Exclusive Interview: How He Rose From Being Just A Regular Dancer To Touring With Taylor Swift And Jason Derulo

Piece by: Harun Momanyi
Entertainment

If you listen to , you're a true Pop music head. But, did you know that your favorite hit makers scout for the best dancers they can get in the world? Think of Taylor Swift, Jason Derulo, Hilary Duff, Miley Cyrus and other top Hollywood celebrities, they search globally for the best talent.

That's exactly how Kim Toshi Davidson got his big breakthrough. He one day, went to a Jason Derulo audition and made it to be part of his team. Kim has since grown rapidly to be a competitive booking dancer. The Las Vegas native is currently touring with Taylor Swift for her 1989 tour and to him it's more of a dream come true.

How did he get here? How did he achieve his dream of being a booking dancer for top musicians in the world? I talked to him in an exclusive interview and he gave me the most mind-blowing success story you've ever read.

Kim has been dancing the whole of his life...until life for him changed about 3 years ago. He was at that point feeling low and dejected since he did not know where his life was heading. He even contemplated quitting dancing.

Dancing for Taylor, who has made history in the music industry, not more than once, comes as no mean feat.  She became the first woman in Billboard Top 100's 56-year-history to succeed herself in the top spot with her song last November.

Taylor Swift's song had 843,348,343 views on YouTube at the time of this publication. So what made Taylor believe in Kim? Before joining the "Never Getting Back Together" singer on her 1989 tour, Kim was on tour with Jason Derulo. He was also featured as a dancer in Derulo's "The Other Side" video in 2013, and the project registered immense success.

I talked to Kim about his journey to success and this is what he had to say:

Harun: When did you start dancing?

Kim: I've always been dancing ever since I can remember. Ever since I was a little kid but what really influenced me to get serious with dancing was around 2001 when the movie 'You Got Served' came out and me and my friends were able to see the movie and it really like pushed us to the next level. We would just imitate movies and we tried everything we could that we saw on TV. We also watched music videos and tried to copy the choreography – that was around my high school years.

I've only been a professional dancer for about three years now. I haven't been a professional dance for long – you know I've just been doing freestyle and battles, traveling and battling. That's my main forte. I actually started with a dance crew in Las Vegas, called Formality Las Vegas. That was the first time I ever did choreography,”

Harun: How was it like joining Jason Derulo's dance team? I mean, he's a famous international superstar

Kim: Joining Team Derulo was a big, big milestone in my career. At the time I was kind of contemplating like, whether or not I should be a dancer. I was taking some time off to myself and I wasn't sure if I wanted to dance or not. I always had a passion for dance but it really wasn't taking me to the next level; where I wanted to be.

I had a friend named Eric, he's actually the creator and founder of Formality. He came up to my home town – Las Vegas – and we had lunch. He was like, 'you really could do this dance thing seriously,' and I was like, 'Eer, I don't know how I feel about it,' and he was like, 'you know what, come out, stay with me for a couple days and come trying with my crew. He gave me motivation to restart my career

When we got to his house and we trained for a couple days, he gave me this deal. He said, 'In three months, I guarantee you'll be a booking dancer,' and I was like, 'Okay, I'll come and train and try this industry thing again.' Within the third day of me being out there, the Jason Derulo auditions popped up. A friend that was on Formality was going to the audition and asked me if I wanted to go with him that morning. I was like maybe I should do it, maybe not...I wasn't too sure about it.” he said that he was still undecided about his career.

When I got to this audition, I had a resume that really didn't have anything on it...no experience whatsoever; I had this old picture of me. I wasn't even ready for this audition at all. I didn't have proper dance clothes, I wasn't looking like I was ready to book a job.

Harun: So how did you even get the job?

Kim: Choreographer Amy Allen handpicked everyone from head shots from the agencies. Seeing this time I wasn't with an agency either, I was just really just crash-auditioning. I went over to her and said, “I'm sorry but I'm with no agency, I'm not supposed to be here. But she said “It's okay, just can stay.”

Harun: Ahuh...

Kim: She kept me over into the audition and at the end of it all she came to me and told me to make sure I put my name down, phone number and which agency you wanna get signed with. After the edition I went back home to Vegas and after a few days I got a call and it was from her.” She told me that I was booked for Jason Derulo's “The Other Side” music video, insisting that at the time, the booking was only for the music video.

Harun: How amazing! You mean you got a big gig within such a fast turn around of events? How did it feel?

Kim: Of course I was really excited, this was my first music video, first time working with a big artiste and it was just crazy. I did “The Other Side” music video, then right after the music video, she mentioned to me that they would like to keep me on Team Derulo as one of the core dancers, to travel and tour with them for other future engagements. It was such a shock to me because I started off as a nobody-dancer who crashed the audition – I wasn't even supposed to be there and I ended up becoming a core dancer on Team Derulo.

Harun: I love what you do...I'm also doing the same; creating one of the best lifestyle website brands here in Kenya with my team...

Video: In this live Taylor Swift performance, Kim comes up close with her at 1:42

Kim: Do what you love, live your life to the fullest and in the process you inspire, mentor and motivate people who look up to you. Set an example for the future.

Harun: So, which are some of the big projects that you've done with Jason Derulo?

Kim: I did two big tours with him; I did 'Talk Dirty World Tour' and I also did 'Tattoos World Tour' and the 'Talk Dirty US Tour'. It's the best experience I've ever had man, traveling the world, seeing different cities...it definitely opens your mind, you become more aware of yourself and the world.

For Tattoos Tour we hit Australia and Europe and it was amazing, like the best time I've ever had. Getting to meet new people, hearing new stories, meeting new personalities – it's just an amazing thing. Some places, even not knowing their language, it opens you up to knowing new cultures and languages and to me that's the best part of everything. Learning and opening up my mind.

For the US tour, it was really fun seeing the American side of his fans; dedicated fans in America who really love what he does and who are inspired by his music. I definitely loved touring the US as well; making connections with different cities within our country.

Harun: How do you and Jason relate?

Kim: We're pretty tight like family. Jason is one of the most down-to-earth people I've ever met. He's definitely not your average celebrity. He doesn't act like he's higher than anybody. If it comes down to business, he keeps it strictly business and nothing is personal with him when it comes to serious situations. It all depends on what's going on but his personality is amazing and it's easy to get along with him. He's definitely just an average guy who pursued his passion and he's becoming the best that he can be.

We're just a regular group of friends, you know. We kick it on our off days, Jason will go to the movies with us, we'll go work out at the gym. We do other activities out of work together, he's an actual friend now. We have dinners, we party, we just kick it like regular people. A lot of celebrities don't do that with their dancers.

Harun: What about Amy Allen? She seems to be a really cool lady. I remember last year Jason tagged her in several of his social media posts; appreciating her

Kim: Amy, me and her are really close now. She's seen something in me; some potential of becoming great. I'm in the process of becoming myself right now. She's definitely helped me in this process. She's definitely a big part of this process 'cause without her taking me at the audition, showing me this lifestyle, this industry, how far I can really go, I wouldn't be here without Amy Allen.

Harun: Being a close friend to Jason, how does he relate to Jordin, especially now that he's dating Sage The Gemini?

Kim: I'm not too sure about their relationship but I am pretty sure that they get along. They don't hate each other, they're not that type of people. They broke up on cool terms.

Harun: Are you friends with Jordin too?

Kim: Jordin Sparks, I'm not like super close to her, I mean me and her are friends, we talk from time to time . We'll leave each other comments on our Instagrams, just jokes and stuff but I'm not really too close with her.

Harun: What advice do you have for young people out there who are looking for a way to make it in their talents?

Kim: Do what you love, do what makes you happy in life. There's so much messed up stuff in this world and we need better examples of people to lead in the future. Make people feel good about themselves.

Whatever career path you wanna go into, it doesn't matter if you wanna be a doctor, a dentist, a fireman...if you wanna be an astronaut, if you wanna be a dancer...from the smallest career to the biggest, just invest your time and you'll make it

Kim Toshi Davidson is currently on tour with Grammy award-winning singer Taylor Swift. The 1989 tour is being covered on Billboard, Rolling Stone, Yahoo Celebrity UK, Irish Independent, MTV among other media outlets.

See his Taylor Swift tour pictures:

See his Jason Derulo tour pictures:

You can follow Kim on his IG page for updates on what he's been up to.