Today we’d like to introduce you to Yuka Kameda.

Hi Yuka, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?

Can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today. You can include as little or as much detail as you’d like.

I am from Japan and moved to the U.S. in 2005 to pursue my career as a tap dancer. I came here as an ESL student to be able to stay here and pursue my dreams of tap dancing. I vividly remember my first performance in a public school, of course, it was unpaid, but as I was young, I believed the experience would be worth a lot. After quite a few of those unpaid gigs, I started to get noticed and more and more paid gigs began to spring up. Fast-forward to now, I have my own band, Secret Drive, and regularly perform with many other musicians in New York and throughout the U.S. After a couple of years of performing, I was offered a teaching position by someone who saw one of my performances. Since then, I have been teaching regularly for both kids and adults.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?

Has it been a smooth road? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?

Not at all, and it was not easy. I moved to New York with only $2000 in my pocket, and I had no family or friends here. My English was poor when I got my first teaching job, and there were about 40 children in my class, without an assistant teacher. I had no teaching experience (not even in Japan), so I had no idea how to teach dance. It was so frustrating that sometimes I couldn’t even explain what I wanted to teach, and I also felt bad that I often didn’t understand what the kids were trying to say. But I’m happy to say that now, I am a faculty member at some amazing dance schools in New York, such as Steps on Broadway, Broadway Dance Center, and Mark Morris Dance Center. I’m so thankful to the founder of the first school that I taught at for giving me my first big break and the opportunity to grow as a tap teacher.

If we knew you growing up, how would we have described you?

What were you like growing up? Personality wise, interest wise, etc.

I started going to a musical school once a week when I was 10. I took many different types of classes, such as jazz, ballet, tap, singing, acting, etc. But I was only good at tap dancing. I was even caught sleeping in my Jazz class once, lol. My tap teacher was great, and she gave me a lot of encouragement and confidence. Because of her encouragement, I decided to keep tap dancing and this really shaped what my future would become. The motivation I experienced from her classes was the reason I moved to New York and became so involved in both tap dance performance and teaching this art form.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.yukakameda.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yukakameda/?hl=en
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/Ukakonya
• Other: https://www.instagram.com/secretdrivenyc/

Image Credits

Travis Magee
Dervon Dixon
Agata Photography