José “Hollywood” Ramos left Lynn in 2006 to pursue his dream of becoming a famous dancer and choreographer. Less than 10 years later, he danced on stage next to Jennifer Lopez at the 2015 American Music Awards.
Ramos, a Lynn English graduate and former North Shore Community College (NSCC) student, has now choreographed dance routines for celebrities like Beyoncé, Nicki Minaj, and Rihanna. Long before that, he was a kid in a new city who loved to dance.
As a child, Ramos watched pop stars like Prince, Paula Abdul, and Janet Jackson perform on television. At the age of six or seven, Ramos knew that he wanted to follow in their footsteps. His mother, Helen Pared, noticed his interest and started taking him to dance classes.
“After that, it just kind of took off on its own. It was something that I was passionate about, and I did it. I breathed it. I danced all through middle school, through high school and college,” Ramos said.
In 1999, Ramos and his mother moved from New York City to Lynn. Ramos, who described himself as a shy kid, made himself known to his peers as “dancing José” after he hopped into the center of a dance circle at the school dance.
“Everyone started becoming my friend and knowing that I was the one that dances,” Ramos said.
After graduating Lynn English in 2003, Ramos majored in Liberal Arts at North Shore Community College. He also worked as a choreographer for Lynn English High School Dance Team and as the cheerleading choreographer for all four Lynn high schools. At the same time, he worked as a Lynn YMCA counselor and a teacher at JOI Childcare to make ends meet.
All the while, Ramos spent his college years building his dance career. He won a spot at Monsters of Hip Hop, a dance convention based in Orlando, Florida, where budding dancers meet some of the industry’s top-notch choreographers.
Through Monsters of Hip Hop, Ramos earned a 10-class scholarship at New York’s Broadway Dance Center (BDC). He said that he worked janitorial roles at BDC so that he could afford his dance classes.
“I remember cleaning bathrooms and dressing rooms at Broadway Dance Center in New York City at a time when I was going from Boston to New York every weekend. It was all so I could pursue my dream of dance part-time while I was at North Shore,” Ramos said.
Ramos auditioned for a dancing role for the upcoming artist Lil Mama in 2006, prompting his move to Los Angeles that summer. With little to nothing in his bank account, Ramos said he went all in on his dream.
“I was kind of couch hopping, then paying the minimum that I could for rent and sleeping on a futon for seven months. But I knew that I wanted to go somewhere with my career and I had no second option — I had no second plan, so I had to execute it,” Ramos said.
After going on tour with Lil Mama and Chris Brown, Ramos started uploading dance videos on YouTube and gained a significant online following. In August 2009, Ramos booked the only dancing role on Rihanna’s “Rude Boy” video. That fall, he also secured a dancing role on her “Last Girl On Earth Tour,” which developed into an assistant choreographer position.
Ramos’ work with Rihanna put him on the radar as a professional dancer and choreographer. When Beyoncé released her 2013 self-titled album, Ramos began creating dance routines to the soon-to-be hits “Partition” and “Yonce.” Beyoncé’s Creative Director Frank Gatson called him and booked Ramos as the pop star’s choreographer.
As Ramos continued to share his work, managers for stars like rapper P Diddy and Nicki Minaj began reaching out to book him for choreography. After landing a position co-producing Jennifer Lopez’s performance at the 2015 American Music Awards, Ramos decided to make his dance routine with Lopez his last dance performance.
“That was the last time as a dancer, I decided. After that, my career blossomed and I was able to work with different artists as a choreographer,” Ramos said. “I wanted to end on a high note before I transitioned to being a professional choreographer.”
Ramos’ 2015 performance marked the high point of his career as a dancer, but one of the lowest points in his personal life. Ramos’ mother died shortly after the performance. He said that he remembered his last call to his mother, a FaceTime call during rehearsals.
“She just mentioned how proud she was of me and it was a moment that I’ll never forget because it finally happened. She saw all her hard work — leaving her job when I was small and like taking me to all those dancing classes and auditions […] she poured out so much to me, and she finally got to see it pay off,” he said.
Ramos said that the loss of his mother hit him the hardest during the pandemic, when the world slowed down and he had time to process his grief. After sleepless nights and a bout of depression, Ramos’ love for dance ultimately pushed him through.
He continued choreographing and posting his dance routine videos on TikTok — one of which went viral with 4.4 million views and landed Ramos a spot on The Jennifer Hudson Show.
Most recently, Ramos tried his hands at filmmaking. His short film “Stage Mom,” about a mother who stops at nothing to provide for her daughter, premiered at the TCL Chinese Theaters in Los Angeles. Ramos said that the film will soon be available on Tubi, Amazon Prime, and YouTube.
Ramos now travels the country each weekend teaching Hip-Hop dancing with the organization Artistic Exchange. He said that he hopes to return to Lynn for a visit the next time he is in the area.
“It’s inspiring that I can be an example for other people that come from smaller towns that if you have a dream, to continue to pursue it,” Ramos said. “There were a lot of people that told me that I couldn’t do it, but with hard work and determination, it eventually paid off.”
