Ikeela Sealey once had a dream of owning a dance studio under a bridge. Six months after moving her company Tru Streetdance into the noisy studios under the bridge on Lionell Street, Snowhill, Birmingham – she still can’t believe her dreams coming true.
Otherwise known by her stage name, Toffee, the 27-year-old Birmingham-born dancer has inspired young people across the region. She spoke to West Midlands Dance about what keeps her motivated and why passing on a legacy of dance, education, and entrepreneurship is so important.
Growing up in Chelmsley Wood, Ikeela remembers walking past a class at the Custard Factory in Digbeth and witnessing something she’d never seen before – streetdance. Soon after she auditioned for the Smash Hits tour and became a professional dancer aged 13. But while her dance partner Maleka Tenyue, aka Caramel, went off to London to aged 16, Toffee decided to go back to her studies.
Now sitting in her own dance studio, which she bought and renovated, it is clear Toffee has managed to channel her passion for dance and young people through her commitment to hard work – making sure her dreams became concrete realities.
Her drive to succeed started early in life. In between studying dance at GCSE at Archbishop Grimshaw School and performing arts at Coventry University, Toffee decided to run streetdance classes at the Custard Factory – she was just 17-years-old.
“I was so scared of starting my own classes. I thought no one would listen to me. But I did it. And over 100 people came to the first class,” she said.
She had to close down the class because it was over-subscribed and while the classes were postponed she hand-picked 25 of the top dancers to form a company – Tru Streetdance. Ten years on members still come together to train, perform and empower young people through dance.
Comprising of around 25-30 people – Tru Street dancers rotate with six newcomers joining from open classes each year, and older members leaving to set up their own classes or become professional dancers.
But Toffee is expanding her dance enterprise to make sure young people are given the resources and advice they need to continue in dance beyond training and performing. She has started teaching business to eight members of Tru Streetdance, and through the Sticky Toffee Dance Agency hopes to provide work opportunities and enable her young dancers to start their own projects. It is this inner drive to fulfill a need for dance provision which has propelled Toffee throughout her career.
“I think what inspired and motivated me is when I was growing up people said ‘you’re not going to get anywhere in dance’. It made me fight more. I wanted to show them. There was a gap in the market and I wanted to do it. Their negativity inspired me.”
“We’re creating that footpath for young people because I didn’t have it.”
Toffee’s long term vision is to create a performing arts academy, which will be open to anybody with an interest as a place to specialise in the arts alongside mainstream education.
The idea stemmed from her work as a dance teacher back at her old school – which she did for seven years. During this time she saw how hungry children were for something exciting to keep them in education.
“Young people are interested in the arts but aren’t getting that stimulation from school or college. Elmhurst does it. We can do it here with a performing arts academy. My vision is for that empire,” she said. “If we see an inkle of potential we’re going to grab you and nurture you. It’s about empowerment.”
Toffee believes TV and the media can be attributed with a renewed interest in the dance style. She said:
“A lot of schools in and around Britain are interested in streetdance. I have to thank the likes of Britain’s Got Talent and The X factor because streetdance has been around for nearly 15 years, and only now is it getting recognised.”
“There are kids out there that want to dance.”
During the interview, Toffee is called on her mobile by her dancers and young people- she says this is normal and they often come to her for advice and help with typical teenage problems and bigger issues. She has built a mentoring scheme into the Tru Streetdance company, which she calls ‘the dance community’.
Emma Beckford, Tru Streetdance manager, explained:
“Sometimes young people feel down so we’re there to give them that encouragement. We’re here to create positivity through their every day life.”
Toffee’s own life experiences have lead her to believe dance can bring you through difficult times. Her husband, Tyrone Sealey, died suddenly aged 23 five years ago during open heart surgery. Toffee says it was her dance family that helped her through bereavement, summing it up simply by saying “Dance saved my life.” Tru Streetdance staged Tru Street Angel in memory of Tyrone, and the performance moved so many people they now regularly dance Tru Street Angel performances for people who have lost loved ones – the next one will be at The Crescent Theatre in Birmingham in 2/3 April 2010.
Toffee says young people motivate her to get up in the morning – and they are often queuing outside the studio. She quit her post as a teacher a year ago to set up the Sticky Toffee Dance Agency and the studio – a wide and noisy space with rattling corregated iron doors. But each evening the place comes alive with young people coming to dance, socialise, learn and grow.
“When I stop will be when I see the ripple effect,” she said. “The young ones taking over and continuing the legacy.”
“I hope people take inspiration from my story. It has been hard but I never gave up.”
Sticky Toffee Dance Agency are putting forward a proposal for the People Dancing project to obtain funding for providing dance in rural areas of the West Midlands. Again, it is somewhere Toffee sees a need and wants to provide.
