Editing Kaycee Rice (section)

==Resume of the Early Years==
===Before Studio 13===
Kaycee was grown up in a family who loves do sports. Her entire family did Tae Kwan Do and Kaycee was into it since pre-school.<ref>[https://www.instagram.com/p/Bns8MKYjP-g/ KC's Beginner lessons 𝘛𝘢𝘦 𝘒𝘸𝘰𝘯 𝘋o]</ref><ref>[https://www.instagram.com/p/B1FKw-jFh0d/ KC during  𝘛𝘢𝘦 𝘒𝘸𝘰𝘯 𝘋o]</ref> But she felt, she was like the ‚Lone Ranger‘of her family. When she had to go into a competition and entered the sparring, she let more the other kids kick her than vise versa, because she didn’t want to fight. But she was very good at the performance part and [https://www.instagram.com/p/B8b8WmyJ8uF/ somehow won her peer class competition]. Still today one can recognize some Tae Kwan Do elements in her pirouettes ... and rehearsing accidents. So actually she didn’t like it and more by fluke her mom put her in a hip-hop class when she was four and she instantly felt she is meant to do this.
<!--So she took the short cuts and passed directly the 35th chamber of Tae Kwan Do „Winning the fight without a fight, break the will for a fight and be all nice together“and entered into 1st chamber of Dance Fu. She basically skipped the kicks and pushes and called it dancing. But one can still recognize some spin kick techniques in her pirouettes today (for more details ask her dance partners about injuries).-->

Kaycee was five when she stood first time in a competition on stage and felt immediately in love with it and was crying when she left the stage, because she wanted more. She was right from the beginning a natural performer – face expression, lip singing and body language. If you didn’t have the privilege to start your dance career as an infant, you properly know how hard it actually is to do some spine and turn combinations so that looks good without years of training. But Kaycee was rattling it off easy like breathing since she was six – she is a left foot dominated clockwise - and showed very early the unnatural figures to bend her back backwards. In consequence she got very young an extreme strong tummy muscular, core strength, excellent balance and her famous flexibility. And people are still asking, if it doesn’t cause any long-term damage when she gets older. She started very early with tap, jazz, tumbling and acro as well.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsKqfOOuFzA Kaycee Rice - "Cooties"]</ref> <ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wjl1iJJDR8 Kaycee Rice - Hound Dog (2009)]</ref> <ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17E8bpXWj44 Kaycee Rice - "ABC's of Love"]</ref>

===Studio 13===
Kaycee`s mom thought it was a good idea to kill some flies with one slap and founded „Studio 13 Dance“ in Simi Valley where Kaycee grew up - a suburb 40 miles north-west-west from LA downtown - keep up with her training, to keep an eye on her daughter, spare some driving time to classes, spare classes costs, earn some money with the studio – and last-not-least – Kaycee’s older siblings [[Kylie Rice|Kylie]] and Devon could be cared about as well, who are three and six years older than Kaycee. In 2008 she purchased a former Discount Tire Center warehouse off First Street and created Studio 13 Dance, where 12 professionals teach close to 200 budding young dancers. Her sister Kylie was a competition dancer and part of the Studio 13 project team and later professional dancer as well - A professional collaboration of the Rice sisters and Studio 13 dancers was [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbBbBT1QflA Samuel Cristea - Time to Dance Music Video] in 2011 (RR: Kaycee is easy, but do you recognize Kylie. No?! She was the lead dancer, who danced with Samuel, about 11 at that time). So Kaycee got basically her own dance studio, where she could train 24/7, when she was six or seven years old. A two-way mirror gave parents the opportunity to watch their kids practice but prevents the kids from being distracted or nervous about being observed. 

She grew up in a relatively protected environment and - that was very important for her development - she didn’t need make big risks and investments to find friends, because the other kids came to her into the studio as an institution, the daughter of the owner. The parents described her as very shy at these days. Kaycee practices at the studio three to five hours a day, Monday through Friday, and occasionally on Saturdays. Each year she enters six or seven dance competitions and one national contest. In 2014 she had been on eight different dance teams and had performed four solo routines and two duets.

Her training in Studio 13 was not well documented for outsiders. It seems she got more versatile in ballet and lyrical when she was 8 years old.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8utSV6b5tc Kaycee Rice - "All about Me" - Best 8 year old Jazz Dance Ever!]</ref> <ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyGZtJTsVJI Kaycee Rice - "Somewhere" Lyrical Age 8]</ref> Gene Tapia was her first teacher and regarding Kaycee Kristyn Abbadini and Joy Mosman choreographed many of her solos in the early days. But her competition results speak for themselves. She was without shadow of a doubt a very talented young lady, but considering [https://www.dancecompetitionhub.com/competition the currently about 350 north-American dancing organizations and companies], who are crowning their regional, national and international champions and supporting thousands of very talented young dancers out there, not that much special. But Kaycee properly didn’t care. She was just looking forward to next competition season to rush out with her friends and [https://www.simivalleyacorn.com/articles/dancers-sweep-up-the-competition/ sweep the board of trophies]. Her crew mates called her their "Secret Weapon". At Thunderstruck International 2015, the studio took home five of six grand international titles. Kaycee said the other dancers hated the Studio 13 dancers, because they occupied most of the parking places at the location for their camping lounge. 

While Kaycee enjoys competing, Her mom has noticed she gets more joy out of performing for a purpose rather than winning. “Last year she did this beautiful dance for a Muscular Dystrophy Association telethon, and she showed us all that she wants to dance for a reason,” Laura Rice said. She said her job as owner of the studio is the best job she could ask for because she spends quality time with her daughters.- [https://www.simivalleyacorn.com/articles/simi-girls-shimmy-an-internet-sensation/ Simi Valley Acorn - Simi girl’s shimmy an Internet sensation]. So her brother Devon was with his dad we assume.

Kaycee's biggest ambitions beyond competitions were becoming a teacher at Studio 13 when she will be grown up and maybe one day take over the studio from her mom. But then something happened set her more apart …

===Tricia Appeared===
Tricia Miranda <!-- , the queen of hip-hop choreography, -->started her career actually in ballet. As a young girl she tried to cover the dance moves from TV in her hometown Yuma in Arizona. Still in these days she is bringing some of her meanwhile famous dance students into town to the Yuma Hip-Hop Festival and makes the event of national interest.

She started as a trained ballet dancer -- calling herself a "chola ballerina" who shaved the sides of her head and rocked hoop earrings and dark lipstick while donning her ballet shoes. The look became to her personal brand. In her late teens she co-directed a ballet company and received a full scholarship to the prestigious Joffrey Ballet in Chicago. But her dream was to be like the dancers she saw on television and her inspiration [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tina_Landon Tina Landon].

After moving to Los Angeles at the age of 21, Miranda knew it was time to truly pursue her dreams and was properly struggling like most pro dancers at the beginning. Her "big break" happened just three years later at 24 when she was cast as a dancer on Beyoncé's "Ladies First" world tour (see [https://kiddancers.miraheze.org/wiki/Kaycee_Rice/Filmography Filmography] - Concept Videos - Game of Survival - RUELLE - FORTYONE ) and she later became a staple in the touring, video and dance industry.

However, she wasn’t always treated that way and she often complained about the demanding, unfriendly and impolite working atmosphere. <!--When people complaining about the extreme cutthroat of the dance industry, it was nothing comparing to Tricia’s days. Everyone was just looking to the top of the stardom, the second tier was struggling and the third tier was starving. She often complained about the impropriated demands so that she could keep her pole position. In other words, she felt exploited.-->One day after 12 years, she was finally fed up during the filming of Spears' "Circus" video. - "My knees were bleeding from doing groundwork in the gravel, and I was just starting to feel over it -- and I remember never having that feeling before, It's not fair to take a spot from a hungry dancer who deserves to be there just to get a check. I'm not that person, that's not for me." - And she quitted her job as professional dancer on the top of her game – forever – and switched to full time choreographing, teaching and creative directing and got soon an equal reputation.<ref>[https://www.espn.com/espnw/culture/story/_/id/17832394/live-your-life-hip-hop-choreographer-tricia-miranda-rise-top 'Live your Life' -- hip-hop choreographer Tricia Miranda on her rise to the top]</ref>

Regarding Kaycee, one day one of her teachers at Studio 13, later named by Weirdo's dad as [https://www.instagram.com/thereal_justinj Justin "JT" J. Soliz], tried to match up Tricia with Kaycee. First, he talked to Kaycee’s mom that she needed to take Tricia’s class; and on the other hand he insisted to Tricia, that she urgently needed to see the little girl he discovered at Studio 13. He showed her videos of Kaycee's "Issues Five" (already deleted) and said, "You have to work with this kid. You have to ...". And Tricia minded: ''She is so great. She is so dope. But I don't do kids''. But one day annoying was successful and Tricia visited Studio 13 and Kaycee took her class.

Kaycee said she completely failed. Of course, she did. That happens if you take an unprepared university test in elementary-school. Tricia hardly ever taught kids. Why she should adjust her teaching methods to one kid she just met?! But she was properly impressed how far the nine years old munchkin got (she calls Kaycee still today "munch"), before she “finally broke out curve and smashed into the mirrors”, compared to the professional dancers in Tricia’s masterclasses, because she took instantly a grab on her and made her to her very first permanent kid student.

But since then Weirdo had her first permanent world-renowned industry dancer and teacher, who really worked personally with some of the biggest artist, such as Beyoncé, Jennifer Lopez, Brittney Speers and Black Eyed Peas, to name a few, a former top dancer in hip-hop and – last-not-least – someone with Tricia’s business opportunities and educational networking to give her the full doses of the highest industry standards. Before Kaycee and Tricia it was absolutely unique that a nine-years-old had such an industry giant in her corner.

===The Story of “Werk” – The Competition - JoJo Appeared===
One day Kaycee’s mom asked Tricia if she minded to choreograph a hip-hop solo for Kaycee’s next competition season. But this was considered unwise and cocky these days. Many judges had their objections and pre-conceptions against the sometimes vulgar lyrics with these lewd, unsmooth movements and considered it inappropriate for kids. Not a good chance for winning.

But Tricia choreographed “Werk”, as her first choreographed solo ever, including adults. She was more like a production choreographer for about 120 people. So Tricia first refused, but Laura, Kaycee's mom, reminded her that she has never done a hip-hop solo. She should just see what happens. Tricia recalled about "Werk" in 2024 this way:
<blockquote>
"So we got her in my studio, me and my assistent and we were like, ''Who is this kid?'' I remember the first step is out the gate, already controversial for like a 10-year-old  at the time, now It's like so normal, but is the style of dance from Miami that's called riding out and layman's turn, it's like booty popping and so she was ten. So out the gate, it was the first step that happend and it went on a few seconds over and over with different hands. And I think that caught the intention of everybody, that like ''OMG she is a child, she is only ten, doing this style of dance and she doing it better like anybody else like ohh my gosh like wooo .. what is this?'' People were just obsessed with this video. Katy Perry was so obsessed with it. And she tweeted this video and it just blew up." [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7YdlRqFYdg&t=2431s Tricia Miranda "Going Off" | Tricia Miranda E009]. 
</blockquote>
She worked on "Werk" with her assistent, an ambitious young dancer who asked Tricia shortly before to watch her on work and learning how she choreographs - [[JoJo Gomez]], [https://youtu.be/CnGQ-QkEUx0 JoJo's story how they met]. So here we are. Three generations of Dance Queens - a generation in the dance world has about 7-10 years distance - changing the dance industry for ever, by influencing each other, working with another for many years and by choreographing and rehearsing an innocent kid hip-hop competition routine ... like Oppenheimer on the atomic bomb. 

The rest became history. So she was standing on stage in her green top, white jacket, booty and won the NexStar national competition for top soloists with her very first hip-hop solo with a lot of fierce and intensive movements. Maybe it was the very first hip-hop solo ever won a national open competition.

It was very special moment for Tricia and Kaycee. First time with a hip-hop solo; she killed it. First time choreographed a hip-hop solo ever and she won the nationals. These were moments when Tricia and Kaycee formed a bound beyond mentor-student relationship, despite their huge age difference and today they are spending often some free-time together, joking around, giving each other some sarcastic side-kicks and keep it beyond business and training. Working with Kaycee and later [[Gabe De Guzman]] changed completely Tricia’s attitude about kids and she became a teacher and mentor for many very young dance talents. Tricia got later known as "The Kid Choreographer". She did until 2025 over 100 commercials with kids and Missy Elliott called her directly and exclusively for the Super Bowl by, so quote Tricia, "Hey. You have the best kids. You are the only one I trust hiring kids for me for the Super Bowl." Tricia and Missy became by their collaboration later friends. - Fun Fact: JLo dated for five years Tricia's ex-boyfriend [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8BYfKkbFgg Beau Casper Smart]. Tricia & Casper spltted four years before.<ref>[https://youtu.be/D7YdlRqFYdg?t=1742 Tricia Miranda "Going Off" | Tricia Miranda E009]</ref>

So, Kaycee's dad Brat put the taped video of Kaycee’s dance just for fun on YouTube, another channel DancingWithYT pick it up and they had no clue, what was coming down from the pike later …

===The Story of "Werk" – The Blow Off===
Four months after she did her “Werk” performance, one of her fans commented on one of her photos on Instagram that Katy Perry just tweeted her “Werk” solo. Little Weirdo went confused to her parents and told them about it. They thought at the beginning it cannot be for real, must be a fake account  and got really excited about it, while Kaycee (10) had no clue what was going on here and kept it by a simple “Cool!”. But then the parents explained her proudly, that the princess of pop, who has sold over 150 million records, pointed on her video by link to her entire over 38 millions Tweeter followers and many already forwarded it to their followers such as RuPaul and Wadley.

The effect was an instant blow off of the video counter and it got trendy. About a million views over night. In these days it might be normal that dozens of dance videos go viral per day (means more than about 250,000+ views total), and especially it’s normal for Kaycee that one of her dance performances passed over a million views, but in 2013 it was very rare, and about a non-televised kid dance competition, it was pretty much unique. It got so much attention of public eye that CNN bothered to live interview her. Sadly the entire promotion process is not well documented.

When Shengela Laquifa Wadley visited her at Studio 13 in Simi Valley, they talked about the lot of inspiring comments people left under the video, but actually the milk turned sour very fast. Mean and disgusting comments appeared more often and suddenly her mom had to jump in as personal firewall to protect her daughter from the trolls, perverts, haters and overreacting parents. <!--That’s properly the reason why Katy Perry never tweeted about other kid performances again. But she didn’t need to, after she made together with the Backpack Kid performance already him a Shorty Award winner before Kaycee. Nevertheless,--> Her entire family started to get wet feet, had to learn the hard way to deal with both – fan-storms and shit-storms – and needed to develop an elephant skin.

Well, the promotion effect didn’t last forever. After The Queen Latifath Show the “Werk” got more and more forgotten. But it peaked there when Kaycee found a big golden label on her cabin door with her name on it and the credits of her choreographers and family were keeping the train roll forward with new gigs and projects afterwards.

===Gabe Appeared===
The stars aligned back in 2013, when two young dancers walked into Tricia's class at International Dance Academy (IDA) in Hollywood. Kaycee, then 10, and Gabe, then 12, plowed their way through an intricate hip-hop combo to Rihanna’s “Right Now,” showing dancers twice their age what it means to go full-out.  

Tricia recalled:
<blockquote>
"I saw this little kid [[Gabe De Guzman|Gabe]], who was two years older than her, but still very tiny like her and they took my class one time and I put them together, because they were the only kids in my class, because I only taught adults. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FVMunBjl58 And they went for blood!] (RR: front blond [[JoJo Gomez]], freaking out behind Gabe was WillDaBeast Adams, also cool: Kaycee with heart top is slaying everyone except Gabe, while mommy was waving with Kayc's fuzzy pet; and video went later viral as well). [...] I remember thinking, ‘Wow, these kids are aliens,’ It’s so rare to find a student who’s mastered both performance and technique, and here I had two.” [...] And I had these idea, ''OMG, they need to be an duet, I will create something with them'' and I created these little duet "Monster" at The PULSE on Tour in 2013 and [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFhxYByX58Q that went viral] (but another performance first already deleted, about 2.5M views; [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Z1XcIyisGw found mirror]). And than I was like,''Ok, now I doing this kid thing.'' And because these both things went viral, I decided to work with kids."
</blockquote>
Kaycee's first impression about Gabe:
<blockquote> “This little boy is crazy amazing. OMG, I have to dance with him." - [https://dancespirit.com/teenage-mutants/#gsc.tab=0 DanceSpirit - Gabe De Guzman and Kaycee Rice Are a Stage Match Made in Hip-Hop Heaven] </blockquote>

To be continued …