Today we’d like to introduce you to Rhodessa Penaflor.
Hi Rhodessa, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I grew up dancing my entire life and found Kpop back in 2013. When I found out there was a community of Kpop fans in Central Florida filled with great people that I would end up becoming friends with, I had the feeling that something great may come from this. Then, as if the fates heard me, after leaving a Kpop rave in Winter Park, I met and became friends with Jadiel Rivera, who shortly after asked me to join the dance group that he founded. So, in the winter of 2019, I joined 4Reign! And as our team grew, Jadiel asked me to assist him in leading the group. After that, we worked hard to build the team and reputation of 4Reign in Central Florida. Now, almost 3 years later, we have our team, we have our Kpop dance classes that are taught 3 times a week, we have our Kpop Dance Events that we host monthly, and a handful of competition wins and placements along the way! And as of earlier this past summer, Jadiel was gracious enough to fully pass on leadership to me!
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I can say that it hasn’t been a smooth road, but the road to anything great never is! It was tough in the beginning while we were still figuring out how to run the group. We have for sure hit our fair share of speed bumps and had an expected amount of falls and failures. But we learned from them and overcame them! Whereas I personally struggled to balance leading this team while also being in school and working a full-time job. But I am trying my best to do so to this day, and having a great support system filled with people who love me helps immensely!
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
4REIGN is a group of dancers who also so happens to all love the music genre of Kpop! So, although most of our group members love kpop and dancing to kpop as covers, most of us also dance outside the group via studio training of various other styles, and some of us have years of studio training under our belt! So, we cover Kpop songs primarily for videos/content [mostly on YouTube]. And compete in statewide and national cover competitions! As well as teach Kpop dance classes in Orlando 3 times a week on top of everything else! But what sets us apart from others is we try our best to push the limits on the quality of our content as well as try to go Beyond just covering Kpop dances; we also want to try our best with dance projects that are Not Kpop related! (Which we will hopefully start to do in 2023)!
We’d be interested to hear your thoughts on luck and what role, if any, you feel it’s played for you.
Not too much, if I am being completely honest. If anything, any “bad luck” just leads us to reassess how to be better prepared when it comes to running our group! But other than that, I would like to believe that our successes came from our hard work & determination!
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/4reign_official/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLArzmIJJGvJJJ_y6VyVzQA
- Other: https://www.instagram.com/kpopdance.florida/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y%3D
