Kaymia's dancing dreams make the district proud

Kaymia Jai Smith, 13, a student at Boroughbridge High School, fought off stiff competition from over 10,000 people to dance on stage with Justin Bieber at a concert in Sheffield last October.

He recently gained sponsorship from Grand Central Rail to fund all of his trains first class to London every Sunday, so that he can continue his scholarship at Pineapple Dance Studios, and has also been given a year’s supply of Harrogate Spring Water.

Kaymia’s love of dancing all started when he saw street dancing troupe Diversity perform on Britain’s Got Talent.

Kaymia said: “I just want to show people that dancing is for everyone, and it is for boys. I also want to show that people from the north can access the same opportunities as people in the south.

“Performing with Justin Bieber was just amazing, so many people entered the competition. I’ll never forget it.”

Proud mum Joanne said: “We just looked at each other in disbelief when he found out he was going to be sharing the stage with Justin Bieber. I just said, ‘is this all real’? Kaymia was jumping up and down, we just couldn’t believe it.

“In this area there are good opportunities for people wanting to get into the industry, but not the same ones as the kids from the south get. They have a lot on their doorsteps and it’s really accessible. Kaymia’s keen to show others that there’s no reason why you can’t access the same things as others if you set your mind to it.

“When Diversity came on, which started it all for him, Kaymia was just bopping along and kept saying, ‘I want to be a dancer, I want to be a dancer’, and I told him you can be anything you want to be. I am very proud of him, and the things he’s achieved are just amazing.

"Local support has been great. Ripon Bowling Club held a Pineapple fundraiser for Kaymia last year and got behind him. He also won the big T talent competition at Harrogate Theatres.”

Kaymia goes to Upstage Academy in Ripon two evenings a week, and has big plans to continue following his dreams in the industry.

Joanne said: “He’s got a lot of things coming up and some things we can’t talk about yet, but I’m excited to see what happens next and where things take him.”

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