Vitamin

  • Name: Isaac Alexander Jno Baptiste
  • AKA: Vitamin
  • Birth place: Forest Gate, London, UK
  • Star sign: Virgo
  • Languages: English, Japanese
  • Hobbies: Dance, teaching dance,
    badminton, studying Japanese,
    video games

How it started

Coming from a Caribbean family, Isaac aka Vitamin was no stranger to music from an early age. His father was a musician and Vitamin loved to watch his parents dance to their favourite records.

In primary school, Vitamin was inspired by his best friend Daniel, who at the age of 10 performed a solo on stage at a school show wearing a foil suit and face paint and did the popular “robot” dance. Vitamin and Daniel became dancing partners, regularly working on dance routines together.

In secondary school, movies like Breakin’ and Beat Street were released to worldwide acclaim. As kids around them got caught up in the craze of poppin’ and breakin’, Vitamin and Daniel would carry a ghetto blaster from place to place with a group of local kids challenging others to dance battles.

Next came the stage of New Jack Swing, which was not only a dance style but a lifestyle change for Vitamin. It meant a new dress code, hairstyle and a lot of clubbing.

Vitamin then worked as a representative of a major Japanese video game producer and channelled all his efforts towards that, so as a result dancing took a back seat for a few years.

He could not stay away from the world of dance for too long though, so when he learnt that there was a breakin’ class not far from his home, he raced down there to take part, thrilled that this style of dance was still alive and well. That’s where he met Pervez Ramondo (an original b-boy and old skool-style breakin’ teacher) who taught him some foundations of breakin’. Some of the students he met there were later to become the founding members of The Imperial Steps. Doing a group performance at a show in the Camden Centre was a real eye opener and a reminder of how much he loved dancing and the whole culture. He then created The Imperial Steps and made a commitment to himself and to the crew that no matter what, dance would always be in his life. That was 2001.

Vitamin decided to take his dancing to a professional level. After numerous performances and battles, he started teaching at various schools and organisations, which led to having his own breaking class at Danceworks in London.

Inspired by his students’ enthusiasm, in 2005 he formed a new dance group made up of purely dedicated students called Plan Zer0. In September 2011, he added Plan Zer0 Juniors, a group for enthusiastic and talented youngsters. In recent years, his classes have included street dance at the Central YMCA (as part of their Children & Young People Programme), Paddington Arts (a youth arts organisation), Garratt Park (a special needs school), as well as the after-school club at Ecole Jeannine Manuel. He is also a Step Into Dance teacher for RAD (Royal Academy of Dance).

My love for dance has always equalled the love I have for motivating others to dance too. I enjoy being able to get through to people of all ages and various backgrounds and bring out the dance in them that they never believed they had. To make them feel more confident about themselves. That’s how the name ‘VITAMIN’ came about – Vitamin

Despite some health issues (asthma and arthritis in his hip joints), Vitamin successfully follows his passion for dance and encourages people of all abilities to do so as well.

His portfolio also includes some TV work. He danced alongside the footballer John Barnes in the MARS 2010 World Cup TV commercial. He was a dance teacher and choreographer in a short Channel 4 documentary How To Dump Your Mates, as well as a dancing court officer in the Plan B music video, “She Said”. He was one of the choreographers for Strictly Come Dancing where he helped Mark Benton and his dance partner Yveta Lukosiute with their comedy street dance routine.

However, if you ask him about his standout performance so far, he undoubtedly will say it was dancing in the London 2012 Olympics Opening Ceremony.

Being selected to be a professional dancer at the opening ceremony was such a great honour and the biggest turning point of my dancing career. It made me feel that all the hard work and struggles faced in my dancing life had been worth it, and nothing could be more rewarding than that opportunity of a lifetime – Vitamin

Future

Vitamin continues to be a very busy and popular dance teacher for various schools and runs Fun, Fit & Funky (Dance For Everyone).

Images

Videos

Time 2 Throwdown – July 2009

Plan B: She Said

Isaac Baptiste a.k.a B-Boy Vitamin makes an appearance in PLAN B’s hit single: SHE SAID.

This time, he takes a break from the breakin’ infavour of a Soul Dancing Court Officer.

Will Plan B get the guilty verdict? It certainly seems that way!

😀

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