COMMUNITY CLASS- bam


MEET JP GOLDSTEIN
John "JP" Goldstein started dancing at a very young age. He grew up being mostly self-taught until in 2004 he joined a group called UYA, Urban Youth. Since then, JP has been training and dancing with some of Southern California's best-known teams. In 2005 he joined Team Millennia, and in 2006/2007 he embraced the stage with San Diego's very own Urban FX. Nowadays JP is focusing his time on stage with Mavyn Entertainment, GRV, Boxcutters, and his own side project Street Family.

Other credits include choreographer's projects:

CJ Edward's - Expressive Doubt
Lando Wilkin's - Boxcutters School of Assassins
K-Nita's - IBA
Carnivals under Twitch, Eric Brown, Chantal Robson, and CJ Edwards
www.youtube.com/freesoul

JP's Videos:


MEET LANDO WILKINS
Arlando Lee Wilkins was born February 13th, 1983 in San Diego, California. He is the oldest of two boys in his family. Lando loves two things most, fooling around and people, and since the earth has both of those he is a perfect addition to it. He began dancing at the age of who knows??? At the age of 19, he chose to take dance a little more seriously and began taking classes with Angie Bunch and Anna Sarao. From there he left to join 220 and after two years with that family he left to train with mess wih the style of "beat manipulating" with Kevin Brewer. Lando roots his dance from the streets so to speak and just plain good 'ol hood fun. That lead to breaking, locking, and popping. Soon he implemented that into his choreography "freestyle" groove. Lando decided to stick and back his good friend Kevin in starting a team that praises the Lord himself, and they are called Super Galactic Beat Manipulators, the name carries character it self.
Now representing Family Royale, which consists of the brother teams of Jabbawockeez, Boogie Monstarz (Phil Tayag), Press P.L.A.Y (Joe Larot), and SGBM (Kevin Brewer), Lando just loves to travel and teach whenever he can to make people enjoy dance just a little more with what little knowledge he can share. You can now find Lando enjoying himself at Culture Shock Dance Studio San Diego, and other workshops along the coast and Las Vegas.

Lando's Videos:
mavyn workshop


MEET LYDIA PAEK
“I talk with a melody and walk by beats,” is what this 18 year old encapsulates her perception of oneself. Though most girls her age are still figuring out what they want to do after high school, Lydia already has the talent that most girls at any age dream about. Born on March 28, 1990, Lydia was born in LA and raised in a Korean household where music was in her blood from the beginning. Her mother studied to be an opera singer and her father was a dancer, who also played instruments. At age 3, she started to play the piano. But as a child, she sang soft and low, afraid of what people would think. Growing up, her parents had to work regular jobs to support their family and we’re rarely around because they had to constantly work to make ends meet. It was during these times, Lydia learned more about herself and how to become independent. Like most Asian parents, they were strict on Lydia. They made sure she studied hard in school and got good grades. A career in music wasn’t exactly what her parents had planned for her. It wasn’t until high school, she discovered her true love for music. She expressed that “without music, I wouldn’t feel right. I had to be an artist.” She remembers rushing home from school to surround herself with friends who loved to dance and shared her passion for music. At age 15, she began taking dancing seriously. She describes dancing as “a way to get my emotions out.” Since then, she has built a family in the dance community. Some of her biggest influences Lydia has trained with are John Patrick Goldstein, Jun Quemado, Gigi Torres, Nicole Marnita, Jeff Viray, Lando Wilkins, and also Dominic Sandoval and Hok from Fox’s dance show, “So You Think You Can Dance?” As a teenager, Lydia had to go through tremendous adversities. At age 16, her best friend Darnell passed away. She said, “he was the one who actually pushed me to something with singing and dancing. He encouraged me and made me believe in myself.” During those tough times in her life, she turned to musical greats such as Erykah Badu, Lauryn Hill, India Arie and Jill Scott. She admires these musicians for their strengths as women and how their poetic lyrics can make an impact on her through troubled moments. Lydia also musically admires and respects her close friends, Gabe Bondoc and AJ Rafael. “They’re very talented musicians, Gabe studied Opera and AJ is a talented composer.” Behind her funky street style, her hip-hop inspired dance moves and her uniquely matured voice, Lydia is just like every 18-year-old. She loves to hang out with her friends, drink Starbucks and go onto YouTube. Lydia hopes to inspire everyone she meets and to have the ability to share to the world her love for music.