I grew up as an athlete, going from soccer in kindergarten, to speedskating in elementary and middle school. Lacrosse was the first sport, however, that made me feel alive. I have played lacrosse for about 13 years, and I love the game so much
I love my body and all the things it can do for me. In the past, being an athlete taught me I should lift weights for muscle mass and strength, gain mobility to prevent injuries and stretch to avoid soreness. I hated how working out made me sore, especially when it felt impossible to wobble up the stairs after a lift. I never realized these same steps I hated for so long would help me with my newfound love; dancing.
The first time I knew I liked dancing was back in 2013. I remember it so well; the Disney channel had just released “Teen Beach Movie.” During the commercial breaks, one of the cast members would slowly run through the choreography of the most popular songs, and I loved staring at the TV and copying the moves in my living room (I don’t intend to brag, but I still remember the dance to “Cruisin for a Bruisin”). But I didn’t think much of that moment and continued with my life.
The next time I found myself dancing was my first year of college when I joined K-Tigers (the K-pop dance club) run by my lacrosse teammate Ariel Shweiki. The short choruses we learned proved more complicated than the “Teen Beach Movie” dances, and although they were fun, I never thought I could remember more than a few minutes. Fast forward to the end of my first year, I finally worked up the courage and danced with a few of my teammates for the K-Tigers showcase. We did a mashup of some pieces we learned over the year, and it was so much fun to laugh with them while going through the motions. I was already thinking about what we would do next, but after tearing my ACL in the Fall 2022, I stopped dancing altogether, and I didn’t realize how different my life would be when I had to give up what I now know was the best part of my week: K-Tigers every Tuesday night.
The Spring 2023 performance was the second Dance Pro performance I got to see, but something about this one felt different. Yes, maybe it was the hype around the 75th anniversary show, but I left the auditorium feeling like I needed to be up there. Again, I brushed that feeling off and went on with my life along with many, many hours of physical therapy.
Last semester, I got to study abroad in South Korea, and all the pieces finally fell into place. I was surrounded by such vibrant expressions of emotion through movement and was exposed to beautiful traditional dance and percussion shows. I had a moment where I realized what I had been missing. Losing the ability to play lacrosse for a season showed me I missed moving my body and being active, but not being able to dance showed me I lost the ability to express myself. When I came back to school, one of my teammates and now close friend Bella Kwan told me I should join Dance Pro. I blindly said yes and soon enough, I was standing in the dance studio that same weekend.
My amazing choreographers Jule Kilgore-Reed and Shae Campbell made the most energizing and beautiful dance I could imagine by utilizing different dance genres from the Black diaspora. It was rewarding physically and mentally to know I could learn something like this in such a short amount of time. I grew as a dancer, but more importantly, as a person. I realized I love meeting new people. I am often hesitant to start a conversation, but I enjoy getting to know people. It’s hard for me to take that first step but once I do, I never turn back. Dancing, struggling and sweating together with this team helped me skip that first step. I met so many amazing people and got closer to Bella in a way I never knew I could. We still talk about the performance and joke about busting out moves on the field during a lacrosse game.
I want to push myself to experience things outside of my comfort zone. It was scary to think about performing on a stage where my peers would watch and judge me. I avoided Dance Pro in the past to avoid being seen, but it turns out that if I’m with cool people, I’m happy and I’m having fun, I can look past the initial stress of performing.
Yes, Dance Pro is a time commitment, but so what? It takes maybe two hours of your week, and at the end of the day, it pays off. Fine, you might not be the best dancer of all time, but so what? Dance Pro has opened its arms to dancers of all experience levels for years. Still think you can’t do it? I was in season, I joined a whole semester late, and I had never really danced like this before. If I can make it work, so can you.
Contact Dylan Herbert at dherbert@oxy.edu
