Today we’d like to introduce you to Eric Jara.
Hi Eric, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
Not to sound like Dom Toretto, but my story starts with “family”. They are legit the reason I do what I do. My parents I wish to repay for all they’ve done for me. My siblings I wish to help in whatever crazy dreams/ambitions they may have. And myself? Not sure yet, haha.
My biggest motivation, though, is my little brother, who didn’t get a chance at this thing called “life”. When I was 12 years old, my little brother was born and passed away 19 days afterwards. Of course it was hard on all of us, but a few days after his passing, I made a promise to myself that I’d live a life that’d honor him. He wasn’t alive, but I was, so I made a conscious decision at 12 years old to live a life that maybe he would have wanted to live, you know? This mindset has carried me through most of my life since then. I learned magic, I trained parkour, I became a pro wrestler (WWE style) at 15, I became a decent student (3.8GPA), I went to college to study business, I self-published a book, I started acting, I started 6 businesses (one being a non-profit scholarship named after my brother who passed away), I studied and worked in South Korea for 3 months, I worked in Chile for another 3 months, I worked in Texas for 2 months, I’ve travelled to 14 different countries, I’m a board member and mentor for the First Ascent Scholarship at the University of Utah, I currently co-own a business with my dad, and another with my sister, and I’ve been extremely blessed to say I’ve accomplished all that I have, and live the life I live all thanks to God, and in honor of my brother.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Yes, it’s been all sunshine and rainbows, all the time, with no problems or struggles or bs EVER… haha (sarcasm). No, absolutely not I mean, that’s unrealistic. Everyone has their privileges, but also their challenges. It’s part of life, right? It can’t always be Christmas or else you wouldn’t appreciate it. It’s funny, I remember one of my early supporters of the scholarship I created told me something I carry with me to this day. He said, “if there’s time to work, then work. If there’s time to rest, then rest. Then we just move on”. I took it as “if everything’s going fine, cool, enjoy it. If everything is going to sh*t, cool enjoy it”, because everything will pass. Both the obstacles, and the triumph will pass, so I’ve tried to enjoy both along the way.
As far as specific struggles go, I mean, lack of funds, lack of network, lack of knowledge, lack of resources, lack of time, lack of ability, you name it. The first business I started was The Freddy Scholarship… I was 18… no money, no network, no net worth, no plan, no knowledge, no experience, no nothing! So fundraising, planning, managing, and running everything myself was a HUGE challenge. When I was away in Texas, Korea, or Chile, the challenge was living far away from my family. There were times where I was mentally torn between chasing the success I was chasing, but also getting to spend time with my family, and debating whether I had made the right decision. Training for magic, parkour, wrestling, and acting has also required discipline and A LOT of time management. Even now, being involved in everything I get to be involved in is tough sometimes due to lack of time and lack of sleep. It’s a challenge, yes, but it’s also what I signed up for so like, I can’t cry about it. I read a quote recently that said “what a privilege it is to be overwhelmed by the life you once dreamed of”. And it’s true, like there’s always going to be some bs, but like, we signed up for this. Can’t have the good moments without solving the problems to get us there in the first place. That’s life. We can try to be absolutely delusional and imagine a world with no problems where everything is easy, but number 1, that’s not real and that’s okay because it forces us to grow. Number 2, that wouldn’t be a fulfilling life because nothing would require much effort. And number 3, no one would be happy because if everything is sunshine and rainbows, we’d take it for granted and not enjoy it anyways.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
In a very Jey Uso style: “3 letters, 1 fam, ugh ugh, ADC!” hahaha. (Those who know will understand and appreciate the meme)
Anyways, my sister Leslie and I co-own and co-direct Allegiant Dance Crew (ADC). It’s a dance crew focused on inclusion and accessibility for dance, dance training, dance education, performance, mentorship, and leadership. My sister is the main coach/choreographer/co-director, and I’m the behind the scenes/business guy/co-director. Alongside our INSANE board of advisors, we provide a safe space for dancers to explore, grow, perform, and access a positive/supportive dance team experience especially post-high school. Cuz I’ve learned that dance is EXPENSIVE, exclusive post-high school, and teams can be super toxic. Apparently it’s normal for dance coaches to number 1. treat their dancers like trash, 2. not give a sh*t, and 3. all of this with a heavy price tag attached. So, that’s why we’re here. My sister and my leadership style comes from 2 of our shared mentors, Rich Kaufusi and Latu Kinikini. They coined the term and taught us “aloha leadership”, a leadership style that’s welcoming, loving, and embracing of everyone and their differences giving value to each individual. So for ADC, we plan our 2 big performances of the year, monthly dinners, leadership activities, or team building, community service, and collabs to where everyone gets a chance to experience being on a dance team where everyone (including/especially the coaches) care about each other and support one another. Now, because we want this experience to be more accessible, we only charge our crew $40/month, so we rely heavy on fundraising through our community events and shows. Our shows always have some type of story which is cool too. So people who come watch our shows aren’t coming to see random dance pieces. Leslie and I legit take so much time to plan out some kind of storyline for our shows so that even if people know NOTHING about dance, they’ll still enjoy the show. For example: our fall show for 2025 was called “Not Funny”. Me being the business guy said “we’re not getting sued for false advertisement. If the show is called Not Funny, it better NOT be funny”, and of course Leslie and crew made the show hilarious. Combining theater with props, dance and music, lighting and story, we created a show where I played the “bad guy” trying to stop the show from being funny, while Leslie and the crew had their way and made the audience laugh. We had a Bill Nye bit, a Spongebob bit, comedic songs, John Cena, a commercial break, Scooby-Doo, meme references, weird costumes, the 3 Blind Mice, and so many other things that made the show more than just a dance recital. So image that, and the process we would have taken for months before to build this show, and whatever you imagine, there’s probably twice that amount of stuff that we actually do. And that’s just for the shows! That doesn’t include the weekly practices, technique, collabs, team events… anyways… I can go on for days about ADC, but all people really gotta know is that ADC is the fun, chaotic, artistic, family I get the honor work with.
Is there any advice you’d like to share with our readers who might just be starting out?
A few things… number one is to just try. Most people get caught up in the plan, the doubts, the idea, the “what ifs”, and never even start. We all suck at whatever we try to do when we first start, but if you never start, you’ll never get better. So start, do SOMETHING, then adjust along the way as needed. Nothing has to be permanent: your style can change, your brand can change, your logo can change, everything will get better as you go and as you grow, so people just need to start! There’s never enough time, money, resources, or knowledge, so the point is to start NOW with what you DO have access to, and work up from there.
Second thing I’d say is to not dedicate every hour of your life on one single thing. At least from a creative standpoint, you need to get inspiration from ALL walks of life. For example… for our dance crew, my ideas for our DANCE shows come from wrestling, comedy, music, movies, books, and whatever else I can get ideas from. Just because we do dance, doesn’t mean I’ll watch HOURS of dance shows to get inspired. Hell no! Drawing from different points of view and different industries actually helps make your own work in your industry that much better. I remember I was asked one time where I learned what I know about marketing/sales and I told them “wrestling”. The were of course confused or maybe shocked, so I explained: “pro wrestling is a planned show focused on storytelling, and getting the audience to FEEL something. We train to clearly explain to the audience what is going down, through movement of course, but take that same principle and apply it to marketing. How can something be so simple or so big that your target audience understands the message the FIRST time? What emotion are your trying to get your audience to feel, and how will your storytelling accomplish that? THAT is what pro wrestling taught me”.
Lastly, I’d say be a student. Be okay with not having the answers, and looking for those answers through other people. Ask questions, take notes, LEARN! You will always succeed if you have the mindset of a student. Even when you’ve achieved something, LEARN! LEARN MORE! Be curious, and be okay with needing help. That’s it.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://allegiantdancecrew.org/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/spinalgator/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eric-jara-300/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@AllegiantDanceCrew
