Dancer living his performing dream

John Tetley-Jones started his dance journey at KJ Studios in Tauranga. Now, he is living his performing dream and seeing the world. Photo: supplied.

Tauranga dancer John Tetley-Jones has set sail this week to live out his performing dream.

Taking up a contract with an American cruise line company named the Norwegian Cruise Line to dance on their ship Oceania Riviera, the 21-year-old will be seeing the world while fueling his passion.

'I love the feeling of expressing myself through movement, I wouldn't want to be doing anything else,” says John.

He has been dancing since he was two years old, a total of 19 years, and spent a large portion of his dance journey at KJ Studios in Tauranga.

Since then, John has performed at the Melbourne Cup, the Grand Prix, on television shows ‘Dancing with the Stars', ‘Australia's Got Talent', at an AFL show and he attended the Melbourne Ministry of Dance.

John dances in most categories, ranging from tap and jazz all the way to Latin and hip-hop. When John returned from Melbourne, he began teaching at KJ Studios in Tauranga to give back to the community that inspired him to get started.

'I'm really thankful for my teacher, Kelsey Andrew, at KJ Studios. She took the full-time dance route as well, and that inspired me to go and be taught in Melbourne.”

'I love the feeling of influencing and inspiring young kids, and seeing them find themselves in movement.”

When John leaves on his cruise journey, he will be training in Florida to rehearse and learn everything there is to know about performing on a cruise ship. After that, he will be leaving from Miami to dance on 10-day cruises that travel to Italy, Greece, Alaska, the Bahamas and more.

John says he is looking forward to seeing the world while showing what he has to offer to as many people as he can.

'If I inspire someone while performing, then that is a job well done from my point of view.”

The opportunity is a full circle moment for John, as he was first inspired to dance on a cruise ship when he was aged 11 from and watching a live performance on a while on a cruise holiday with his family.

'After I saw that performance, it was my number one dream. To be able to do that these days is such a blessing and an honour."

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