72 marieclaire.com.au“Five, six, seven, eight,” professional
dancer Amy Zhang is counting in
12-year-old twins Taylor and Jaime for
their hip-hop dance routine. Zhang
started dancing seven years ago as a way
of coping with the stress of high school.
While the endorphins got her hooked, it
was the creativity and music that drove
her to pursue dance as a career. In the
past few years, Zhang has worked with
brands including Nike and Wrangler,
and currently teaches weekly Groove
Therapy classes at 107 Projects in Red-
fern, Sydney. “When I started out, I
didn’t realise that dancing was a job and
that you can make money from it,” she
says. “Then I started getting thrown
gigs, and I thought, ‘I can do this.’”
As well as performing and teaching
for a living, Zhang also choreographsand directs photo shoots. The biggest
lesson she’s learnt is to try everything
once. “You might think that you want to
be the star, but you need to try every-
thing to find out what you really want to
do,” she says. “When I tried choreo-
graphing and directing, I really liked it.”
Taylor and Jaime, who started
dancing five years ago, share Zhang’s
passion for all things hip-hop and
dream about dancing professionally
when they’re older. Zhang’s advice
for the girls is to do what makes them
smile. “I know that’s a cliche, but if
you keep doing what makes you happy,
you’ll get to where you want to be. You
need to do what makes you feel most
yourself,” she says. For Taylor and
Jaime, that means dancing to Drake
and doing handstands.Amy Zhang, hip-hop dancer, 24, with
Taylor and Jaime Kaplan, both 12Wannabe hip-hop dancers
Taylor [ jumping] and Jaime
(kneeling), 12, bust a move
with professional dancer and
choreographer Amy Zhang.“She’s an inspiration to me,” s
ays Pia, 14, of Kylie Stark,
the nurse who helped treat
her heart condition when she
was only two years old at the
Sydney Children’s Hospital.REAL PEOPLE