Kymberlee Jay
Kymberlee Jay has been a hip-hop dance performer since the age of 11 and teaching regular hip-hop classes from the age of 16. Kymberlee began her professional career as a dancer in ‘Da Boyz’ – a hip-hop theatre adaptation of Shakespeare’s ‘A comedy of errors’ at the Theatre Royal Stratford East. During this production under the guidance of choreographer Steady, Kymberlee learned the importance of embracing the ‘old school’ hip-hop styles. Here she began her training in Popping, Street Locking and Bboying.
She then went on to feature in the pop promo entitled ‘Hip-hop style’ by UK girl band Misteeq. The Video was released in Autumn 2003.
Kymberlee continued her studying of hip hop and In September of 2004, Kymberlee gained a spot in a huge Televised and Internet advertising campaign for the Nike Women’s Spring Dance Collection 2005. The commercial was a 15 second Solo Spot, choreographed by dance legend Jamie King and directed by the world renowned Johan Renck. The Campaign was released in February 2005 in the UK, Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Kymberlee then travelled with Jamie King to be a special guest performer at the Nike Clash dance Event in Rome.
In September 2005, Kymberlee was informed that her Nike commercial had been viewed by the ‘Queen of pop’ Madonna and that she wished to have Kymberlee feature on the first video for her new album ‘confessions on a dance floor’. The Single was entitled ‘Hung Up’ and in October 2005 Kymberlee filmed with Madonna whilst being Choreographed once again by Jamie King and directed by Johan Renck.
In November 2005, Kymberlee secured a second advertising campaign with Nike. This time the commercial involved a 30second solo spot and was filmed in Lisbon, Portugal to be released in February 2006. The commercial was one of three, again incorporating some of the most sought after female dancers and choreographers in the world. The Pieces were choreographed by both Jamie King and Luther Brown, and directed by Dawn Shadforth. On the release of the Nike Women commercials, Kymberlee signed with Nike to become one of the first dancer/choreographers in the UK signed as a ‘Nike Athlete’. She then worked on many events across Europe and The Middle East. In the UK, She worked on an event that was attended by 2100 up and coming dancers over 3 days and filmed for MTV’s ‘Four to the floor’. Kymberlee choreographed sessions in Krump dancing as well as being a judge to decide whom out of those 2100 would win a place to fly to L.A and work with Jamie King. Kymberlee was also involved in teaching and judging similar events in Barcelona, Istanbul and Tel Aviv.
Kymberlee then featured as a Character in Madonna’s next video feature entitled ‘Sorry’, released in February 2006. The Video was shot in London and included Kymberlee freestyling on roller skates! Kymberlee worked again with Jamie King, now as the Director and The Taluwega bros. as the Choreographers.
In August of 2006, Kymberlee began a 9 week contract with the English National Opera as a dancer in one of the most controversial yet cutting edge theatre productions ever entitled ‘Gadaffi - A Living Myth’. Here she was able to utilise her skills as a hip hop freestyler to help create a contemporary opera production staged at the famous London Colosseum theatre.
In late 2006 Kymberlee continued her travels choreographing and performing at some of the biggest events across the globe. Her Itinerary included Hip-hop events and master classes in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Madrid, Barcelona, Ankara, Istanbul, Izmir, Kiev, Belgrade, Tel Aviv, Ukraine, Brussels, Serbia, Prague, Bratislava, Budapest and Orlando.
Now in 2007, Kymberlee has re-signed to Nike Europe as a European Dance Consultant and currently works across Europe and the UK teaching workshops, advising on dance related issues and representing the Nike brand. Kymberlee currently teaches workshops, classes and performs in the following Hip-Hop Styles: New style, Popping, Street Locking, Top Rocking, New Jack Hype and Krump.