Individuality & Self Expression - Jaysu
- therutsstudio
- Jun 2
- 4 min read
If you’re trying to emulate cool, my suggestion is you find Jaysu.
She’ll probably go ahead and laugh at that intro, but anyone who has taken her class will agree that she radiates a cool factor that flows as naturally as her dance moves.
Now, before you get to her intentional warm-up routine or smooth choreo, there’s a good chance you’ll catch a well-timed joke, quirky pun, or even a High School Musical reference. It’s all part of the Jaysu dance class experience. But don’t let her effortless vibe fool you. As with everything in dance, what looks easy is anything but, and her free-spirited energy is the product of years of dedication and hard work.
Big on individuality and self-expression, Jaysu’s dancing style grew from a variety of genres. Having started with a contemporary base in high school color guard, and then moving to street styles and hip hop with the University of California, Riverside’s 909 Hip Hop Dance Troupe, Jaysu started experimenting with her own movement.
With a push from peers wanting to learn her choreography, along with her own desire to connect with fellow dancers and challenge her social anxiety, she started teaching free classes in college. Joining 909 Hip Hop Dance Troupe as a freshman at UCR, she befriended her sophomore teammate, Eileen Kim. Having a shared bond from the Riverside dance community, Jaysu and Eileen kept in touch as they shifted to post-grad adulthood in the L.A. dance scene.
Heavily based in the choreography world, Jaysu stumbled across a moment of uncertainty during the 2020 pandemic shutdown. “I took a Hip Hop Fundamentals class over Zoom, and I remember thinking, ‘Holy crud, I’m feeling so uncomfortable in my own body!’” After this realization, she threw herself into bulletproofing her foundations and refining the basics. “I went hard during COVID, I really took advantage of that time [to practice]. I felt a bit of imposter syndrome, and there was no way I was going to return to teaching after the pandemic feeling like a fraud!”
During a year that forced many of us to look within, Jaysu did the same and spent this time fortifying the fundamentals, developing her own style, and finding her individuality in dance. “Choreo is a different skillset, it’s [copying] the choreographer [and] learning to look the same. Going from that, to realizing I need to be okay being my own person and feeling comfortable in how my own body moves — it wasn’t the easiest thing in the world.”
Returning to the dance community stronger and more confident as both a dancer and teacher, Jaysu then became one of Ruts’ first instructors after Eileen and Diny rebranded into Rūts Dance Studio’s first location in 2021.
Now one of the studio’s long-lasting staff members, Jaysu has been teaching beginner and intermediate choreography classes for almost 4 years. Having refined her teaching style over the years, Jaysu expertly creates a warm, fun environment for beginners, utilizing her happy-go-lucky personality to allow students to let their guard down. “I think the silliness factor really helps people,” she says. “I realized people go to a dance class for the first time and don’t know what’s ‘okay’ and ‘not okay’, so it can feel quite contained. [As an instructor] I want people to loosen up and be who they are — and verbalizing little things throughout class and having a natural ease helps create an open space for people to mess up and learn.”
When talking about her time at Rūts Dance Studio, Jaysu gushes about the environment and culture that Diny and Eileen have put so much thought and time into curating.
“I think there’s something so wonderful about teaching in a space with people who are kind of around your age and having similar life experiences. A lot of us are working young adults who want to do something fun throughout the week. It can be easy to get swept up in the competitive culture [around dance], and I like that Rūts is chill. Eileen and Diny play a big part in fostering that, and knowing them as people, I just fit in with it.”
Now a co-director of the beginner/intermediate dance team, rūtaments, Jaysu says, “It’s an honor! I never imagined going back to directing again. I’m learning so much from everyone [on the team], too, which is just really cool.”
Dance, now, is purely a passion project and a beloved hobby for Jaysu. Having been involved with the community for a long time, she says she’s really centered on health and longevity. “I’m really focused on enjoying life [and] finding those intrinsic motivating factors. I love seeing what other people are putting out there, but it’s really easy to get into comparison mode.”
Her biggest lesson learned thus far? The importance of your individualism! Finding out what drives you, whether that be directing a team, freestyling, or something as simple as enjoying those in-between-class conversations — anything big or small is important if it means something to you.
What’s on the come up?
Enjoying day by day! Finding balance and focusing on self-fulfillment.
Where can you find Jaysu?
Don’t miss her biweekly Beginner Choreo class at Rūts Dance Studio on Mondays at 7:30 p.m., as well as her monthly Intermediate Choreo class on Tuesdays at 7:30 p.m.
Catch her in Anderson .Paak’s new movie, K-Pops! Now streaming on Prime Video.
Find her on IG: @jaysu_
Interviewed and Written By:
Lexi Novak -Rūts Dance Studio