The Rise of Filipina Dancer Malia Gomez: A Story of Passion, Perseverance, and a Promising Future
- Nana Nakano
- Oct 29, 2023
- 5 min read
Malia Gomez might seem like your ordinary college student from the outside. She takes classes at Chapman University as a senior psychology major and is highly active in Kapamilya, the Filipino Cultural club at school.
However, this past week, she flew to Paris as a professional backup dancer for DPR IAN, an Australian K-pop singer with a massive 3.5 million Instagram followers.
“Professors understand my situation, and they’re willing to work around it,” she comments on her busy life. I talked to the dean’s office because they help me with absences, but I also make sure I do my work beforehand.”
She lives a dual life as a college student and an accomplished Filipina American dancer/teacher.
Malia and Dance, Beginning of a Love Story
Malia fell in love with dance at three, when her parents noticed something extraordinary about her. She had a sense of music, learning the dances in Disney films when she was younger. Her mother, a former dancer, enrolled her in recreational dance classes at a local dance studio.
Two years later, someone suggested she audition for the competition studio teams. After she passed, she competed at Dansations Studio in La Habra, California, where she danced until her early teens. There, she focused on genres like jazz and ballet.
For those unfamiliar with the competition circuit in competitive dance, it is rigorous, time-consuming, and stressful. A scholarly article about mental health in dance states that the majority of the studies conducted characterize the teaching styles as unrelenting. An unrelenting environment can lead to mental challenges like “distress, loneliness, stress and tiredness,” in addition to burnout and perfectionism.
Malia went to school from 8:00 AM to 3:00 PM, then would start dancing from 5:00 PM to 9:00 PM, an abnormal schedule for a child her age. Despite the stressful environment and being mentally draining, Malia is thankful for her experience in the competitive dance studio, as it taught her valuable lessons.
“I learned time management skills and how to balance dance and school which is something I use to this day. I also learned just how to network with people [...] and keep a conversation with them, which is also greater because I still use this skill today,” she reflects on her years.
Though she does not specialize in jazz in ballet anymore, the fundamental skills she learned, as well as her discipline she developed during her competition dance phase grew her into the dancer she is today.
Jumping into Hip Hop
After leaving Dansations Studio, she entered a dance group called Mighty Shock, which primarily focuses on Hip-Hop. Compared to her rigorous training in the competitive circuit, she would attend classes once a week for four hours, training and learning different hip hop foundations.
“I loved it because the community was supportive. It was just a big group of kids that love to dance,” she comments on the positive environment.
Although the group was mainly recreational, they performed in competitions such as World of Dance and Vibe JRs. With less stress and an encouraging environment, she fell in love with the hip hop dance genre. She danced with the group until she joined Kaba Kids during junior high school.
Kaba Kids is the junior team of Kaba Modern, which is a renown urban collegiate dance group. It is a spinoff of Kabayan, the Filipino American club at University of California, Irvine. Malia’s mother, an alum of UCI, was friends with Kaba Kids’ director at that time, and encouraged her to audition. Malia passed, and danced with the competition team for three years and was the captain for two years.
Not only this experience expanded her training, but she was able to express her Filipina pride. Her team had the wonderful opportunity to go to Hip Hop
International, which she describes almost like “The Olympics of Dance”. She felt proud that Kaba Kids was a Filipino American dance team that represented the United States. Her group also performed in Pilipino American Culture Night (PACN), an annual showcase Kabayan hosts in UCI.
“It’s like a way of giving back to the community and representing our heritage”, Malia said.
Given her experiences in Mighty Shock and Kaba Modern, Malia discovers that Hip Hop is her forte. She currently specializes in that genre, both as a teacher and a professional dancer.
The Transition into Teaching
When Malia is not in school, she spends a lot of time at Offstage Dance Studio in Orange, California, and Snowglobe Perspective as a dance teacher. She has been teaching for around two years now, but all started when people were asking on Instagram to do classes.
“They wanted me to bring up the younger generation [of dancers], so that was really cool”, said Malia.
She currently teaches at the Offstage studio biweekly and enjoys being able to teach with her friends. She also brings her dance skills to Kapamilya as well where she choreographed this past Friendship Games’ Roll Call earlier this month. Friendship Games is the largest student-run Filipino American event in the nation, and celebrates S.P.U.F. ⸺ Spirit, Pride, Unity, and Friendship.
“I’m very grateful for Kapamilya because I do have a home on campus,” Malia shows her appreciation for the organization. “I’m really honored to be a choreographer because it makes me feel like I’m giving back to my home.”
Many students enjoy participating in Roll Call rehearsal because of Malia and her co-choreographer’s expertise, as well as beginner friendly, yet trendy dances. She feels cultural pride as a Filipina dancer, representing her own school during Filipino American History Month.
A Bright Star and her Shining Future
Dance is a physical art form, so Malia acknowledges that her time in the industry is limited.
“I want to live out dancing as hard as I can [...] because my body cannot do it forever,” she comments on her career.
Couple of her goals include doing more music videos, booking a tour as a backup dancer, and making it in the professional industry. She is on a great path, as she is assisting choreographers. She is currently establishing herself as a professional, dancing for K-pop artist Red Velvet’s skeleton crews and working on her own dance project, MG3.
She is currently working for DPR IAN, a K-Pop star from Australia. This past summer, she was a backup dancer for him at 88Rising's festival, Head in the Clouds. She works closely with her fellow cremates, appearing in two of his music videos. Recently, she took a week off school to travel to Paris and perform at a show for him, which she calls "a marvelous experience". She will broaden her international career, traveling to Middle East and Asian for additional DPR IAN shows.
Again, how she can manage this life is through her time management skills. She fostered these skills her whole life balancing school, dance, and her social life. Eventually, she wants to utilize her psychology degree to do therapy work or work at a private practice.
Nevertheless, Malia’s future in the dance industry is bright, and she is a force to be reckoned with. We know that she will do great things in the future!
Follow Malia Gomez on Instagram @maliagomez.
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