Lil BIGZ took her first dance class when she was five. It went well for 2
weeks but became boring to her shortly after that and she quit.  We then
tried gymnastics and soccer only to have her decide that she didn’t want to
continue with those activities either.

She decided to give dancing another try when she was 6.  We put her in a
class in our hometown that consisted of kids between the ages of 9 and 13.
She did really well in her first class and she bonded with the choreographer
right away. She started off with a jazz/hip hop class and then we added tap
and ballet.

She wasn’t really feeling the tap and ballet classes so at the age of 7, we
enrolled her into a Modern class which she loved.  Now she was dancing
with kids between 10 and 17.  All though she was the littlest kid in class,
she was able to hold her own and hang with the big kids.

We wanted to see how she would perform in a more advanced hip hop class
so we brought her to San Francisco to try out an adult beginners class.  It
was a little bit too fast paced for her at first but she was able to pick up the
choreography and complete the routine they had learned in that session.

The teacher of that adult beginner class was also the director of the NBA’s
Golden State Warriors Junior Jam Squad.  He suggested that she tryout for
the squad the following season.

When the time came for tryouts, Lil BIGZ was a nervous wreck.  She had
cold feet on the eve of the tryout and was trying hard to back out of
auditioning.  My wife was able to calm her nerves and talked her into just
going to the audition to see what it was like.

When they arrived at the audition, Lil BIGZ realized that all the kids would
be dancing together and not Individually which was a huge relief.  She
decided to stick around and give it a shot.

Our excitement grew as she made it past the first cut…and then into the
final group of kids they were choosing from.  By this time they had
performed the routine 15 or 20 times and Lil BIGZ started to feel more and
more confident.  It was now time to call out the kids that made it onto the
06/07 squad.  Out of 21 kids that made the team, Lil BIGZ’s number was
called out 2nd to last…whew, she made it.

The experience of performing with the Junior Jam Squad gave her a huge
boost in her self confidence and made her overcome her fear of being the
focus of attention.  Prior to being on the team, she would not even join in on
games at birthday parties because of the attention that those kids would
draw.  At their last performance, they danced in front of a crowd of 20,000
+.  It was an amazing transformation.  Not to mention that the caliber of
talent in which she was surrounded only pushed BIGZ to her full potential
and because of it, she is a true performer now.

Since then, she has gone to several local workshops and hip hop
conventions to further her training.  She has recently joined a popular dance
troop called Future Shock and will hopefully be performing with them for
years to come.  She also plans on auditioning for the Junior Jam Squad
every year she is capable which should be 5 more years.

Fast forward three years…Lil BIGZ just completed her third year on the
Golden State Warriors Jr. Jam Squad and at 11 is now consider to be one of
the veterans….She has had a great time over the years and made a lot of
friends in the process.

After she completed her first year on the team, we decided to give
Hollywood a try.  We went to several auditions in the Summer of 2007 to
see if any dance agencies had interest in signing her to a dance contract.
The first two passed on her but she didn’t give up and in July, 2007 she was
signed to The Bloc Agency of Los Angeles.

We have gone to numerous auditions for print, commercials, music videos,
industrial, TV and so far she has been booked for 1 music video and several
appearances on PBS Kids….  The competition in Los Angeles is fierce but
with the will and determination to succeed, I’m sure she’ll continue trying to
make it in the entertainment industry.

In 2008, she was invited to join a crew made up of children between the
ages of 10-13 that would compete in the USA and World Hip Hop
Championships in Las Vegas.  They came in 2nd amongst the best junior
crews in the USA but weren’t as successful against the World this time
around.  Although her crew failed to move on to the Junior World Finals, she
was recruited by the winner of USA Varsity division to join their junior crew
for the 2009 event and has been dancing with them ever since!!!!

Credit- LilBigz.com