Nation's Best Dance School 2015 – Streetdance – Urban Rockz Dance Academy

idance® presents a Q&A Zac Healy the leader of Nation’s Best Dance School Winners (NBDS) ‘Urban Rockz Dance Academy’ (URDA).The true measure of a school is the results they produce. The Nation’s Best Dance School Award is a new industry award for dance schools and choreographers in multiple genres of dance including:

• Street dance
• Ballet
• Jazz
• Contemporary
• and more

This award is not a popularity contest so there is no voting. It is an EARNED award where schools results are scored based on their success, the quality of the competition they face, and the number of dancers they make successful. Now to Urban Rockz Dance Academy.

With Boy Band looks and coming from a tiny town in the north of England, Zac may not have always been taken seriously, but his continuous success as a director, choreographer, and model has changed minds and may be changing the direction of the UK Street Dance Scene. URDA's flag ship crew, Ruff Diamond, has been at the top of the UK Street Dance Scene, a UK inspiration and a public icon since becoming finalists on Got to Dance and top 20 appearance at the World Hip Hop Dance Championships in America. In 2015 URDA earned the right to be called the Nation's Best Dance School in Streetdance. Check out the Q&A below.

Q: How long has Urban Rockz been an organisation?

A: The academy was set up in 2010, after Ruff Diamond’s first [appearance] in Vegas at Hip Hop International (HHI). I wanted to replicate the success of my first crew with the younger generations of Hartlepool.

Q: How many students do you teach?

A: We have roughly 100 students, all varying ages.

Q: How many dance crews do you have?

We have Dance Company auditions every September within the academy. The company is one large Megacrew, but we also form individual crews within the company. This year we have 6 crews competing at different events.

Q: Are styles other than streetdance do you teach?

 A: No, we only teach street dance styles at the academy.

Q: What inspires you, either personally or as a school?

A: Personally I am inspired by the best individual dancers out there across the world. The best poppers, lockers, b-boys etc, they keep me wanting to push my body and train hard.As a school it is each dancer from urban Rockz that inspires each other. I want to see success for everyone that is in my team, because they are like a family, and nothing brings you greater pleasure than being able to achieve success with your family. Its an amazing feeling.

Q: Who would you say are your heroes in or out of dance?

A: Personally i have many heroes.My earliest heroes, who made me take notice of how cool dancing was and looked, were definitely Justin Timberlake and Usher even as early as Sisqo.I always had an eye for a good male dancer and was inspired. Also the ‘You Got Served’ film came out around the same sort of time and really ignited my love for the dance and street or urban dance.But what really gave me the inspiration to actually start practicing where UK Dancers, ‘K.I’. All their battles at Jumpoff made me realise how close all this stuff was to me, actually in my own country.Then Peridot and later flawless and Diversity on BGT. They made me want to put a group together and try some stuff, which is how Ruff Diamond were born in my Mum’s ballet studio.I guess I’ve always had a connection to music and dance with my mum running a performing arts school. After entering HHI I would definitely say all the new Zealand adult crews were my heroes, they were a big inspiration for a male dancer in an all male crew.Hopefully if I train my own dance enough in the next couple years, get on the scene and battle etc, I will be a hero to some of the younger generations.

Q: What special morning routines do you personally personally follow (breakfast, workout, meditation, whatever)

A: I am a night owl, plus I work evenings teaching dance. So normally wake up late morning, brush my teeth then go straight on my phone and check Instagram, sky sports news, and Facebook. See what major stories are going on while I've been asleep.

Q: What book(s) do you most frequently gift to other people?

A: Normally books that have helped myself and I can pass onto some else. Self-help books are great for people who constantly need motivation and help reaching their life goals.

Q: What would you say is the most important thing you do that make URDA the Nation's Best Dance School for Streetdance?

A: Listen to people more knowledgeable than yourself. It’s important to be unique and original in dance everyone knows right? But when someone who has been there and done it as a dancer, listen to their opinion, take their class, try mimic their formula. Within the group use the strengths of everyone and listen to opinions when needed, don't be a dictator, just be a leader who has a clear vision.

Thanks Zac! Personally, I think you already are an inspiration to many Dancers around the UK and I wish you and Urban Rockz Dance Academy Success.If anyone wants to take classes with Zac and URDA, we hope to be publishing thier schedule on our site soon. In the meanwhile visit: Need URLIf you enjoyed this interview please LIKE and SHARE the link. Also keep your eyes open for an audio interview taken live at the World Championships with Zac and the Ruff Diamond Boys. It’s GREAT!

Additional Information: If you are interested in the Nation's Best Dance School in Streetdance, Jazz, Ballet,  Contemporary, or other dance forms send us an email below and we will add you to our email list of NBDS events.

If you want to make contact with Urban Rockz then please contact them at , ruffdiamond13 (at) hotmail.com or +447734363516.

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