Dancers' Paradise: Reda Versatile on the path to success

Since joining powerhouse dance troupe the Versatile Ones, Shereda ‘Reda Versatile’ McEwan has made a quote by author Frank Ocean her mantra – ‘Work hard in silence, let your success be your noise.’

It was one year ago that her dream came true when she was invited to join the Kimiko Versatile-led group. And, according to McEwan, this happened in the most unexpected way.

A final-year student at the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts, McEwan was sitting an exam, and Kimiko Versatile just happened to be her examiner. “Kimiko is the person I look up to for dancehall dancing. She is my mentor,” she told THE WEEKEND STAR. “And, as the examiner, she saw my choreography and was impressed. When she gave me her card to call her, I could not believe it.”

That led to a probationary period with the group, after which McEwan was fully embraced into the Versatile family and could legit add the tagline to her name.

Topping her list of memorable performances since her new familial connections is an appearance in a video for platinum-selling American singer-songwriter-dancer Jason Derulo.

The visuals for the Derulo song, Let’s Shut up and Dance, see the all-female dance group making cameos throughout.

For McEwan, who was no video vixen, it was her debut, and what better way to make it?

“I had never done something like this before. We had to do so many takes for the same scene, and there were so many different locations. I got to meet a lot of persons who I would not otherwise have come in contact with. It was an unforgettable experience,” she said.

Since that shoot in March, she has appeared with a few artistes and has done some modelling for carnival group Xaymaca, which she has also enjoyed.

McEwan considers herself a gifted and passionate dancer who enjoys and expresses herself through the art.

It was this same passion that led her to pursue a bachelor’s degree in dance education at the college.

The degree has broadened her exposure to all areas of dance and qualifies her to teach dance in schools, as well as doing costumes, professional stage management, choreography, sound, and lighting.

“Although my roots are in dancehall, I am now exposed to ballet, jazz, modern, Caribbean traditional folk, and many other genres and techniques of dance. I have learnt a lot about the world of entertainment, and I am doing what I have always wanted to do from I was a little girl at basic school,” said McEwan, who has been entering and winning medals in the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission’s competitions since she was a child.