Praise and Worship Dance Cardio Classes with Professional Dancer and Choreographer Jacqueline Selesky, Episode 167

Jacqueline Selesky is a professional dancer and choreographer. She graduated from Montclair State University with a BA in dance education. She was the lead soloist in Martha Graham's Daughters of the Night, performed at the Joyce Theater in New York City. Jacqueline appeared on Spike Lee's She's Gotta Have it Netflix series, as well as a dancer on the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, Good Morning America, and Live with Kelly and Ryan. And she also appeared in various television commercials. Jacqueline has recently started her own YouTube channel called “Fit for Faith with Jacqueline,” where she streams praise and worship dance cardio classes, and all things fitness, dance and faith. Jacqueline's experiences have allowed her to not only advance her skills as a dancer, but also as a well-rounded performing artist and educator.

Vincent Ferguson:

Well before we talk about your Fit for Faith with Jacqueline YouTube channel, tell my listeners more about you. Where did you grow up, and what was your childhood like?

Jacqueline Selesky:

I grew up in Long Island in a little town called Central Islip. And I actually grew up doing a lot. My mom had me in so many different things. She had me in basketball, Girl Scouts, and I was always doing something after school. And I'm so grateful to my mom for giving me all of these opportunities. Baton twirling too. I'm forgetting things, there's just so much. And then eventually my best friend was doing dance, so my mom allowed me to go with her to dance class. And then from there, dance took over everything. So I stopped basketball, I stopped everything else. And I just fell in love with dancing and performing. And as I grew up in that studio, I was actually afforded the opportunity to perform in Puerto Rico, perform all over the city and in Long Island. So that's my bringing up, is basically dance took over, and it was a blessing.

Vincent Ferguson:

Amazing. So it was the exposure to different activities that led you to dance.

Jacqueline Selesky:

Yeah, it definitely was. I know that everything that I was exposed to was definitely physical and social. And putting all the physical and social together, dance has made the most sense to me.

Vincent Ferguson:

Did you have any role models in the dance world?

Jacqueline Selesky:

Yes. So my dance teacher Jerilyn Diaz, actually. She basically became my sister. She was my role model all throughout my childhood. She basically wanted to be a professional dancer, but she actually ended up being a speech pathologist. So she kind of lived vicariously through me and poured everything into me. And not only did she teach me how to dance, but she taught me how to be confident, how to speak my mind. And yeah, I give a lot to her. Also my mother, she was a single mother. And as I said before, she gave me all the opportunities possible, and just seeing these powerful women in my life just do it, and go for whatever they wanted, and be confident, independent woman, really, really molded me.

Vincent Ferguson:

Wow. Excellent. Excellent. Now has the COVID-19 pandemic affected your work as a dancer in regards to employment opportunities?

Jacqueline Selesky:

Yeah!

Vincent Ferguson:

Really?

Jacqueline Selesky:

Any dancers listening will be like, "Oh yes, please. Open back up." But I mean, I'm grateful that everybody is staying safe. But it's definitely been harder. I have an agent and usually I'm sent on auditions, so I'll be running all over the city auditioning for auditions, being virtual now. Which I don't mind, because living in Long Island, I really don't want to travel to the city. But the energy is different. I'm not able to ... you're not able to connect with a casting director via a video, but it is what it is. And it's actually allowed me to pour more into what I want to do for myself with my YouTube channel. So it's been a blessing in disguise kind of thing.

Vincent Ferguson:

Oh, most definitely. And having a YouTube channel really doesn't hurt, because if anything, it increases your exposure, doesn't it?

Jacqueline Selesky:

Oh, yes, by a lot. Reaching people from all over the world, which is amazing, which you can't normally do just from a dance studio. I love the fact that YouTube has been giving me more exposure, especially during COVID, because everybody's on the computer and on their phone right now.

Vincent Ferguson:

Oh, exactly. Most definitely. And now you call your YouTube channel Fit for Faith with Jacqueline. Now tell my listeners where the name came from and what can they expect to experience participating in your program?

Jacqueline Selesky:

So Fit for Faith came about, it's funny, I wanted to start a YouTube channel six years ago. It's crazy. It's crazy how long we can put something off for, and just dream it up so much. And then the pandemic hit and it was like, well, this is the perfect time to do this. You know? So let me go ahead and just do this channel. And I knew that I wanted to do something about dance. So taking it back six years ago, hold tight. I want to do a YouTube channel about dance. And then over time I was like, well, what would that look like? That's really general. And then I started going to church. I was born again about three years ago.

Vincent Ferguson:

Nice.

Jacqueline Selesky:

And then every time I would go to church service on Sundays, I was actually in a Spanish church. I was the only English speaking person, but hey, the Word is the Word, right?

Vincent Ferguson:

Yes.

Jacqueline Selesky:

So I go to church and they would always throw me in the center during worship, and everybody would just follow me. And I felt like it was a Zumba class, like a dance cardio class but worship music. And everybody was following me and it felt amazing. And I'm like, wow, what if I did a YouTube channel that had dance cardio classes catered toward praise and worship music? And it's a little dose of church on YouTube. And then I can also speak about the word, Bible verses, little devotional videos. And help grow my faith while maybe other people need to do the same thing. And this went on, so that's where Fit for Faith came in.

Vincent Ferguson:

I love it. I love that. Now how important is faith to you, especially in times like these?

Jacqueline Selesky:

Wow. I didn't realize how much I needed to grow in my faith until this pandemic hit. It's like, I mean, we could probably all agree that it feels like it smacked us in the face. And shook us to the core. And it's still doing that. We're trying to navigate and figure out how to live in all of this. And what I realized is that faith is the only constant throughout a pandemic, throughout a breakup, throughout a divorce. Whatever somebody may be going through, that's the only thing that we can really focus on and won't change for us. And what could only happen is it can grow and become even more beautiful. So faith is important.

Vincent Ferguson:

Yeah. I see. I see. And you're able to express it with your YouTube channel. Now, what type of music do you have on the channel?

Jacqueline Selesky:

I try to have a diverse set of music each time I do a dance cardio video, and I call it praise and worship cardio classes. And we'll have gospel, we'll have Kirk Franklin, and we'll put the Bachata and even Merengue and Salsa. It's crazy how many Latin praise and worship songs there are. I'm like, wow, I didn't even know. So many of them. And also what I've been falling in love with is Soca. Soca music for praise and worship songs, I'm like, whoa. They are serious. They're like stomp up in on me. Go to my channel and you'll see what I'm talking about. They are so much fun.

Vincent Ferguson:

Really? Now how long has the channel been around?

Jacqueline Selesky:

I literally only started in August. So it's very new.

Vincent Ferguson:

Yes.

Jacqueline Selesky:

Yeah, I started it on my birthday, I turned... Oh, I'm about to tell my age. I turned 29 on August 27th. And I'm like, you know what? This last year of my 20s I want to hit with a bang, and I want to start this channel and bring more people to the light, to God, to just goodness. You know?

Vincent Ferguson:

Yes, and how long are the classes?

Jacqueline Selesky:

I literally do 20 to 25 minute classes. Because I know a lot of people don't have time to get a big workout in. And you know what? It sometimes only takes 20 minutes to get a nice workout. We don't have to do so much to get what we need and what we want. It's really how much you put into it. And I'm crazy. So on the channel, so as soon as the warmup starts I'm like, it's not really a warm up, let's go crazy. So 20 minutes, that's all we need. And honestly, every day I've been having a 90 day faith and fitness challenge. And in those videos, they're five to 10 minutes long. And I start with the Bible verse and then I give people an action step for your day. Like, open the door for somebody, something just nice to keep you in a good spirit and spread the spirit. And then we always end in a plank while praying.

Vincent Ferguson:

Really? Very cool, very cool. Are these live fitness classes?

Jacqueline Selesky:

So I've done a couple of lives, but most of them are prerecorded and then I post them up throughout the week. But I've been thinking about doing more live videos. So I'm glad that you said that, because I think the connecting with people is what I miss about teaching live classes. So look out for the live classes coming soon.

Vincent Ferguson:

Well once you go live, do you have a certain day and time you'll do that?

Jacqueline Selesky:

I want to do them on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Those are days that might be tough for people. Monday's are always like, ah, Monday, I got to wake up.

Vincent Ferguson:

Right. Right, exactly. Exactly.

Jacqueline Selesky:

You’re dragging your feet Wednesdays, and then Friday is like a celebratory, we may it. So Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

Vincent Ferguson:

Exactly. Would they be in the morning, afternoon, or evenings?

Jacqueline Selesky:

I would love to do it in the morning to start people's days off. And then hey, if they can't make the live version, it'll stay on there so they can catch it later.

Vincent Ferguson:

Right. Okay, so that's something that we're going to look forward to with your live classes. But now if I wanted to find your program, can I go to YouTube and just type in Fit for Faith with Jacqueline? That's how I find it?

Jacqueline Selesky:

Yes. That's all you got to do, is Fit for Faith with Jacqueline and you will see me.

Vincent Ferguson:

Perfect. Perfect. Now who would you say your target audience is?

Jacqueline Selesky:

That's an interesting question, because when you start a YouTube channel, all the videos, prep you say, make sure you are targeting your target audience. And to me, everyone is my audience. That's how I feel. I feel that anyone can get something positive from this channel, whether you just tune in for the videos and we do the little planks and we pray, or we do wall sits and we pray. Or you come in for the dance cardio classes. It's for everyone because the bible is for everyone, and that's what I'm talking about on my channel. And in general, just talking about living positively, spreading light and spreading love.

Vincent Ferguson:

Most definitely. Most definitely. Especially today. Do you see this as like a health ministry and a way to honor God with exercise?

Jacqueline Selesky:

Yes, definitely. Definitely a health ministry. And honestly, I'm just grateful to God that he gave me this because it's allowed me to be creative in how I produce content with dance too. You know? So it's definitely a health ministry, but you can go on there for a party too.

Vincent Ferguson:

Yes. Yes. Now there is a scripture in the Bible about our bodies being the temple of the Holy Spirit, but yet so many people defile the temple don't they?

Jacqueline Selesky:

Yes, so many. And you know what? I was one of them.

 

Vincent Ferguson:

Okay, yeah. There you go.

Jacqueline Selesky:

And I've always been an emotional eater. And I know I'm not only one, but I hid that for so long. I'm like, oh, oh, it's fine. Because nobody can tell because I have a fast metabolism. Let me tell you, when quarantine hits, fast metabolism went out the door.

Vincent Ferguson:

Oh, yeah. Oh, yes.

Jacqueline Selesky:

So it changed. And God giving me this vision to do this channel has helped me be able to stay healthy. Sometimes even though I want to eat crazy and what not, having to show up for him and be on it and do these videos. And it's not just about looking good, but feeling good while I do it, because that shows. People can see, you know? It's definitely helped me to stop defiling my body because you can put in so many ways.

Vincent Ferguson:

How are you promoting your channel?

Jacqueline Selesky:

I've been on Facebook and Instagram a lot. And I also just started a TikTok. I feel very old on TikTok, I'm not going to lie. Like, how do you do this stuff? But I'm learning. So basically on those  social media platforms, and I'm thinking about going on Twitter because I've heard that's a good spot to be. I sound old I know.

Vincent Ferguson:

Yeah. Yes. I mean the key is promoting on every platform that you possibly can to give yourself a nice little boost. And I think Instagram is hands down one of the best, obviously Instagram. The Facebook, the Twitter, the TikTok. Because again, you may feel like that's a younger audience, but trust me, a lot of the people on there and you want to grab as many people as possible. You know? That's great. That's great, and what we'll do, I'll tag you once this comes out and I'll also promote it in Facebook, on Twitter and Instagram. And I'll put it out there as well, because I like what you're doing-

Jacqueline Selesky:

Thank you.

Vincent Ferguson:

... for the people, for everyone. And that's important. Any age can join in with you. Correct?

Jacqueline Selesky:

Any age can join in with me. What's great is that a couple weeks ago my friend wasn't feeling great. Like her back, she's going through something with her back. And she came just to watch the video, because I have a bunch of girls who come and do the dance cardio video with me. And she's like, "Oh, I just came to watch today, my back really hurts." And I was like, hmm, because I'm crazy. "You can sit in the chair and you can do the warmup. And you just do arms." And I said, "I bet there's people out there who can't get up out of their chair and they want to participate, but I'm going all over the place that they feel they can't follow. Now they can follow you in the chair." And what's great is that someone definitely commented and said, "Thank you. This was a blessing that you had the woman in the chair. I followed her along the whole time." So everybody can join in no matter what age.

Vincent Ferguson:

You're right. Just being mindful that everyone, people who are watching you, they may not be as healthy, they may have certain conditions. And like you said, your friend who needed to be in the chair, there are so many other people watching who also are limited in their mobility and needed to see someone like them. That's so important. Awesome.

Jacqueline Selesky:

Exactly.

Vincent Ferguson:

I love it. And you don't have a lot of time on the channel, do you talk about nutrition at all?

Jacqueline Selesky:

I haven't spoken about it so much, I guess because I've been doing 90 days of faith and fitness challenge. So I've been into these little videos that I do every day. But that's something that I'm going to start doing in January, because I'm going to do a 21 day water fast. And I just want to be on the channel with everybody whoever wants to join me in doing that. But also I want to talk about regular nutrition, because that's not a normal thing to keep up every day, right? So just talking about nutrition and how important that is to couple alongside with fitness and then also faith.

Vincent Ferguson:

Oh definitely, because nutrition, believe it or not. And I tell a lot of people this, and as a trainer, that 80% of your health depends on nutrition.

Jacqueline Selesky:

So true.

Vincent Ferguson:

So much. Okay? More than some people realize. Exercise is extremely important, but if you don't have that nutrition component, you're wasting your time.

Jacqueline Selesky:

Exactly. That's exactly how I feel.

Vincent Ferguson:

Yes. And that's good. And you're leading the way, which is awesome. Now, what would you say if I said to you, try to convince someone who's on the fence who needs to do something, needs a fitness program. They're in the church and they're concerned about their health. What would you say to this person if you wanted to convince them to give it a shot? To join your class, come in and see what you're doing and be a part of the program. What would you say to them?

Jacqueline Selesky:

I would say, because I get not wanting to work out. I get being skeptical if it's something you're new to. Because honestly, though I grew up as a dancer, I didn't workout. You know what I mean? I didn't do anything besides dance. So when quarantine hit I was like, I need to workout. My body is starting to slow down and whatnot. This was a great introduction for me, because it allowed me to have fun and forget that I was working out. Especially for people who already go to church, who already hear the praise and worship songs. It's basically like we are in church at a party.

Vincent Ferguson:

Nice.

Jacqueline Selesky:

And we're able to work out and forget that we're working out, until after when you're drenched in sweat. And it's amazing. And my friend said this really good thing one time. She said, "When we dance, we are praising him twice."

Vincent Ferguson:

Wow.

Jacqueline Selesky:

And that just explains it all, because that's what makes you forget about it too. You're in these songs, shouting out, "Amen. Hallelujah." And have fun. Even if you're alone and you forget you're working out.

Vincent Ferguson:

It's like making joyful noise unto the Lord, huh?

Jacqueline Selesky:

Exactly. And honestly, it's one step at a time. Hey, 20 minutes is too much for you, do the first two songs and call it a day. One step at a time.

Vincent Ferguson:

Nice, one step at a time. Now I know you focus on the cardio, do you do any strength training? I know you mentioned planks, which is great.

Jacqueline Selesky:

So we've been doing the planks and we've been doing the wall sit while we pray, which is such a challenge. That's why we call it plank challenge, and wall sit challenge. To pray while we do those things because we literally do need to pray. I’m praying oh my God, please help me through these planks. But as of right now we're just doing the dance cardio and those planks and the wall sits. But as the channel develops more, I would love to do more strength training. I would love to even incorporate stretching and cool downs, and things of that nature.

Vincent Ferguson:

Excellent. Excellent. As you develop your channel you can offer so much more. Amazing. Tell my listeners how we can find out more about Jacqueline Selesky. Do you have a website? Can we follow you on social media?

Jacqueline Selesky:

I'm @Jay2reality, and then my full name for Facebook Jacquelyn Selesky. And I'm new on TikTok, so be kind to me there. But I am at Fit for Faith on TikTok. So everything is basically my name and Fit for Faith. And I'm going to be having a website soon. And I'm also going to be offering private lessons and classes, group classes for anybody who wants to personally meet me and have class one-on-one with me.

Vincent Ferguson:

Love it. Absolutely love it because you are an entrepreneur.

Jacqueline Selesky:

Thank you.

Vincent Ferguson:

Thank you.

Jacqueline Selesky:

I'm trying out here.

Vincent Ferguson:

Oh, you got to. You're doing that. And you're taking the right steps, you're doing the right thing. You're going to build a following, and people are going to be so into what you have to offer them and they will want to work with you. You'll lead the way Jacqueline. This is great. Any final words for my listeners?

Jacqueline Selesky:

I know it's hard right now out there, whatever you may be personally, in your career and your family, but just know God got you. You're going to be okay. And this is the verse I use every day, and you could use this for a man to just switch it to a he. I say, "She is clothed in strength and dignity and she laughs without fear of the future." Proverbs 31:25. We are going to make it. Let's dance our way through this pandemic, and we'll make it to the other side.

Vincent Ferguson:

Awesome. Love it. I'll take those words to heart myself. Thank you so much. Jacqueline Selesky, on behalf of Body Sculpt of New York and Six Weeks to Fitness, I truly want to thank you for coming on my show today.

Jacqueline Selesky:

Thank you so, so, so much for having me.

Vincent Ferguson:

And to my readers and listeners, I truly hope this program was informative, encouraging, and inspiring, and that you will continue tuning in to our Six Weeks to Fitness podcast. And if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions for the show, please leave them on my Six Weeks to Fitness blog at www.sixweekstofitness.com, or email me at [e-mail]. And don't forget to subscribe so you don't miss any future episodes.