My First Love.

Yesterday, while engaged in casual conversation with someone, I heard one of the most foolish things to ever emerge from a pair of human lips. I had briefly mentioned the fact that I’m a dancer, and they asked how I planned to balance pursuing a career as a professional dancer with my corporate career aspirations (as if that’s SO unheard of). When I explained that I don’t desire to be a professional dancer, and how it’s purely recreational for me, they countered with: “Wow.... I guess I’m just weird, but I don’t understand the point of putting time and energy into something like dancing when you don’t plan on really going anywhere with it or ever making it big.”

Maybe I missed the memo that denounces having hobbies or interests that don’t fall in line with your career. And If I did, no need to forward it to me.

Dancing is something that I’ve been doing since the age of 4. When I was around 3 years old (around that hyperactive toddler stage where you love climbing on things and jumping from one thing onto another), I skillfully managed to traverse mountains of boxes and furniture in our cluttered garage as we were moving from one home to another. All was well, until I tried to channel my inner Spiderman and scale a wall of shelves along one wall of the garage.... needless to say, they fell on top of me and I suffered a concussion, among other bruises and scars. It was at this moment that my mother decided to throw me into gymnastics. I enjoyed it for several months, until my coach pulled my mother aside one day after practice and told her that he could already tell from my height that I would probably be too tall to be a gymnast, so she should probably consider pulling me out before I got too attached to the sport. A few weeks later, she enrolled me in dance classes, and the rest is history. Since then I’ve been dancing on and off for approximately 15 years. I studied at The Conservatory of Fine Arts faithfully up until the age of 10 or 11, and was an active dancer in high school for a number of groups and organizations.

My cousin founded DRC Dance Company in 2004, which is the group I have been the most active and instrumental with for the past 5 years, as both a dancer and choreographer. Even in its short existence, the group has seen some the dance world’s greatest talents come through its ranks as members and leadership, including Chuck Maldonado (dancer and choreographer to the stars, including Pink, Fergie, Ne-Yo, Missy, Usher, Chris Brown, You Got Served, and MTV’s Taking The Stage), Saidah Fishenden (currently dancing with Beyonce on her I Am… Tour), and Glenda Morton (an auxiliary dance legend in the Atlanta area, responsible for creating and shaping a number of the city’s greatest high school dance teams, as well as molding CAU’s Essence into the force that it is today), among a number of others who have gone on to pursue their dreams as collegiate and professional dancers. Being able to watch this group grow from the ground up, and knowing that I’ve had a hand in helping it become what it is today, has been one of the most rewarding elements of my life to date. I look at the people around me and I can appreciate their love for what they do, because I share that same drive and passion for dance. And I’m glad that I’ve been able to transfer that same drive, passion, and dedication to other areas of my life.

THAT, sir, is the point.