J.C. Bato

Instructor

AfterHours Dance Studio

Jesicris was born into a family of dancers. Both of his parents competed in dance competitions growing up in the Philippines. They settled in Southern California and in 1988 Jesicris was born in the city of Fountain Valley. Hip Hop was immediately the style of choice for a young Jesicris who was nicknamed JC. Being self taught to freestyle watching MTV and learning choreography by rewinding VCR footage he brought his talents to school with him where he would meet other dancers and session with them to develop his craft. At Tesoro High School he would co-found the dance club and create his first team Urban Legends which continued on for 4 years after he graduated. He would also compete and win several Freestyle dance competitions. At the Saddleback Dance Collective he won Best Choreography out of 15 performances that year. He would then Co-Found the Dance Crew Boomkaz to compete in adult hip hop competitions through out California. In this time he was also a part of dance teams: Good Project, Reality Check, Kbae and Director of Infuse Dance Crew. Jesicris has been a dance instructor for 11 years working at multiple dance studios in the Orange County region having several first place overall titles under his belt with his hip hop teams and solos. Jesicris plans to use his knowledge of all Hip Hop dance styles to help develop a world where Hip Hop can be appreciated the same as any other style. He also intends to use what he learned from transitioning from freestyle dance to choreography to develop more creative dancers and assist them in perfecting their craft the same as he did growing up. Becoming a Hip Hop dance instructor was always his dream. Jesicris will help blaze a trail for upcoming dancers and choreographers to keep the fire of Hip Hop Dance alive.