When John Whitehurst was ten years old, his life as an Irish dancer would change forever when he was one of the main focuses of the Irish dance phenomenon that was Jig.
The 2011 documentary captured the hearts of Irish dancers everywhere who saw their crazy world celebrated on the big screen for the first time. In the documentary, John is shown preparing for his first ever World Championships which he went on to win. The butterfly-inducing footage of him, his teacher John Carey, and mum all looking anxiously at the results board as the scores came out, almost too nervous to watch, is forever ingrained in our minds for capturing that truly incomparable feeling so honestly.
John would go on to win three more World Championships, along with countless other regional and national titles. It’s not surprising that the 21-year-old Birmingham based dancer found so much success when he reminisces on his competition strategy. “If you can visualize it, you can hold it in your hand,” he says. “I would always picture myself before a competition, first round, second round, set dance. I’d sit there, visualize everything, all the steps, how I view the audience, and lifting up the globe. And it became a reality.” Later on in his career, John had to work harder mentally to manage the pressure but always found a way to utilize this. “I would always compose myself,” he says. “I thought the pressure boosted me as well. When you walk on that stage and the music starts and there’s silence, I live for that.”
By age 18, John had set his sights on a professional career in Irish dancing. “I sort of did what I wanted to do,” he says. “I achieved my goals and I wanted to move on and reach for my other goals…it was non-negotiable. I have had the dream since I started dancing, since I first watched Riverdance.” John would go on to tick another dream off the list when he got to perform in the matinee show with Riverdance after being selected from the Summer School programme. “That was a dream come true,” he says. “I just bawled my eyes out because it’s something I’ve been dreaming of since I was five.”
Dancing professionally always seemed like the logical next step for the decorated dancer. However John has recently been in the unfortunate position of many performing arts industry professionals in not being able to perform during the pandemic. “It has been hard, because that’s the way that I make a living – dancing and doing what I love, which I really appreciate,” he says. “I feel like everyone’s been feeling like it, but it’s good that social media is about, because that’s a platform that you can use to show the world what you’re capable of doing.”
“When you walk on that stage and the music starts and there’s silence, I live for that.”
John Whitehurst
And this is exactly what John has been doing – using social media as a place to perform, experiment, explore, and show the world what he’s capable of. His recent videos on social media have seen him perform Irish dancing through an experimental lens fused with styles like modern and contemporary. Having attended performing arts school in year nine for a short while before deciding it wasn’t for him, he realised that he’d never done much to combine his dance styles. “One day I just put some music on, and I just started dancing and I recorded it,” he says. “I sent it to a few of my friends and they didn’t really understand…but I didn’t care because I was like, ‘This is what feels right.’”
John’s first video was a modern interpretation to Riverdance’s ‘Trading Taps’ music, where his rhythms and body movements flow seamlessly and effortlessly. Since then he’s performed short routines to the likes of Olivia Rodrigo, Billie Eilish, and Beyoncé. “I don’t think about the movements or anything, I just let it flow out of me and freestyle really,” he explains.
Inevitably, sharing such personal performances is a daunting experience, something even the most seasoned performers have expressed uncertainty over. “It was hard to begin with,” he says. “I was just like ‘get it out there, post, don’t overthink it, just do it.” The overwhelmingly positive response encouraged John to keep pushing the boundaries and stretch himself further as a creative performer. “What’s the point in bottling it in and hiding it from everyone and just doing it in the bedroom for no one to see?” he says.
While John hasn’t experienced any criticism first-hand, he also doesn’t let the fear of what others think stop him from challenging himself creatively. “It doesn’t bother me because it’s me,” he says. “Some people go through their whole life not being able to actually express themselves because they get so caught up in a bubble, instead of finding their true identity and who they are.”
“Some people go through their whole life not being able to actually express themselves because they get so caught up in a bubble, instead of finding their true identity and who they are.”
John Whitehurst
Now John’s got his sights set on bigger and brighter things in the world of performing, maybe one day even choreographing for music videos, with other hopes to go into acting and singing. “I want to go more into the dance and performing industry,” he explains. “And I don’t want to just be tied to Irish dance. I love Irish dancing. But I love being free, I love moving my body and modern Irish.” In the short term, he hopes to be back on tour by September if everything goes to plan.
His advice to dancers who may be wanting to use this time to explore their own creative dancing abilities is to “just step out the comfort zone and do it,” he says. “They won’t regret it because once that first video goes up, you’ll have so many people who will love it, but the people who don’t will remove themselves from your life.” He adds “Don’t listen to the bad critics. They’re going to critique everyone, but they’re only critiquing you because they’re obviously not happy with themselves.” In short, “just crack on with it.”
Follow John on Instagram.
