Meet the ballroom dancer leading shy Hong Kong schoolchildren clear of ‘cookie cutter’ and ‘little box’ syndrome

Just because your child is underperforming in the classroom does not mean they are destined for mediocrity, says the founder and director of Move For Life, a dance organisation aimed at empowering Hong Kong’s children.

“In Australia there was either academics or sport, and if you weren’t good at either of those, there was the arts,” said Joshua Keefe, a retired international top-ten Latin American ballroom dancer and living proof that there is a life outside of textbooks.

“I was shy at school, I wasn’t academic, I wasn’t sporty ... I started dancing outside of school in a programme similar to what we do now so it’s like a full 360,” Keefe recalled. “I got more confident and thought ‘not that I don’t need to be academic, but if that doesn’t work, I feel good about myself anyway’.”

As it turns out, Keefe still went to university but his dancing – or what he calls his “confidence” – always beckoned. He received elite coaching around the world as a teen and, alongside partner Sara Magnanelli of Italy, went on to compete on the world ballroom circuit until retiring in 2014.

The Aussie opted to train amateurs and professionals in Hong Kong because “it was such a superficial environment for so long, I thought I had to give back a little bit.”

“Families here don’t feel the arts are so important, but how are you going to be creative and problem-solve? There is this whole push for individuality in Asia but you need teamwork and those soft skills,” he added.