About Us

EJ’s Dance Studio is owned and run by Evens (“EJ”) Joseph – a husband, father of five, and talented instructor and performer. EJ combines his infectious warmth and creative movement with his desire to improve the community. This provides even his most nervous students with a feeling of relaxation immediately upon entering his studio – where he makes them feel both comfortable and encouraged, as he shares his gift of dance with them.

EARLY YEARS: Born and raised in Haiti, EJ loved to dance even before he was born. When his mother was pregnant, music made pre-baby EJ motion about in her belly continuously. As a child, his passion for dancing only expanded. As a young boy, EJ taught his parents’ friends
steps to folkloric music and performed dances for house guests. At 10, he taught local youth different dances and staged group performances. At 16, he started teaching Latin and ballroom dancing at a studio and dance club. He recalls spending five glorious hours a day teaching and dancing – this young man was unstoppable. At 24 years old, with the help of his stepmother, EJ moved to Miami. With an invitation to dance with Noche Latina in Boston, he was able tour with the group for three years, performing in Boston, New York and throughout the Northeast.

COMMUNITY SOLUTIONS THROUGH DANCE: While acclimating to America, EJ noticed a problem in the dance clubs: some men were tending to start fights. He realized the problem stemmed from the fact that many men do not know how to properly ask a woman to dance, nor do they know how dance with them. “I can change this,” he thought. EJ started an open dance class at a local club, teaching Compas and Pasada – “come early,” he said, “and I will teach you
two steps.” As these men began to learn the steps and the etiquette that goes along with it, behavior began to radically improve at one club. Soon, word spread, and EJ’s teaching expanded through the clubs like wildfire.

As a gifted dancer, teacher and communicator – with an ever-affirming approach to his discipline of dance and to life, EJ began to see how he could use the power of dance to have a positive,
transforming effect on individuals and communities. He believed that his abilities to dance, teach and influence others was a calling, and that he could touch communities in profound and meaningful ways – far beyond the dance floor.

He took his talent to Dorchester, where he opened his first dance studio. It was no accident that he studio was geographically located on a busy corner of a low-income neighborhood, known for high traffic, violence and gun shootings. When cars continually stopped at the busy traffic light, they would peer into EJ’s studio, where the door would be intentionally opened. All who passed by could hear the upbeat and infectious music and witness the fun and positivity spilling out from EJ’s studio onto the corner. The local police took notice. They launched a partnership with EJ, practicing grassroots
community policing in and around the studio. Officers began educating dance students and others nearby, explaining how to best behave around law enforcement and how the police can help them. EJ began inviting other influencers – such as business leaders and elected officials, all of whom came to his studio to connect to the community. The studio grew as an increasingly 2 popular destination with a dual purpose – a place where you could learn some dance steps, and a  gathering location for community, unity and conversation!

TODAY: EJ moved to progressively larger studios, until he arrived at his current location in Brockton in 2019. Today, he offers his dance services at special events and corporate gatherings, where he gets everyone moving -- even to those who are wheelchair-bound in nursing homes.

Through his EJ Dance Studio, at minimum, he teaches close to 500 students each year a variety of dances, including Kizomba, Salsa, Pasada, Cha-cha, Rumba, Folklore, Compas/Konpasachik,
Merengue and Bachata. EJ’s students not only learn dance steps and how to move to the music’s rhythm, but they also learn to reduce their stress, raise their self-esteem, burn off some calories and most importantly, enjoy themselves. EJ knows how much dance has been life-changing for him, and when you walk into his studio, perhaps with a bit of trepidation, he is known to put you immediately at ease, and to easily show you how the beauty of dance can change your life, too.