Jamie Yuen gets the North Shore Moving!

 Thanks to the help of Jamie Yuen, The North Shore artists have had a blast implementing dance as a refreshing form of artistic expression. Jamie came to our studio in the summer of 2016 from Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science. Since then she has become a vivacious and energetic presence at The Arts of Life! Jamie interns at the North Shore on Thursday afternoons practicing the art of Zumba with the community for a school project. Zumba is a mixture of dance moves inspired by Latin, Creole and African dance traditions that is intended to help you get in shape while having fun! The artists and volunteers have had a great time taking a movement break at the end of the week to channel their energy into some organized chaos! In addition to her internship, Jamie is also volunteering as an artist mentor on Tuesdays and Thursday mornings enhancing the community creative practice across the board. After a solid dance and sweat session, the artists got together to ask Jamie a couple questions!      Ted GB: What made you first want to do Zumba?Jamie: I first wanted to do Zumba five years ago in undergrad I think somebody on campus asked if I wanted to take a class and that’s when I first discovered it. I really got into it two years ago because I met this crazy instructor who was like 5’2” and she was nuts! She was very happy and very inspiring! That’s when I really got into it! Cole: How did you find out about the Arts of Life and how did you get started here?Jamie: I found out through Danny’s mom who is a physical therapist instructor at my school. Danny’s mom advocates for the arts of life every time we have class. I got really intrigued with it and then we had a field trip here. I didn’t really get time to spend with the artists. It was really on my mind to do a project with you guys! Ted GB: Were there any special skills that you got from Danny’s mom to be ready for this?Jamie: The one thing she told me was to be open minded. She said that…Danny: I love you, mom!Jamie: She said that if you work here you will be the learner, you will learn a lot so I just came here with an open mind. “Have an open heart and you will learn a lot from the artists.” Oly: Do you dance regularly?Jamie: Not really, I don’t have a lot of time. This is for my school project so they allow me to have more time. Over the summer it was around two times a week but then when I have classes, it becomes zero times a week! I do want to make it regular when I get a job and I can teach dance on the weekend.  Ted GB: How can you make it more regular?Jamie: You know when you have school and you have homework so it kind of gets in the way. Once I finish school and I have more of an independent schedule. It’s just about scheduling, kind of like everything?  Danny: Why here!?Jamie: Why here? Because I couldn’t think of a better place to be! When they asked us to do our community project the background is they said you can do research and I said: “I don’t really want to do research.” Then they said I could be a teacher’s assistant. And I didn’t feel I would make the best teaching assistant. Then they said I could travel to another country to research. I wanted to but I didn’t have enough money, so I said okay I can’t do that. I was thinking what can I do that will make me happy and won’t make me annoyed so that when I help people they won’t feel annoyed and that’s when I thought about the Arts of Life because I knew I would be happy here!   Danny: Hey Jamie Thank You!Jamie: Thanks, guys!