Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Yoshiki Obata. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Yoshiki, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.
The biggest risk I took was to drop out of university and pursue my dream career. I used to attend Temple University Japan campus. I went there because my parents wanted me to get a degree and live in Japan as a Japanese and become a businessman. I dropped out when COVID hit and I really didn’t see the benefits of attending university online and that’s when I spoke to my parents that I wanted them to support my tuition on something that I really want to do. From there I applied to BDC’s (Broadway dance center) independent training program and came to New York to train and pursue dance.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I am 23 years old Japanese born and raised in Thailand. I started dancing when I was 17. I fell in love with dance and I took 2-3 classes everyday since I started and never stopped during COVID as well. Back in Thailand I was a freelance dancer and I have worked as a dancer for music videos, commercials, events, and concerts. I came to New York to train and currently trying to obtain the artist visa to be able to work in New York as a dancer/choreographer. I started to work on my choreography skill since I came to New York. I started small and choreographed for my own school projects and opening small class sessions and worked my way up to putting my own piece for events such as sybarite and DDA (don’t dance alone). By putting my work out in public consistently I was able to get offers to choreograph for some music videos. I am proud of myself for not quitting and being consistent, and I want people to know that it doesn’t matter if you started late or not, being consistent is the key to success and when your time comes it comes.
Is there mission driving your creative journey?
My goal is to choreograph & dance one day for a big mainstream artist such as Chris Brown, Usher, and Ne-yo, but as for now I feel like my mission is to make people happy and enjoy by taking my classes and dancing to my choreography. And when I hear people telling me they enjoyed and had a great time with me that thrives me to do better.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
My most rewarding aspect of being an artist is to hear from people how much they appreciate, inspired or loved my artwork. I want people to enjoy and feel inspired by sharing my artwork and hearing that from people is my most rewarding aspect.
Contact Info: