RESPECT. Interview: Daquan Johnson-Thompson Talks About Dance Techniques, His Favorite Project To Date and More

Daquan Thompson is the owner of Dynasty Spirit Elite and was featured in Black Girls Cheer. He is an exceptional dancer, whose first love is to dance, and knew that it was his passion ever since he was little. We caught up with the owner and discussed how he got started in the world of dance, his favorite project he created, and what is next for him. Read below to find out more about how dance is an evolution to our culture for our young culture.

I got started in dance by being a wild child doing self-taught backflips off my mothers furniture and mimicking what I saw the dancers doing on shows like “Showtime at the Apollo” and “In Living Color,” not to mention forcing my younger cousins to learn my made up dance routines in the living room and judging them. It was the real life “World of Dance” in our house. Instead of getting reprimanded, my parents saw raw talent. My father was an underground reggae artist at the time and constantly performed at clubs around the city. He brought me in to open a show and what was suppose to be a 30-second segment turned into a 3-minute freestyle routine of a five year old kid free-styling and break dancing on stage, and stealing the show. It was at that moment they realized I had something special and they began searching for dance schools that very moment.

I have many on my favorite list in my career, but I would have to say it was my first international tour in France. At 21 years old, I booked with Elisa Monte Dance Company in New York City. After booking, I was told that the repertoire that I would be learning would be performed in two weeks on an International tour. My heart sank with fear and dreams come true in that all at the same time. I knew it was time to put my big boy pants on. I had no passport and had never been to Europe, but this was for sure going to be a test of my strength and focus and a game changer. I’m blessed to say that I was successful and experiences like this one helped create the motivated and inspired entrepreneur I am today.

Dynasty Spirit Elite All Stars is a competitive all-star cheerleading and dance training facility located in Philadelphia, PA servicing, but not limited to predominantly black athletes. We are the only program in history to win Cheer sport Nationals, NCA Nationals, and UCA internationals consecutively two years in a row making us back to back Varsity Triple Crown Champions. My gym can be summed up to one word. FAMILY. The program is not only designed to train champions but to build confidence, life lessons and the tools of success for the youth. I am proud to say that in the past 10 years, we have exceeded this service. The long hours of practice, high demand of commitment, and the long travel days have created a bond and connection turning these young athletes into brothers and sisters, the mothers into my sisters, fathers into my brothers, and the athletes my children.

Filming the Black Girls Cheer Documentary was a phenomenal and monumental experience for the girls and I. I felt like for the first time in my career, I had a voice in our industry. This was the created platform needed to truly tell our success story of winning the coveted Varsity Triple Crown. Not only did we highlight the teams’ historic success of being the first all-black team to accomplish this title, but we were able to great examples and bring visibility of African American females in the sport.

It is my hope that being a successful black dancer or cheerleader trends and we are able to see more of us on magazine covers, getting endorsements, opening our own facilities, and receiving even higher accolades than our girls have accomplished.

We have been blessed to be able to use this platform to push into other areas of inspiration for the youth. Dynasty Spirit Elite All Stars Inc. has opened a second location in Harrisburg with plans of 3 more locations to follow. I’ve ambitiously created the Dynasty Motivated Program which is our program for community service, day camps, and community outreach, and our most recent project is the Dynasty Motivated Young Scholars program hosting cyber school for homeschooled athletes with cheer and dance included in the curriculum.