ENTHUSIASTIC dancer, Junior Ferreira from Fernwood, Port Elizabeth, hopes to open a dance studio to take young people off the streets and encourage them to find activities that keep them occupied with positive activities.
After watching music videos by Michael Jackson, Usher and Chris Brown, when Ferreira was just eight years old, he was inspired to dance.
“As soon as I started watching music videos on my friend’s VCR, I was hooked and I could not stop dancing,” he said.
At the age of 12, Ferreira joined PE’s Finest Dance Crew, when it was established in 2009.
The dance crew, which was managed by Ferreira’s mother, Marian Ferreira, consisted of 50 young men and women but was dissolved in December last year.
The PE Boys dance crew was then established in January this year.
“PE’s Finest was more of an opening act and we mostly did background dancing. We created The PE Boys to be an all-boy dance crew and headline our own shows,” said Ferreira.
The dedicated dance crew of five, aged between 18 and 25, rehearse at Dave’s Gym in Gelvandale, when they are in town. When on the road, however, they rehearse at petrol stations, parking lots, or any other place available to them, to ensure that they are prepared for all their shows.
Ferreira, who is now the manager of The PE Boys, attributes his success to his mother.
He said for the first seven years of PE’s Finest, they did not receive any sponsorships and his mother, who was a single parent at the time, paid for everything out of her own pocket.
“If it was not for my mother, PE’s Finest would not have existed and nothing would have happened for our dance crew,” said Ferreira.
Despite never having any formal training, Ferreira has successfully choreographed and performed for multiple famous artists and at live performances.
As a group they have performed with Early B and opened for rappers Travis Scott and Post Malone at Castle Lite Unlocks. Since the start of The PE Boys, they have hosted nine shows in multiple cities.
At least two dance videos on The PE Boys’ Facebook page have received 1 million views each.
“When we started PE Boys, we did not know it was going to grow so fast and the response from the public was unexpected,” he said.
Ferreira previously opened a dance school in the Bay which was successful for at least two years, but because he had to travel often for work, the children at the school lost interest.
Now, he is hoping to open a PE Boys’ dance studio for children in the city to make use of after school.
“When I was younger I was involved with bad activities, but I found dance to keep me busy. I just want the kids to find something to do to keep them off the streets and their minds occupied,” said Ferreira.
“The studio will not only be used for dance rehearsals, but instead children in the community will be able to use it for karate, sports or ballet, any activity that will help them keep busy.”
