Montrealer follows ‘rhythm in his heart’ to dance

“Dance first, think later,” a quote one Montrealer lives by while uplifting the community through dance.

Meet Armel Omatoko, or as everyone calls him, ‘Melo Omat.’ He’s the founder of Uplift514. 

“The energy, really, it’s like, really we’re on like, you know – a different planet!”

He’s been in love with dance for nearly his entire life. His first memory, what he calls grooving with cousins at his little sister’s birthday party when he was just seven years old.

(CREDIT: Melo Omat)

After moving to Montreal a few years ago, Melo says he wasn’t enjoying his job and decided to follow the rhythm in his heart instead.

“It’s interesting, actually cause you know you see people picking up what you’re doing and really enjoying it. So, it’s also empowering. You know it tells you, you must be doing something right,” says Melo with a laugh.

Since 2015, Melo’s been teaching African dance, that meets pop and hip-hop – creating what he calls an Afro-urban choreography for his students.

“There weren’t many Afro dance classes going on, so when I started that, it was also a way for me to you know share my culture and exchange with other people, you know. So, that’s how uplift started.”

When Melo’s not moving in his studio, he’s also working tirelessly to inspire young people in his community at Montreal’s Maison des jeunes l’Escampette, where he’s a youth worker. There, you can catch him creating workshops, helping teens with their homework, and encouraging them to discover dance.

Melo’s goal: to uplift as many people as he can.

“Sometimes you have to step outside of your comfort zone, right? So that was a way for me to just tell people to, you know, dance first and think about everything later, so let’s just try this now in the moment, have some fun, and yeah, the rest comes after.”