His first steps were dance steps. Now Victorius Remak is almost 30 years old and is a professional dancer in New York. He teaches young people and travels all over the world for various jobs. Like almost every dancer, his ultimate dream is to dance on Broadway one day.
His first steps were dance steps. Now Victorius Remak is almost 30 years old and is a professional dancer in New York. He teaches young people and travels all over the world for various jobs. Like almost every dancer, his ultimate dream is to dance on Broadway one day.
Victorius knew from an early age that he wanted to be a dancer. “I crawled to the radio, turned it on, pulled myself up and started dancing until the music stopped. Since then, I’ve been dancing almost all the time.” His parents always thought it was great that their son loved dancing so much, until it became serious. “At first, they thought it was great that I had a hobby that I was so passionate about. But my parents weren’t so happy that I dropped my accountancy studies to study at a dance academy. They really wanted me to have job security, but I wasn’t happy sitting still in a classroom all day. When I started teaching and my parents saw me perform on TV, they changed. They came to the open days and that gave them more insight into how serious it actually is for me.”
Master
His education at the Lucia Marhas University was certainly serious. Victorius often spent seven days a week studying. “I wouldn’t call the education tough, but it was very intense. I often worked long days and then I also had to do internships in various forms of theatre and teaching from the first year. And on top of that, I chose to do two studies at the same time (musical theatre and dance teacher).” A busy bee, but after this study, the dancer with his Surinamese roots was not finished yet. “After graduating, I felt that I still had a lot to learn about various dance forms that I had learned little or nothing about during my studies. I always wanted to delve deeper into modern dance, so my mentor, Derrick van der Leuv, offered me a scholarship to study in New York at the Alvin AIley School in the summer of 2007. In New York, I had auditioned for the Independent Study during that summer study, which I was then accepted for. I completed the study in two years with support from, among others, the Van Den Ende Foundation.” You might say that you've studied enough, but Victorius doesn't think so. "I want to immerse myself in as many different dance styles as possible. I'm especially interested in dances that originated from the diaspora. And I want to do a master's degree in dance as soon as I can afford it."
Functional
For a long time, the dancer shaved his hair very short. Not because he wasn’t proud of his frizzy hair, but more because it was functional. “I’m super proud of my frizzy hair now. I wasn’t before; I was often bullied for it. But my mother taught me that frizzy hair is much more beautiful than straight hair and that you can do a lot with it.” Now Victorius is letting his hair grow. “Maybe to braid it or just wear it as a curly fro.”
His hair and skin color have not yet stood in the way of the dancer in his professional career. “There are fewer jobs for people with my skin color and hair type, but I haven’t had many issues with that.”
Victorius has done quite a few fun jobs so far. “As a background dancer for Lisa Lisa (& The Cult Jam) I went to Hawaii and in 2012 I went to Japan and Costa Rica with two dance troupes. The jobs where I travel to other countries or cities that I have never been to before, those are the most fun. The least fun jobs are the ones where I have to get up way too early.” But if Victorius had to get up early for a job on Broadway, he probably wouldn’t mind at all. “Being on Broadway is my ultimate dream. I would also like to go on a world tour with a dance troupe or as a background dancer with an artist.”