Firmsteps Dance Crew is a Nigerian dance crew created in 2011 by two brothers, Joseph Uhiene and Michael Uhiene, this is their story.
Joseph the older of the two brothers was born in Kano on the 8th of May 1994. Michael was also born in Kano but on the 13th of August 1995. They are Igala boys from Idah Local government in Kogi State with 3 lovely older sisters in a family of 5 children.
Joseph (Forward-Left) and Michael (Up-Right)
Back in school, due to their close age gap, they were in the same class all through and often mistaken for twins. Their family moved to Ibadan because of their parents’ business and so they attended pre-nursery at O & A Ibadan. They later moved to Niger state, where they attended Kontagora Estate nursey and primary school. For their secondary school education, they attended Command Secondary School in Suleja. They then went on to attend Caritas University in Enugu where Joseph studied Accounting and Michael studied Public Administration.
Joseph played football in secondary school and later on in senior secondary he formed a dance crew with his juniors where he trained them to dance and formed their choreographies for school shows.
Michael was a social prefect in Primary school and in Secondary school he played Basketball when he wasn’t occupied with punishments that came with life in a military school.
Firm-Steps Dance Crew
They both started dancing as little children, as far back as 1998. They formed a family crew and danced at weddings and church events; this was something they took seriously even though they were often just little children looking confused on stage.
Joseph used to be very shy but it never stopped his dancing. Their university was not the ideal environment they envisioned for their dancing but they still danced on stage from 100 level (year one). In order not to hurt their education, they only danced in their free time.
They created a Dance Crew called Firm-Steps in 2011, the membership of the crew has not been consistent due to the fact that the brothers travel very often to school and back home. Back in school they had over 30 members, however now that they are done with school, they have settled in Abuja and so they are now setting up a permanent base of the crew and building new membership.
Monetizing Dance
Firm Steps is basically an entertainment business that earns them money from performances at events, endorsement deals and advertisements. One of the brands they’ve endorsed is a foreign clothing line called Logan Garments. They also headed a section in the Master Blasta Band at the 2016 Calabar Carnival.
‘Nigeria doesn’t have the best policies and systems to guide the entertainment business, but we do make money from shows/events, endorsement deals and adverts’
-Joseph Uhiene
They also train amateur dancers for a fee, however new members can get free training.
Inspiration
They get their inspiration from the whole world in general, their creativity is not limited, they go as far as watching the movement of birds. They incorporate trending dance steps with traditional ones. They also get inspiration from international professional dancers like Kinjaz Crew and Lilou etc.
Challenges of Professional Dancing
The major challenge for them is getting paid after performances;
‘Sometimes we don’t get paid immediately and other times we only get paid a part of the money, so we often insist on payment before service or signed agreements’
– Michael Uhiene.
To deal with this payment issue, Firm-steps is in the market for a capable and reliable manager. So, if you’re interested you can reach them on their social media or if you simply want to see more of Firm Steps Dance Crew check them out on:
- Instragram @firmstepsdancecrew
- YouTube @firmsteps
- Facebook @firmsteps
For bookings and enquiries email them;