Meet Joel Benjamin | Professional Dancer and Personal Trainer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Joel Benjamin and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Joel, what’s the end goal, career-wise?
The more successful I become, the more my ambition grows. I have become the kind of person that wants to unrealistically achieve everything. Unlike a lot of my co-workers who would be happy working consistently on West End forever, that’s never been me. As I said earlier, I need unpredictability, change to always keep me alive and in love with what I’m doing. I want to conquer all areas of the industry: Broadway, U.S Tour, World Tour, Arenas, Film, T.V, the list goes on. Truth is, I don’t have a specific idea for where I want to be in 10 years or 20 years because I have so many dreams. As long as I’m progressing and becoming better than I was a week ago, a year ago, and working to hone a new skill to learn and apply myself more in everything that I do, then thats a pretty good way ago and a future I look forward to. Another huge aspect of my life is fitness, not least from a dancers perspective but as a Personal Trainer. Practising and healthy lifestyle and helping others to create one for themselves is currently a side hustle but one thats very close to my heart. Perhaps one that I see continuing long after my dancing days are done. Whether thats to create one of the best Personal Training and Nutrition awareness apps/fitness centres in the world, or travelling the world sharing my knowledge, or even helping combine nutrition and fitness within the dance industry. A huge flaw within the dance industry is fitness is expected without being taught. This is especially a problem within dance colleges where students are as young as 16 being told to lose weight but not provided the safe guidelines with how to do so. The result? Students starve themselves. This was a lesson learn the hard way for me and something I’d like to educate college students about in the future. As a hard worker never settling for less than the next milestone, I’m sure my dreams and career goals will change and evolve the further I progress but until then I will continue to do what I do, try, fail, learn from my mistakes and then succeed.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
Most people in the performing industry realised their calling from a young age. I was surrounded by dancers at college that had been in ballet classes and winning competitions since they were 3 years old. That simply wasn’t the case for me. In fact, I had no idea what I wanted to do. My parents took me to judo, swimming, gymnastics, football, horse riding, rock climbing and although I wasn’t bad at them, nothing really peaked my interest enough to not bored within a few classes. My problem was and always has been a short attention span. I always need something to work on, a project, a reason to keep going. I want to jump in head first without direction and learn on way no matter the consequences. Although this created a confident approach to life, it was not without its drawbacks. I sort of fell into musical theatre during high school. My teachers noticed I had a knack for the dramatic side of things and thought I would be well suited to the stage. I took part in various high school productions which caught the interest of a local dance school. I tried out there and despite my huge lack of awareness and technique of the craft, they saw my potential and talent and accepted me. This passion grew slowly but surely until I finished high school and wondering where to go to college, I was informed that my dance school was a feeder school for a dance college a few hours away. It felt the natural progression to follow the path that was seemingly laid before me and so I moved out and to a different city at the age of 16. After 3 years of the hardest training of my life, multiple injuries, the best shape id ever been in, many failed exams, lots of life lessons and a major realisation and altering of my thinking to apply myself to what id really signed up for, I left college with my Level 3 Diploma in Dance and Musical Theatre and straight into my first professional job. I have been fortunate from then on to not stop working hopping from musical to musical in the Caribbean, Europe, Tours and West End. I have learnt an incredible amount along the way though perhaps none more than where I see my career going.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Living in the capitol of the U.K., there are plenty of iconic places a visitor needs to see. Some staples whilst visiting London are Buckingham Palace, Tower of London, Tower Bridge, St. Pauls Cathedral, River Thames, Big Ben, Houses of Parliament, The British Museum, The Shard, Abbey Road, Kings Cross, Oxford Road, Camden Town, Harrods, Westminster Abbey various parks to get lost in.

If entertainment is up your street, you may consider Madame Toussauds, West End musicals or plays, Wembley arena performances, The London Dungeons, The London Eye and Theme parks.

Finally for food and drink, classic examples of the British food culture include Fish and chips, Nando’s, Wetherspoons, Sports bars, Sunday roast, full English breakfast, steak pie with gravy, afternoon tea and a Victoria sandwich cake.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Everyone who played a part when I was growing up in paving the way for my Musical Theatre career to take off, along with my partner for pushing me to grow and learn more and making me who I am today.

x   

Website: https://joelbenjamin2019.wixsite.com/dance

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theguywhodiestwice/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/joel.price.5661/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCISRYMkWrF97lcmeopTDgTQ

Image Credits
Unseen by Alexa Paul Vanderlinden MUG Photography