EAST BRUNSWICK – Jesse Kohn is driven.
At 17, Kohn didn’t just binge-watch TV or bake bread during the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead, he turned his passion for dance into an entrepreneurial adventure.
The founder of Journey Dance Convention, Kohn created a home for teen dancers to learn from each other during a time when regular in-person instruction was paused.
Now a high school senior, Kohn found his groove at the age of 9. He now dances at First Position School of Dance in Milltown.
Specializing in contemporary dance, Kohn added teaching to his dance card in the last few years. As he “likes being prepared” and is “very curious” by nature, Kohn went into inquiry mode — contacting people he knew owned studios and asked them about their businesses — about their “journey.” That turned into Journey Dance Convention.
“I was talking to a mentor of mine and I thought about doing something online because it was a pandemic. You can’t open a dance studio when you are 17 years old and it’s a pandemic,” he said. “Right after that conversation — within a week — I created Journey Dance Convention.”
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He named it Journey Dance Convention because “everything is about the journey.”
“I really think everyone’s life has their own journey to get where they are,” Kohn said. “And within every single dance, there should be a journey — a story that you are telling. When I’m teaching, I really try to convey that message.”
Noting that a dance convention is “already a thing,” where faculty is brought from all around the world and dancers have the opportunity to take classes and attend lectures. Kohn’s creation of Journey has a twist involved. All of the teachers are teens.
“To make mine different I thought an all-teen faculty would work,” he said. “People seem to love the idea. I wanted a very comfortable place for people to learn and connect. I thought participants could learn from them and see the journey that they are on now is similar to theirs.”
Kohn’s idea had legs. He attracted teen teachers well accomplished on their own in the dance universe. Some of the faculty included Kayla Mak, 17, Lauren Yakima, 19, and Carlow Rush, 17, and Jacksun Fryer, 16, of Funkanometry from “World of Dance,” Lewis Shivlok, 18, from “America’s Got Talent,” Brady Farrar, 15, from “Dance Moms” and Zack Jot, 18, from TikTok fame, Rachel Quiner, 15, who portrayed Clara in the “Radio City Christmas Spectacular” and danced in “The Greatest Showman” and Justin Gazzillo, 15, who portrayed “Young Bob Fosse” on FX’s “Fosse/Verdon.”
The first Journey Dance Convention was Aug. 14 to 16. There was 16 hours of training for two age groups — “13 and younger” and “14 and older.”
About 100 people took classes in the two age groups. Both faculty and participants hailed from all over the world, with the majority coming from the U.S. and Canada. Shivlok taught in the early a.m. from Australia.
“It definitely was not as expensive as typical conventions as all of our classes were on Zoom,” he said. “We also were able to offer a scholarship program where kids could fill out a Google form with their age and e-mail and answer why they love to dance. I had people sponsor a dancer — friends, family, an old teacher, my old rabbi did it. We were able to give a few dancers the experience completely free of charge. One dancer from Africa was able to take advantage of the scholarship and attend. Even with the time difference, it all worked out.”
While Kohn said the experience of the first event was a little “crazy” — he was monitoring everything via two computers — he is immensely pleased with the end result.
A one-day ballet workshop featuring Mak, Farrar and Quiner was held on Aug. 30 with a second full Journey Dance Convention offered from Sept. 25 to 27. The latest event for Journey was Nov. 7 — this time the one-day workshop — five classes in comtemporary, ballet, hip-hop, musical theatre/jazz and Latin fusion— was an in person event in Long Branch.
Now applying to colleges, Kohn is sure he wants to involve dance and business into his future.
“I’m doing a bit of both — applying for dance and applying for business,” he said. “Because I’m not 100{c25493dcd731343503a084f08c3848bd69f9f2f05db01633325a3fd40d9cc7a1} sure what I want to major in though I know what I want — I want to open my own dance studio. That’s my goal. But, Journey — if it continues to go successfully — I really would love to do that as well. I’m definitely going to college — for what, we will have to see in a few months.”
For more information about Journey Dance Convention, go to https://www.journeydanceconvention.com/.
Email: [email protected]
Cheryl Makin is a features reporter for MyCentralJersey.com, part of the USA Today Network. To get unlimited access to her award-winning work, please subscribe or activate your digital account today by clicking ‘Subscribe Now’ at the top right hand corner of this page. Contact: [email protected] or @CherylMakin.
