Introducing the winner of Nike Dance Clash and Nike’s newest athlete, Clara Bajado
Born in Paris, Clara Bajado discovered dance through her father, a renowned ballroom dancer in the Philippines. At the age of eight she started taking modern jazz classes. Aged 16 Clara discovered the world of hip hop and fell in love.
As a devoted hip hop dancer she took endless classes and workshops where she honed her skills in old school (lock, pop, bboy) and new school (hip hop). She discovered house dance just a year later, which proved to be a defining moment in her career and led her to form “Septieme SenS”, a dance collective which rapidly earned recognition in Paris and throughout France for its original styles and moves.
Clara spent three months in New York in 2000, where she attended intensive house and hip hop workshops delivered by the acclaimed Brian “Footwork” Green at the famous Fazil and Broadway Dance Centre. It was there she became dedicated to finding out more about the cultural background and origins of the house and hip hop movement.
Taking part in “The Art of Urban Dance” worldwide tour which also featured Storm (one of the pioneers of bboying in Europe),Clara discovered that hip hop has equal place on main stages around the globe..
Since then, Clara has appeared in many productions, videos, danced alongside many famous dancers/choreographers such as Brian Green, Jazzy Jay (NYC), Storm (Germany), Nasty, Karl and Hugson (France).
In 2006 she decided to settle in London in order to fulfil her ambition to promote House dance, its ethos, values and its culture and to develop it as one of the leading dance styles in the UK and ultimately Europe. To do so, Clara has recently founded “In Da House” her own house dance project and despite focusing on house dance her real aim is to promote dance as a whole and the passion it generates worldwide.
In August 2007 Clara took part in Nike Dance Clash – a competition to unearth the best female urban dancer in London. After a series of gruelling dance offs in front of a panel of some of the world’s most elite dance professionals, Clara earned herself the prestigious title of Nike Dance Athlete, along with a £10k development fund to help support her dance career. Clara has since been working alongside Nike on various dance projects and continues to work as a choreographer/dancer.
