Dancer puts his best foot forward

For a Wellard teen, dance became a creative outlet that grew into much more than he could have imagined.

At just 16, Shaquille Walker has already created an impressive path, his latest achievement being named a finalist in this year’s WA Youth Awards.

The Gilmore College student has been dancing for almost 10 years and since discovering his passion, he has not looked back.

“My base genre is animating — popping and locking — but I also like experimenting, I do a bit of everything,” he said. “It all started after I was picked on in primary school, I got bullied really bad, I never really fitted in and I had family issues going on at the same time.

“Then Mum got sent this video of some boys dancing on a stage and I became obsessed with it; it became a great release for me and that’s why I started.”

A self-taught dancer, who sees the medium as an escape and a way to keep himself on track, Shaquille finds the most satisfaction in teaching and helping others.

Between school studies and working two jobs, he helped found the City of Kwinana K-Style youth dance program last year and is a facilitator there to help youngsters develop self-confidence, fitness and strength.

“My belief is that there are a lot of good qualities you can learn from dancing that you can apply to school, work and life in general,” he said. “It’s still a young program but hopefully it will keep growing.

“It’s always nice to hear that you’re helping someone but I particularly just do it to see these kids grow and face their issues — that’s really fulfilling for me.

“I’m there for them as well because I have had a lot of things happen to me in my life — they can talk to me about anything and they trust me.

“I’ve had kids tell me about how they used to smoke and self-harm and to hear them tell me that ‘I don’t do that any more’ is a pretty amazing thing.”

Shaquille has been named as one of four finalists for the WA Youth Awards for a second time in the Cultural Endeavours category for his work with the dance program and will attend the awards ceremony this Friday night.

He was also recognised this year by the City of Kwinana when he was given the inspiration award at the Leadership Youth Respect in Kwinana Awards.

“When I get recognition, it’s cool and makes me feel uplifted and happy but the real reward is to see the kids develop,” he said.

“It will be good that as I get older, I’ll be able to work with even younger kids — something I want to do throughout my life is help people.”

His latest achievement was being chosen as the WA representative for the AIME’S Got Game national competition.

He placed in the top six for the showstopper category from 6000 competitors and was flown to Sydney to work with Bangarra Dance Company.

“We did workshops with Bangarra who taught us a a seven-and-a-half minute routine that we learnt in two days — it was amazing and I got to meet some celebrity dancers,” Shaquille said.

The motivated dancer is determined to finish school and will consider further training at the WA Academy of Performing Arts.

“You never know where you’ll end up, but I want to be dancing — that’s the dream,” Shaquille said.

“I eventually want to make it on to big stages, but in a few years time if I’m teaching classes around Perth and doing what I’m doing now, I’ll be happy. I’ll always be dancing. They are some of the best moments in my life — I’ll never stop.”