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Dancer for world-famous popstars takes a dance-off with prejudices by studying at CBS

young man sitting outside CBS

“Initially, I was a bit skeptical about whether I could find the time to juggle my dancing career with studying for an online course," says Nicky Andersen. (Photo by Mette Koors)

He started dancing at the age of four, inspired by Michael Jackson music videos. Now, nineteen years after he began moonwalking in front of the TV as a toddler, Nicky Andersen is a professional dancer and choreographer. He has danced with Taylor Swift, Shakira and Jason Derulo and, by the way, he’s studying online at CBS.

Study Start |   02. Sep 2020

Kasper Christensen

Journalist

With nearly a quarter of a million followers, 4.5 million likes on his TikTok profile, and his name on the cast list for the remake of Disney’s Aladdin as well as several national and global dance competition titles under his belt, you might think that Nicky Andersen has achieved his goals.

However, although he is very proud of his many achievements on the dancefloor, he is a very curious and inquisitive person who prioritizes constantly becoming wiser – especially in the realm of business.

But how does he manage to reconcile his professional dancing career with studying for an online HD at CBS? And why is it so important for him to keep building up his knowledge? CBS WIRE has called him up for a little chat. 

“Dancing is my calling in life”

When watching his dancing videos on TikTok, you can clearly see how much Nicky Andersen loves moving his arms, legs and hips. And according to the 23-year-old dancer and choreographer himself, he has never once doubted what to do with his life.

“I’ve been dancing since I was four years old, and always dreamed of dancing on the major stages with some of world’s biggest artists. So I’ve always been aware that dancing is my calling in life, which has made me very determined to reach that goal,” he says.

With dancing as his mission, he also achieves more than just acknowledgement and fame. Dancing gives him plenty of personal benefits as well.

“Dancing fills me up with joy and confidence. It provides me with new friendships and a lot of hard work. Dancing is a pretty competitive industry because there are so many dancers out there,” says Nicky Andersen and continues:

“However, that’s actually one of the things about my work that I love the most: the competitive aspect that forces you to constantly train and work hard in order to stand out from the crowd.”

And speaking of “standing out from the crowd” – that is one prime reason why he enrolled at CBS last year.

“There are many prejudices about dancers”

After taking a single course at the Copenhagen Business Academy back in 2018, Nicky Andersen developed a taste for more knowledge about economics and business theory, and enrolled himself at CBS, where he began studying HD online.

“I’ve always been interested in economics. But I chose to study for an HD at CBS not to get my degree certificate, but for the sole purpose of increasing my economics and business expertise,” he says.

I chose to study for an HD at CBS not to get my degree certificate, but for the sole purpose of increasing my economics and business expertise

Besides his thirst for knowledge, it also seems he has an underlying reason for applying to CBS.

“There are many prejudices about dancers, and one of them is that we’re an ignorant race who really can’t do anything but dance. So, for me it’s important to disprove such assumptions while at the same time assuring myself that I can do anything I want to,” says Nicky Andersen.

For a year now, Nicky Andersen has been studying online at CBS. But grappling with a time-consuming career and studying on the side can sometimes be challenging for him, which was especially evident when his studies began.

 

“Initially, I was a bit skeptical about whether I could find the time to juggle my dancing career with studying for an online course. I was already working countless hours on training, making choreographies and mailing invoices on behalf of my one-man business,” says Nicky Andersen and goes on:

“Nevertheless, since HD is a pretty flexible online education in the sense that I can study whenever it fits my schedule, I’ve found a way to make it work.”

Influencer platform

Although Nicky Andersen says that his degree certificate does not mean much to him, he points out that he hopes his education can provide him with some important and useful tools for his dancing business.

“In the long run, I would like to implement my CBS skills in my dancing career. I already have my one-man business, but I would like to make something bigger, such as a dance studio or the like,” he says and continues:

“But at the moment, I’m actually working with a partner on launching a dancing and influencer platform. I already have a profile on TikTok with over 200,000 followers. However, if we can move some of those followers over to a new platform and get some other great dancers on board, then we can perhaps begin marketing dance for music labels, clothing brands and so on.”

“Therefore, I’m hoping that the things I’ve learned about business economics at CBS can be useful for that,” he says with a smile in his voice.

In 2019, Nicky Andersen was an assistant choreographer for Disney’s remake of Aladdin. (Photo by Mette Koors)

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