J Lo dances to Kiwi beat

South Aucklander choreographs global star

JESSICA TASMAN-JONES

A South Auckland hip hop dancer is choreographing moves for one of the world's biggest pop stars, who herself sings about being "from the block".

Last month Parris Goebel got a phone call from Jennifer Lopez's agent asking if she would work with the superstar singer for her upcoming world tour.

Goebel is now in the midst of rehearsals and trying to keep her cool around the singer and American Idol judge whose hits include Jenny From the Block, and On The Floor.

Lopez, 42, last month announced a world tour for the northern hemisphere summer.

She was put on to Goebel through her choreographer boyfriend Casper Smart, who at 24 is almost half her age.

Smart showed her YouTube videos of the South Auckland dancer who at just 20 already owns two dance studios, one in Penrose, the other in Hamilton.

Father and manager Brett Goebel says his daughter's career took off when she formed the group ReQuest in 2007 which currently has nine female members.

She began dancing around age three, starting with jazz ballet before moving into hip hop around 14.

ReQuest has won world hip hop titles, taken out season five of the America's Top Dance Crew television series and some of their YouTube videos have earned hundreds of thousands of hits.

Goebel's first encounter with Lopez was when she landed in Los Angeles on April 30 and Brett says she'll be working with the singer most days.

"There are different rehearsal sessions, so there's some with just dancers, and then Jennifer will come in."

He says according to his daughter, Lopez is lovely and "down to earth".

"She said she's passionate about music and dance. And she said Jennifer's key thing is people enjoy themselves when they hear her music."

Brett says he is ecstatic for his daughter but says she's put in the hard yards to get this far.

"She's worked hard for the last five years to get to this point, so she's pretty much reaping what she's sown."

He says her goal is to be one of the world's leading choreographers.

"That's no longer a long term goal, that'll pretty much happen in the next year.

"She wants to do music videos, tours and concerts, television. She just wants to do a variety of work."

Goebel will be in Los Angeles for two months before she jetsets to Rome for hip hop teaching and then Las Vegas later in the year for the world hip hop championships.

- © Fairfax NZ News