After dancing his way across Europe, Bermudian hip hop artist Rikkai Scott is sharing his talent with young people here.

The 24-year-old toured the Continent as a member of Dutch contemporary dance company De Kiss Moves.

The group received a lot of press after they appeared on the TV competition Everybody Dance Now. They made it to the semi-finals on the popular Dutch programme.

He’s since relocated to Bermuda and is teaching hip hop classes to people ages ten through adult.

“I hope to bring what I learned to Bermuda as fast as I can,” he said. “Bermuda really needs more dance opportunities for young people.”

The CedarBridge Academy graduate received several scholarships that allowed him to attend the London Contemporary Dance School. He got his bachelor of fine arts degree in 2012.

“When I was still in college in London, I started thinking, ‘What next?’ and a friend told me they had seen an advertisement for De Kiss Moves and they sounded really good.”

He couldn’t afford to travel to Amsterdam to audition, and so turned to those who’d helped him with college — the Peter Leitner Arts Scholarship, the National Dance Foundation, the Bermuda Arts Council and the Ross Blackie Talbot Foundation.

“They really support you,” he said.

He joined De Kiss Moves right after he graduated.

“They are a fusion dance company,” he said. “We did ballet, contemporary, modern, and folk dance, and mixed it all together.

“We toured all around Europe, particularly Holland and Belgium. The company went to China, but I missed that as I came in a little too late.”

He loved Holland and found the people there to be very free and happy.

“The parks are always full,” he said. “I met a lot of people including choreographers and people in the hip hop and commercial world. Unfortunately, I didn’t keep in contact with those people because I was so busy touring with the company.”

Mr Scott started dancing with United Dance Productions at the age of four.

“They became my second home,” he said. “I took hip hop, tap and ballet. I loved doing it but I always looked at it as a hobby.”

It wasn’t until he graduated from high school that he started thinking his talents might offer him something more.

“I needed to start my life,” he said. “Dance was what I was good at.”

He was teased a lot about his passion for dance while a teenager, Mr Scott said.

“[However], when I was on stage I was like, ‘You can’t tell me nothing. I am going to show you what I can do’. As I got older and people saw that I was trying to be someone, people stopped teasing, or I just didn’t care.”

His advice to anyone else who’s experiencing the same is to “just stay focused”.

“It is not easy,” he said. “It is dance but you have to really be focused. Even if you aren’t that good right now, keep pushing. You never know who is out there scouting for talent.”

He intends to eventually go back to the United Kingdom or mainland Europe and dance with another company.

Mr Scott holds his classes at Studio One in Cumberland House on Victoria Street on Tuesdays and Fridays at 6pm. The class is $20 per class for adults or $12 for students. Ten classes cost $175.

For more information call 296-5553 or 333-1326 or e-mail tr.scott@hotmail.co.uk. Alternatively, visit www.studioone.com.