‘Coooool!’ Ezra shouted when I told the babes they’d been invited to interview Perri and Jordan of Diversity dance troupe last week.
We went to Westfield Stratford where Jordan and Perri were judging the finals of the British Gas Generation Green Energy Performance, a national dance competition that is part of an ongoing campaign to spark the energy conversation amongst young people. Three schools won energy makeovers worth £150,000 each!
The boys met Jordan and Perri in the green room and asked them questions they’d written out themselves. Jed was a little nervous. ‘Don’t be shy,’ Perri told them, ‘we’re all friends here and we’ve got matching hair!’
Jed’s Interview Questions
Do you like dancing?
Jordan: We love dancing, my mum danced for her whole life. My older brother Ashley taught me when I was growing up, so it’s always something I’ve known.
Perri: But do you two like dancing? You do? Nice!
How do you do flips?
Perri: A lot of practice. It’s also about loads of foam pits, loads of mats, make sure you’re safe, make sure there’s someone there to teach you correctly and who knows what they’re doing.
Jordan: Yeah, don’t try and go for it on your own! But loads of practice and you’ll get there.
Can you do the moonwalk?
Perri: We can do it but no matter who does it no one really does it like Michael Jackson. As much as you attempt it, Michael Jackson is the pro.
Ezra’s Interview Questions
How do you flip and land properly?
Perri: Actually the first person to teach me to do a back flip was my mum, which is really weird because I don’t think she’s ever tried it in her life. She helped me, I was on a trampoline, next minute I was mid-air flipping and like I said practice, practice, practice and eventually you’ll get it.
When did you start dancing?
Perri: I started dancing 8 years ago, when I was 10 years old.
Jordan: I’ve been dancing since I was about 7 years old, so about 14 years. And other guys in the group have been dancing even longer than that. Ashley’s been dancing for about 20 years. And Terry’s 40 now. He’s getting on, bless him.
Who were you inspired by?
Perri: I was inspired by the rest of the boys because before I joined Diversity, I was a huge Diversity fan. I used to follow them about, watch them perform, so they were the people to get me into dancing. They’re my inspiration.
Jordan: I’d say for Diversity as a whole, a lot of our stuff we’re quite inspired by Michael Jackson. Not even just the way he danced but how he liked to put a performance together and make a real show out of everything. That’s what we try and do as well.
What type of music do you like?
Jordan: If you asked that question to Diversity, you would get 1000 different things. But I think as a group, we like so many genres of music from hip hop to dub step to classical. So I’d say we like all types of music.
What is it like to be part of a dance group?
Perri: It’s really cool because I literally spend every day of my life doing my job, but my job is the coolest job ever, spending time with my friends and family. So being in a dance group is very cool and every day is pretty entertaining as well. Especially if you’ve got Jordan there!
Why did you want to take part in British Gas Generation Green?
Jordan: Me and Perri took part because we thought it is something really important and there needs to be more awareness among the youth. People my age and younger don’t really know the impact we’re having in terms of all the energy we use, whether it’s phones or Xboxes. No matter what, we do use a lot of energy so it’s good to get involved in a project like this to be greener and to let more people know what they can do too.
Perri: Thanks for the interview, you guys were really good!
Diversity’s Jordan and Perri judged the British Gas Generation Green Energy Performance, an initiative from British Gas which saw young people from up and down the country competing for an Energy Makeover worth up to £150,000 for their school. For more details, visit generationgreen.co.uk
How cool that Jez and Ezra interviewed them, I feel a blog take over and Diversity are incredible talented and humble boys. So inspiring reading that they have made their passion their job and MJ inspires them. Love this x
Amazing! What great fun for your boys to get to interview Diversity. Love that they thought up their own sweet questions and sounds like they had fun. And diversity are just so talented. In the top picture your boys look like they’re next in line to join diversity :)
Aww thanks guys! They were so happy to meet them and I thought their questions were pretty good! Ezra is definitely on the way to taking over this gig… and more power to them both :-) x