SURREY — Tonight, a dream will come true for a Surrey dancer.
Sullivan Heights-area teen Rhys Gutierrez will dance on stage with Canadian pop star Justin Bieber during his concert at Rogers Arena.
She’s one of four local kids to win a contest, dubbed #PurposeTourChildrenVancouver.
This afternoon (Friday), Rhys will rehearse with the Biebs himself at the concert venue in Vancouver.
“I’m nervous but excited nervous,” Rhys, 13, told the Now on Friday morning, moments after she spoke on-air to DJs with KISS 104.9 radio station.
In each city on Bieber’s current tour, four young people (age nine to 15) are selected to dance with the Ontario-born star during the performance of his “Children” song.
Over the weekend, Rhys learned all the dance moves from Bieber’s video and then performed them as fellow Surrey dancer Louis Luzuka filmed the clip.
(Scroll down to see Rhys’ video, along with Bieber’s official video for the song)
“I had to learn the choreo (choreography) off the video, I had to film that and learn it — it was a little complicated,” Rhys told the DJs. “Then I submitted it — I was like, ‘Let’s just put this out, give it a shot,’ and then the next morning, on Tuesday, I found out (I won) and I started crying so much.”
Rhys is a Grade 7 student at Goldstone Park Elementary in Surrey.
She’s a longtime fan of Bieber and his music.
If she got the chance to talk to Bieber for a moment or two, she’d ask him about the music biz.
“I would ask him how he got into the music business, the industry, how long it actually took him and where he found his confidence to do so, because I know it’s hard,” Rhys told KISS radio listeners.
“People will say what they want to say, but at the end of the day, it all depends on what you want to do and what dreams you want to chase.”
Rhys dances with Studio 604 in Burnaby.
Here’s what she wrote as part of her video entry on Youtube.com:
“Since this is one of the first times an artist has ever let the younger generation of dancers have the opportunity to be able to dance and share the stage with one of the biggest names in the music industry, especially for my age range, I really hope to be one of the first and also hope to inspire others in the audience. Plus, how cool would it be to be able to say that you’ve danced with Justin Bieber? It would honestly be a dream come true to share the stage with one of my favourite artists, ever since the beginning. I love every single song that he has ever come out with and I’ll never get tired of listening to them.”
