Hey guys,

This is the final post on the matter, the grand finale I guess. This past year was never about success or fame or recognition, it was a catalyst, something to force me to strive to improve myself, to make me get off my ass and actually work towards something. I made this Tumblr to drum up support and make it feel real to me. The support I’ve had from everyone has been amazing, so many people have text me and messaged me saying my words have inspired them or that they want to take dance seriously and that is so amazing to me. If I could help just one person realise their true potential or discover their passion then I know it’s been worthwhile.

Through striving to get to America so many strange things have happened, I’ve left my job (more than one actually), I’ve got a new flat, I’ve spent a year being practical and pragmatic, I’ve saved up so much money, I’ve lost a really amazing girl in my life. Perhaps all of these things were for the best, maybe I need some time off to have fun, maybe I needed to sort my life out and make some money, maybe I needed to get a place to live with some awesome guys. Hell, I know that if I had a girlfriend right now I’d probably blow all my money…I already offered a friend £3,000 in the last 24 hours. Truth is, I don’t care for money, it’s a means to an end, I can go without the latest pair of vans, I haven’t bought a cap in like 4 years and even then I bought it because I lost my favourite hat when I was drunk. Point is most of the things I have, I have because they were given to me, people get too caught up in material possessions and I would much rather give every penny to making someone’s dream come true than looking fresh on a night out. I hope that that alone is something to make my family proud, I’ve not been the best person lately, maybe I’ve been too focused on my goal and neglected the people that have believed in me all along. It was never so hard to deal with as when it’s right there in front of you and that’s something that’s been troubling me for a few weeks now.

So last night I checked the status update of my ESTA application…and it was ‘unauthorised’, this means I can’t travel to the US…not even for a short holiday. It’s weird, I feel like a national threat, I’m just a kid trying to dance, make something of the life I’ve been given and hopefully one day help people. This isn’t the end of the road; it’s just the end of this journey, and the start of a different one. In honesty I’m excited, I love planning and considering and working things out. So I have a few options I’m thinking: Sunshine Summer Camp, Hip Drop, Urban Dance Camp, HDI Summer Camp, China. I honestly wish I was in a long term relationship so I could go on a sun holiday. But hell it’s exciting, I have 6 months of free time and money to spend on making it work. It’s amazing to me how pissed off people have been on my behalf (America has made some enemies haha), maybe I don’t care enough about myself, but that’s because I have amazing people in my life to do that for me. All in all thank you so much for reading, supporting and giving me a reason to work so hard. I’m not going to stop, this is just chapter two…Next year maybe I’ll do it all again.

Keep loving the world and each other.

- Kall

p.s if anybody has any ideas on training or intensives or anything where I can train in dance for like 5+ hours a day from June-November please let me know =]

p.p.s I’m not rich, you won’t see me buying Pop tarts anytime soon…they’re pricey man!

So as you know for the past year I’ve been saving up as much money as I can with the objective of spending Sumer 2012 in America.

In January 2012 I went for a Visa Interview at the American Embassy in London. I admit I was pretty unprepared for this interview and didn’t expect it to be so strict. I was denied the visa on the grounds that I didn’t demonstrate strong enough ties to my home country, which is fair enough considering I didn’t take with me poof of job or proof of property.

I spent the next 3 or 4 months solidifying my travel plans (as well as booking some of my accomodation) and compiling proof of as much as I could ready for another interview . This included getting:

• A signed letter from my employer on letter headed paper saying that I’d be coming back to work
• The tenancy agreement from the property I will be renting as of July
• A complete budget list in £ and $ explaining all my expenses and what I will be spending it on
• Proof of finances complete with my last 5 wage slips
• Letter from my parents supporting my trip and saying they will pay for an emergency plane ticket home should any financial shortfall occur
• Parents proof of address and income
• Quotes for flights and travel/health insurance
• Proof of activities – dance studio schedules, comic-con info and tickets etc.

Just yesterday I had my second visa interview and was declined again after less than 3 minutes. They said that with me being young and having lots of transferrable skills, the Embassy are always going to think I intend to stay forever and work, especially with the destination being LA and my job being in the dance industry. They didn’t look at any of my documentation even though the letter from my employer highlights my visit is to improve job prospects with the intention of teaching dance for my current employer. I asked the interviewer if I’d still be able to get a Visa Waiver and he said he didn’t know and that being declined a visa would count against me.

This is fine, I understand that they are the rules but what sucks is my inability to overcome the reason that I’m not allowed a visa. So I’ve considered I’ll have to make the best of a bad situation, make my holiday 2.5 months, then visit China and have an extra holiday after too. But I’m worried - it would be the worst to fly out and get denied at the port of entry. If there’s anyone out there that could suggest anything on the likelihood of that happening it would be much appreciated. My current plan is to get an ESTA, book my return flights to America and China, which along with all my documents, hopefully they’ll allow me access and I can still train with AudioKidz/travel with Scott before coming home towards the end of August (folowed by going to HDI summer camp and heading to China).

Thank you all so much for supporting me, caring about my life and being so inquisitive.

Hopefully I’ll make something of myself one day and give back to the world.

Hopefully…

- Kall

p.s yeah I’ve wasted like £250 so far so if I pay flights and get knocked back it’ll be nearer a grand…and that’s not counting the £800+ I’ve spent on housing over there >.<

Right! I’m going to jump straight into it.

It’s been just over a year since I started taking classes and in that time I haven’t really done any performances. Dancing in class and dancing with your friends is completely different to the pressures of a performance. So I thought I wanted to get some experience in performing; so during this month I’ve been a part of 3 performances and this is how they went:

Performance 1) The first performance was great, the process was great, I had no limit with regards to vision or choreography and it was a really great experience. We were really limited in terms of time, we had like a week and we were never available at the same time but we made the best of what we had and the result was great. Everything pulled together and to have people give you compliments and praise just topped it off.

Performance 2) The first performance was on a small platform, mainly parents and kids with no expectations. The second performance was at Uni BBoy Champs, a lot more pressure, an audience of professional dancers and one chance to prove myself…Sink or swim.

The process was stressfull, it got to the point where I was working two jobs, rehearsing, choreographing and taking classes at the same time and it really took it’s toll on me mentally and physically. I’d leave for work at 8am, work 6 hours, grab some food for 15 minutes. Rehearse for a few hours, take class for a few hours, then grab some food on the way to work and work til 1am. When I got home (after an hour walk) cook, choreograph while it’s cooking and then grab some sleep before repeating the process. It was hectic. By the time the performance came I had flu, I have never had flu and I had never had time off work, bad timing. I got through the performance…barely. I froze on my own choreography and couldn’t pick it back up for around 5 seconds…the longest 5 seconds of my life.

But I’m still happy with it, I survived, I have a story and I know enough to not let that happen again, my immediate reaction was to be mad at myself. I went to work after and danced harder than I have, I overworked myself because I thought that’s what I had to do, like I made the mistake because I hadn’t been trying hard enough…a better dancer wouldn’t make that mistake, right? I think it’s more about picking your battles, training smart not training long. The lesson I’ve learned is to respect my body and listen to it when it’s crying. I’m still over working myself, because I’m ill again, but probably a little less.

Performance 3) I knew I had to perform again and fast, I didn’t want to get into a rut and be too afraid to get back on stage beause I had left it so long since “the time I fucked up infront of everyone”. So I made time to hit up the Bboy class at DC and perform with them for the end of term performance. It went well, I have one of the dopest teachers, the people in the class are awesome and it was just a good fun performance with my friends and family watching. It’s definitely a future I want to invest in. It was also nice to get back in to bboying, something I want to continue to give attention to, but I’ve also moved up in Ballet class, so I’ve had to drop locking from my repertoire for a little while…it’ll be missed.

In other news I’m slowly progressing towards America, I think the houses have been booked for the first couple of months and I’m trying to plan the rest. It’s a long process for me with passports, visa’s, travel plans, accomodation, things to do, flights etc. etc. and with everything that’s going on it’s tough to balance my life.

I’m not sure if I mentioned my video in the last one, but it’s been filmed, editing is taking aggesss because I just haven’t had time. But hopefully within April.

I slowly see my dreams becoming reality, around 10 months ago I made this Tumblr to push myself, push myself into achieving something - making something of myself. Now I see the end of the tunnel in sight, or more accurately, the start of the tunnel…the next chapter…and it scares me.

- Kall

Happy (belated) New Year =]

So these always get way longer than planned lately so I’m gonna talk about stuff in bullet points.

1 week choreo challenge: -

This went really well, got like 5 pieces of choreo done (skipped a week over xmas). Then things got on top of me with my ex/some girls I was dating and I just felt I had to get everything I was thinking and feeling out into a proper piece (that’s how I battle depression hehe). Then I found out I had 3 weeks to make a new concept video for finals of that Global Online Dance Comp, so now it’s all about that.

1 month footwork challenge: -

I got the stuff outlined in the last blog done, then started working on some other stuff. But I have Fridays off work now so I get to take a breakin’ class or two a week so this challenge has been kinda sidelined. 

New videos:-

Couple new videos. 
1) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_3oiuk3VDE
2) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIObXlpv7gg
3) Third is kinda done but not gonna finish it ‘til after the new concept video is up. 

Scholarship:-

Got my scholarship application finished and sent off =] Fingers crossed.

Visa:-

So I got my Visa application down and got an interview and had it done in London a couple of days ago. Result: DENIED
Turns out because I’m leaving my home and my job in order to make this trip happen they think I’m intending to illegally immigrate (or at least I couldn’t prove the opposite enough for them to give me a visa).

This means, unless I apply again, the longest I can stay is 3 months. I’m not sure whether to see that as a road block or just a traffic diversion. But it got me thinking into alternatives for the rest of the money/time.

China: I have some friends in China that have wanted me to visit on the pretext of free accommodation and free food so I’m realllyyyy tempted to hit this up. Another friend has recently moved there and says the classes are doppppeee for learning grooves.
Japan: This has been a place I’ve wanted to go (and actually tried to move to a few years ago) for a long time. Only way I’d be able to go, is if I was to have some sort of hook up or someone go with me that can speak the language and help me with the best spots to learn and stuff.
France: I’ve been told that France is raw as hell and an all round good place to learn. Same as Japan, I’d want some sort of hook up.
Move early:  I’ve been planning to either move to Manchester or London after my trip to America. Manchester because I know some really great people there and go to Sunshine Studios when I can. London because it’s a sick city and there’s so much opportunity and classes available. I could always move there early and use the extra money to train and live while I look for a job.

America:- Those awesome dancers/people from Manchester are heading to America the same time as me so it’s making sorting accommodation much easier. Really looking forward to going/learning/living along side them.

Goal:- I hit my £5k before 2012 target, but I’ve not slowed down…I’m still working hard =]

Network:- A couple of friends of mine recently started blogs and it made me realise that sometimes you can learn things about people through blogs that they’d never just tell you in real life. They tend to be more personal and open and so I’d really like to read any blogs that any other people I know have. Even if they’re picture blogs/youtube channels etc. so seriously hit me up and tell me them. I have Rockmelt web browser so I have a whole list of random feeds and stuff that I get it to update me on. Just drop me an e-mail or Facebook message or something =]

KallumKhaos@Gmail.com
Facebook.com/KallumKhaos
Youtube.com/KallumKhaos

Childish Gambino gig - Best time of 2012 so far.

=] 

Peace people - The goal is near.

- Kall 

Lately I’ve been doing more work than dance, so when I get the opportunity to dance I just want to let loose, freestyle or just practice everything instead of drilling and really digging in. If I have something specific to focus on or a deadline to work towards then I’m much more efficient and dedicated with my training. I think it’s my competitive nature that makes me not want to fail any task that I’m set, so I figured I need some challenges in my life to work towards and keep me on the right path…

Enter “1 Month Footwork Challenge”. So originally I started in breakin’ and haven’t been able to really practice much due to a series of injuries, but I’ve lately been getting back into it gradually, easing myself in with top rock and now I’m ready to get back on the footwork. I have a lot of good friends that are bboys with some amazing talent, so I got my best friend to set me some challenges that I should work towards in order to improve my footwork, these are my challenges for the first week:

1 step / Coffee Grinder (both ways)
2 step / Baby Swipes (both ways)
3 step (both ways)
4 step (both ways)
5 step (both ways)
6 step (both ways)
7 step (both ways)
12 step / Baby Love (both ways)
Bonus: Transition between them.
Mega Bonus: Transition between them with the opposite side.
Legendary Bonus: Transition between all with both sides.

As most of you probably know, when I’m in Newcastle it’s hard for me to learn choreography because there’s not that many hip-hop dancers/choreographers for me to learn from. Enter “1 Week Choreography Challenge”, I’m challenging myself to come up with a new piece of choreo every week…I don’t know how long for. Don’t expect there to be a new video every week because it’s likely the pieces are going to suck. I might film each one and maybe compile them all/the best ones/the ones that aren’t horribly bad into a video a few months down the line. I know these challenges are going to be hard to achieve next to my work, editing, planning, christmas stuff and everything else going on right now, but what’s the point in easy?

Ok I’ll move on to try and keep this short’ish. I’ve been working on a Visa application and applying for funding via a scholarship to try and get my travel paid for, it would be a great honour to be successful but I’m not going to rely on it or let it replace hard work.

Finally I’ve got the ball rolling on plans, looking at places to stay - WOW NORTH HOLLYWOOD IS PRICEY! But soooo nice, check it:

http://www.noho14.com/north-hollywood-apartments/noho-14/photos/

I’ve also been thinking about studios (and discovering that YNot teaches at Debbie Reynolds - Dayum). I think I’m going to start at Millenium for a month or so because a lot of their classes are beginner/open and I’m not great by UK standard so I should ease in a bit before going to all the Int/Adv classes that Debbie Reynolds has. I’m not sure where Movement Lifestyle studios fits in but some of my favourite choreographers teach there so it’s going to be awesome regardless.

Christmas: Good food, beer, family and old friends - Literally can’t wait.

Enjoy the season everyone!

Thank you

Peace,

- Kall

P.S 3 New videos to upload when ‘Saving you’ gets to 1,000 views =] give it a click. Thanks

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLNhLdncOwY 

Heyooo,

So first off just want to say I hit my target for the end of October (£3.5k) and I’m trying to get a little bit ahead of my targets for the end of the year because I know saving 5 grand next year is going to be reaalllyyyy hard…Maybe have to get an extra job.

I hate the idea of living for tomorrow rather than today, everything I do right now feels like it’s to be happy at a later date and it’s mentally and physically draining. I’m happy but it’s really taking it’s toll on my sleep, my emotions and my body, but the more I push, the harder I work and the more I hate it, the more I’m inspired to realllyyyy make it worth it, the more I’m sure that I’m going to come out of America being exactly where I want to be…and I don’t even know what that is yet.

Young Lions tour was amazing, taking class for 6 hours a day from such amazing and inspiring dancers is just perfect, I feel like I’m slowly getting better and picking up choreography quicker and it’s making me happier and able to engage with classes more so the more classes I take the better the class feels to me and that’s quite exciting. I still suck but hey, it’s all part of the process. I did get picked out by Brian Puspos which was quite something for me (considering he’s always been who I’ve considered to be my favourite) but I was just too nervous to do it. Being along side the best of Omega I just wasn’t comfortable enough with the choreography to feel like I’d kill it as hard as them, so I’ll stand in the shadows for now…

Finally, something that is bothering me lately is the idea of “being yourself” and people saying yehhh “just do you”…The more people say it the less I feel like it happens and the more people respect it the more I feel people fake it. It’s such a hard thing to be yourself, it really is, if you’re anything like me then there’s a constant worry about how people may view, interpret and judge things you’re saying and doing. It’s easy to be a part of the crowd and follow suit, it’s easy to throw on chino’s, snap back, vans and claim to have a ‘unique swag’ but it’s hard as hell to be someone that people may not like because you’re different. Same goes for dancing, if your style is passionate, from the heart but a little weird there’s a chance a lot of people won’t get it and won’t feel it, it’s easier to get props for doing a back tuck than there is for vibing off the music. Standing out isn’t easy, but I’d like to try, I’d like to think I have the potential to be different, to express myself, because God knows I don’t understand people or communication without dance. I just want to be able to express all the things I want to express and I’m not a strong enough dancer to do that yet. It’s not about fame, money, girls, attention or anything like that…I just want to fit in with myself.

Writing on my lunch break…because that’s when I have a free second =P

Do you,

Go ham,

Eat your vegetables,

haha sorry. Peace.

- Kall

p.s I don’t have that money anymore…Please don’t try rob me.

Ok so it’s been a while since I wrote in this and I apologise but it is not without good reason. Over the last 2 months everything about my life has changed. I’ve been homeless, I’ve gotten a new flat, I’ve lost my girlfriend, I’ve gotten a new job, I’ve started ballet and locking, I’ve had my concept video get to the final, I’ve learned from Mos Wanted Crew, I’ve been to World of Dance, I’ve changed my goal…What’s that? Yeh, I’ve changed my goal…and I’m not going to address it until the end of the blog.

So the new flat…IS AWESOME. We call it ‘Daddys Home’ (after all being How I Met Your Mother fans) and it has a balcony that overlooks the river. We love it. It feels like a whole new chapter when you move house, even if everything else stays the same it’s like looking at it from a new perspective. Except in this case (unexpectedly) very little stayed the same.

My girlfriend returned from her travels, broke up with me and moved back home. I’m not going to lie, it sucked at first but I don’t want to go too much into non-dance related stuff so I will say this. In the two years-ish that I’ve been with her, you get so used to living for someone else, relying on someone else and being motivated by someone else. I’ve spent my whole dance journey with her and now that we’re separated it really gives me an opportunity to do things for myself, motivate myself, encourage myself, dance for myself and love…my hand. a string of random female conquests. myself. I can genuinely say I’m happy. I mean, every girl is going to want to date a socially awkward geek that would rather stay home watching sitcoms and playing video games than go party right?…RIGHT?

My new job…well I still have the old one, but I seen an audition come up to dance at a local bar. Now I see dance as an artform and admittedly hate these sort of things where the art gets compromised as a cheap entertainment for drunken people. But, the more I thought about it the more I knew I had to do it. I’m a broke, shy, unconfident 20 something that needs to:
a. Get experience dancing in front of people
b. Make money to go to America
c. Get more confidence with people seeing me dance
d. Train more
and I couldn’t deny that this job would help me with all of them…and the down side?…well all the guys that dance there are well respected, talented dancers that I would be lucky to train with so there kind of is no down side. So I auditioned, did a lil dougie (kidding =P…half) and got the job.

This is already getting quite long so I’m going to breeze over the next parts and get to the important bits. I figure any dance experience you’ll gain from, so I started ballet (2 classes a week) and it’s going pretty well, as well as a locking class once a week. My concept video got to the final of the competition. Thank you so SO much to everyone that voted, supported me, helped me, was nice to me, just everything. It’s moments like that that you realise how hospitable and beautiful the world can be and it is honestly the nicest thing about my life right now. I’ve gone through highs and lows this past month and people have always been there to give me a bed to sleep on, a shoulder to cry on and insert third example that I can’t think of here.

So now the main point….given my new job, new freedom and new drive, I started to think about my goal. Now I’m not the greedy type but I thought to myself, why go and train for 3 months, when I can go for 6, or 9, or 12 months. If I set myself such a realistic and attainable task I’ll start to settle, spend extra money on a new laptop, trainers and other things I don’t need. So the goal is still America, but I’m challenging myself to save £10,000, £5,000 by the end of the year. If I want to reach the clouds, I’ll try and touch the stars and even if I fail I might end up going that little bit further than I ever thought I could. There’s nothing tying me to this country, I have great friends and family that support me no matter where I am and I feel like this is my shot, my moment to really push myself to my limits, try my hardest in everything and be everything I can be.

I’m also leaning towards LA now as my destination. I still stand by the things I said in my original goal but looking at it logically, location can mean the difference between 10 classes a week and 10 classes a day. The few people I know that have been to LA tell me that’s where I should be going and looking at places like Debbie Reynolds in North Hollywood, just seems like a good opportunity to grind out all day every day, with the occasional trip to the Movement Lifestyle studio =P
It would still be awesome to visit New York and Houston but we’ll see what happens. I’m aiming to have saved £3.5k by the end of the month and £5k by the end of the year so I’m trying to get in a few extra shifts.

This is also quite a memorable time for me because it was around a year ago at Just Jam International 2010 that I had graduated, moved house, quit alcohol and become inspired to really start dancing and trying to make something of myself. So here’s to 1 year of hard dance training, pushing myself and trying to be something that I like the look of when I look in the mirror. Raise a glass and think of everything you’ve taken for granted, been lazy with or just want to change…then try and turn it around. If you’re anything like me you’ll be happy for genuinely making an effort, even if you don’t succeed.

Thanks for reading,

Don’t stop loving life and everybody in it.

- Kall

P.s My new motto, ‘Kill beef go HAM’. 

House Dance Progression

This is a story about love. As expressed through dance. Your views and comments mean the world to me =]

So aside from the Residency I’m on right now (which I’ll update you on next week). I’m currently entered into a competition at Sunshine Studios.

I’m usually not a fan of competitions done via Facebook because they seem to just be popularity contests and this is proving to be the same, but my god I’M LOVING EVERY SECOND OF IT.

I’ve never been so…loved.
People are messaging me, commenting my video, re-posting it and all the rest and honestly I’ve never felt like I belonged so much in my life. Dance has really gave me a place to be in this world and I’m feeling it now more than ever. Everybody has been so nice and supportive that it’s giving me so many reasons to smile.

Thank you to everybody.

If you want to check out my video/ Vote for me/ Re-post my Video or this blog then here’s how.

This is the link to my video on Youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLNhLdncOwY&lc=yvrAoe_vjsDHc_mMNNYwlK6l5I4v0O0OvDoTuwoIH-U&feature=inbox

This is the link to the competition. To vote for me just click ‘Like’ underneath Kallum Richardson.

http://www.sunshine-studios.co.uk/global-online-dance-video-competition/uk/kallum-richardson.html

Thank you again, you’re honestly changing my life.

Keep spreading the love and passion and everything else that makes this world worth living in.

I love you all. 

- Kall