We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Joshua “J4” Gaspar. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Joshua “J4” below.
Hi Joshua “J4”, thanks for sharing your insights with our community today. Part of your success, no doubt, is due to your work ethic and so we’d love if you could open up about where you got your work ethic from?
As the runt of the family, I grew up watching each of my three brothers and my parents work for everything that we had. I’m blessed to be able to say I was living under the same roof of such a loving and supportive family, however like every family, there were challenges. Our challenge was the insecurity of money. Coming from a creative household, my brothers and I found creative ways to generate an income throughout school, in addition to working various part-time jobs. With every brand or business one of us initiated, we all worked together as a family to help build and support to its fullest potential. Some business ideas were more successful than others, however we always believed we’d be able to create something out of nothing.
When I entered high-school, it was around the same time that all three of my older brothers had moved away, leaving myself as the last child at home. It was the most difficult time as a young teenager since both father and grandfather were diagnosed with cancer. Even though I knew I wasn’t financially responsible for handling any of the medical expenses, I believed that I should be capable of financially supporting myself, easing the financial burden on my parents of providing for the family. At a young age, my work ethic evolved from a choice to an obligation, in an attempt to become independent and self-sufficient.
Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
Since 2010, I knew dance was more than just a hobby. My mom thought that little baby “J4” was eventually going to grow out of the little dance-y phase that most children go through. However, what she didn’t yet realize was that I had fallen in love with the art of movement. I fell in love with the freedom I had to play with having such a young imagination, the smiles on people’s faces when I perform, the conversations that uncover different ways to conceptualize similar movements, and how dance has a culture and community of people behind it.
It all started with the show So You Think You Can Dance. Being one of the only platforms that featured dance as its primary focus, little “J4 ” became obsessed with this idea of competing on the show. Between the ages of six and eight, I spent two days a week at the local YMCA taking a basic Hip-Hop dance class. My brother, Justin, convinced my mother to take me to a junior dance competition team audition, in an attempt to put me in a room with older and more experienced dancers. The next thing I knew, I was an eight year old kid training on a dance team full of high-schoolers.
In 2013, my mother and I flew from San Jose, CA to Los Angeles, CA to see what the audition process of SYTYCD would look like. Ignorant to what the dance industry entailed, my mom wanted me to experience the audition process first hand so that when I was of-age, I’d be prepared to officially compete. The producers of the show recognized my love and devotion to this craft, and brought me up onto the stage to freestyle with Cyrus Spencer and Fik-Shun Stegall. Little did I know, this opportunity was going to jumpstart my career in dance. After making my appearance as a 9-year old feature on the SYTYCD stage in Season 11, I was signed by MSA agency and was immediately offered auditions for various dance jobs. Realizing that there was a career to be built in this industry, I took my training more seriously.
For about nine years, I prioritized my training to elevate my craft in Hip Hop dance. I received foundational training in popping and boogaloo, trained in collegiate level choreography on various crews based in both San Jose and Daly City, collaborated with other artists, interviewed my past mentors, and taught my own choreography classes at some of the local studios. I was fascinated with how much more there was to learn and fell in love with dance all over again.
In 2022, I made the move to southern California to pursue dance as a dance major at California State University, Fullerton. Serving as the next step towards developing my craft as a dancer, hungry to learn more about movement and its artistic counterparts. During my first three semesters of training, I decided to create a collegiate level dance team, local to the city of Orange, where I had the creative freedom to build out my artistic visions and where other dancers from other communities could come together and share space. This energetic transaction between artists drove me to name this newly formed community of movers “The Exchange.” Shortly after, in January of 2024, I relocated to Las Vegas, NV where I was hired to perform in the Donny Osmond residency. Unsure of the duration of my relocation, I decided to put a hold on schooling, knowing that opportunities such as this are rare and would serve as an opportunity of a lifetime. Managing the next steps for The Exchange also became a challenge due to the relocation.
Currently, I perform full time in Las Vegas, NV but travel between Los Angeles, CA and San Francisco, CA on occasion for varying dance opportunities and projects. My heart will always be where my dance community is, and I am blessed to be able to say that I have three different cities I can call home.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
Some qualities that were essential for my journey include patience, clarity, and love. It may sound cliche for these three qualities to be mentioned, but in my experience, these qualities are heavily undervalued.
Regardless of how much work you put into your craft, results will never occur overnight. There will always be a divine time and a place for everything that happens in life and in your own individual journey. Within my experience, I’ve learned to be patient with the process, allowing time for the seeds of your work to grow into something tangible. A mentor of mine, Patrick Cruz, once said, “Good things take time.”
Dreams are only goals without the identified steps. Without a clear direction, the work you dedicate towards your craft will never progress. It is essential for the vision to be clear. It’s imperative to understand why you do what you do, in order for your dreams to become tangible. I’ve also learned to be able to accept that more often than not, things may not go according to plan. There’s nothing wrong with a failed plan, as long as you take the time to prepare contingent options before hand. As ironic as it sounds, failure is just another step in the direction of success.
“Failure to prepare is preparing to fail.” – Pat Cruz
My grandfather always preached the idea of finding something you love to do, and finding someone that will pay you to do it. If you find a way to make a living based on what you love, it will never feel like work. Pursuing something that you love to do might just be the best thing you can do for yourself. It can be a challenge to build a career from the beginning, but only those willing to fight for what they love will find a way. Building a career in dance is not an easy process, yet our love for this craft outweighs all the challenges we choose to endure.
We’ve all got limited resources, time, energy, focus etc – so if you had to choose between going all in on your strengths or working on areas where you aren’t as strong, what would you choose?
From my experience in the dance community, I’ve learned that there is value in both sides of going all in on your strengths, as well as dedicating time to become well rounded in some of the less developed areas. I believe that it really depends on what you want to accomplish.
I believe some dancers fail to realize that there’s so much value in individuality and finding their niche, especially if you become the best at what you do. No one else in this world can offer what you can, which means when the time comes where someone is in need of what you have to offer, it’ll make you an even greater asset. For example, I’ve devoted time into elevating my tutting techniques, which in hand opened opportunities for me to be featured in projects specific to the usage of tutting visuals. I may not be the best, however there’s value in having a specialized niche that the majority can’t offer.
In opposition, there is also value in being adaptable, especially as dancers where we never know what the job may entail. This requires preparation and exposure to the qualities we may lack, in order to round out some of our weaknesses. From a business standpoint, being adaptable means you could be utilized for more, making you even greater of an asset.
I personally believe that everyone has their own lane, where each person is responsible for becoming the best version of themselves. Part of building your value is also having experience in the less developed areas, while specializing in something that is specific to you. I believe the progress that I’ve made in my journey came from having this realization at a younger age. I understood that I needed to invest in my strengths, while making progress in my areas of weakness.
Since dance is a communal art-form, being able to have those conversations with artists who have already mastered your less developed qualities can also be beneficial for your individual growth. Having that exchange with other artists opened my mind to different dance related philosophies. We become stronger individuals once we discover the depths of our strengths and are able yo tend to our weaknesses.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @j4_gaspar
- Youtube: @theexchange.j4
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