Dance speaks to my soul because I think it is a celebration of life itself. Like many other art forms, its origins cannot be easily traced, as it is rooted deep within us as human beings. When I am dancing, especially with others, I feel so connected to everyone around me, and nothing brings me closer to people than sharing the art form I love with them. Dance has always been a way to communicate feelings, ideas, and stories without words. Whether in the courts of French royalty or on the very spiritual grounds of West Africa, dancing has always been a way to express human creativity and life. There is something so deep about being able to communicate with others without words, and it cannot be replicated. I want to help share the love I have for dance through my performances, teaching, and outreach. I feel like dance and art have been phased out of popular culture due to the desensitization of modern-day media and their importance not being spread. The arts are consistently underappreciated, and I want to share my passion to help regular people see the value that dance has, because it is tied to who we are as people. It’s easy to miss, but when a group of people dances with one another, it is very difficult not to smile. Dance is inherently tied to a sense of joy, connection, and belonging, and I think that is something that anyone could appreciate. So even if it is a handful of people, I want to continue to share the joy of dance that we sometimes lose.

I am pursuing dance as my career because it fulfills something in my soul that nothing else in this world can satisfy. In my opinion, there is an artist in everyone. Humans have evolved to become creative, inventive organisms, and art in any form is a representation of this creativity. The creativity in me must be able to express itself for my soul to be satisfied. Sharing my passion for what I do and what I love and meeting people with the same passion as me has been one of the most rewarding experiences in my life. Additionally, I want to be able to continue to meet more and more people and dance communities around the globe. Every culture has its expression of dance, and exploring these communities as I get older has always been a goal and dream of mine. While I am currently only a freshman in college at George Mason University, I have been blessed to have experiences that help me work towards my goals. So far, I have been able to work with Christopher D'Amboise, a permanent faculty here, on his new work Twist as a cover for the piece. Additionally, I had the opportunity to work with Robyn Mineko Williams as a cover in her piece Cloudline in a ten-day residency at GMU. Both of these works premiered at our annual Gala. Additionally, I've had the opportunity to meet and connect with a variety of alumni and work with many student choreographers. I'm so grateful to be here, and I cannot wait to see where GMU will take me in the future.

Dance is life. This is a vague statement, but it is true for me. Even though I didn’t think I’d dance, dance is what I do now. It has given me a freeing outlet to explore my creativity, artistry, and body. Nothing else in the world gives me such liberty when I'm moving my body. I’ve come to understand myself so much more because of dance. Self-awareness, physically and mentally, is important to me, and I’ve explored both facets of myself because of dance. For me, dance isn’t just a pastime; dance is a relationship one needs to invest time, effort, and often money into. Dance can be tedious, and sometimes we don’t get along. My relationship with dance cannot be perfect all the time; there are periods in which I want to leave. But it’s unhealthy to leave during rough patches, so I stay. Even though it gets hard, the freedom that I have when I am dancing is something that I realize I cannot live without. Dance has become my life, and it is undoubtedly my greatest passion. Unfortunately, it has been outside factors that have made dance more difficult for me. I am a mixed kid with a black mom and a white dad, and often it feels like I’m not black enough to be black, or white enough to be white. This sentiment also resonates with my experience in dance. I’m judged for not being the best hip-hop dancer, or not having crazy legs or technique. I’m generally solid across the board in aspects of dance, but I’m not amazing in one or two areas. Not having qualities or mastering styles that are associated with certain races makes me an outlier. Also, being a person of color makes me feel as if I must work twice as hard as some of my peers who are white. While many people do not intend to discriminate, it happens without one’s thought. For example, at a convention this year, the teachers tended to favor dancers who were white over those who I and many of my peers thought were technically better or had a better performance quality and were of color. While the teachers may not mean to pick out white dancers over those of color, it happens unintentionally. While one dance convention in high school may not affect my career, many people have underlying biases, and I need to work harder than white dancers to have a chance of equal opportunity. Despite these struggles, one day I want to be able to perform outside the country, and I want to choreograph for many companies. I know God is going to lead me where I need to go, so I'm not too worried about the problems that may lie in the path set for me.

For some context, none of the movements done in the video is choreographed. I believe that true creativity stems from the self and the connection we share with others, making it authentic and genuine for an audience member. Improvisation forces me and my friends to tap into our deepest selves to create something genuine, real, and unique to that moment in time. I asked my friends surrounding me and my partner to react to what we were doing in the center; this reaction can be a literal one or a reaction can be the opposite. Seeing their decisions added to the layering of the improvisation we made in the space.

One change I would make in the world is the elimination of the unjust treatment of animals. Prior to human dominance, our planet thrived with a natural balance governed by various animal species. Sharks swam clear waters, foxes and birds roamed and soared freely, and polar bears roved vast ice caps. Unfortunately, with the advancement of human technology and population growth, both direct and indirect impacts on many animal species have become evident. Why does society elevate certain animals while disregarding others? Many animals lack the complex emotional processing like humans. They cannot discern when they are subjected to exploitation. However, this lack of awareness does not excuse the unjust treatment of the diverse species we share the Earth with. An illustration of this is the use of animals by companies for product testing. If it is deemed unethical to test potentially hazardous products on humans, then why is it considered acceptable to do so on unsuspecting animals? The practice of testing on mice, rabbits, horses, dogs, and other animals is unfair and ethically dubious, yet society has accepted it. Moreover, the expansion of the human population has indirectly inflicted harm and injustice upon countless animal species. Our interconnected world now spans continents, but it wasn’t like this for thousands of years. Human expansion has led to habitat destruction, the displacement of numerous species from their homes, the loss of critical keystone species vital for ecosystem balance, and the pressure on animals to adapt to our presence. Over one-third of our forests have been lost (Our World in Data), and in the last 500 years, human activity has driven approximately 869 species to extinction (Springbrook Nature Center). Many more species teeter on the brink of extinction each day, a reality that should stir collective unease. Without getting too religious, God did not put us on this Earth to storm in and take over the planet while driving everything out.. Rather, I believe we are here to learn to coexist harmoniously—not only among fellow humans but also with nature, the environment, and other species. Sadly, achieving this harmony has eluded us thus far. Even if we cannot seem to get along with one another, we need to learn to take care of what remaining life we have on Earth, and not take what we have around us for granted. That is why if I could make one change in the world, it would be to end the unjust treatment of animals.

We were down to one stock each, which was a close match. Ultimately, it was one combo my best friend performed to end the game. We sigh deeply from holding our breath for too long and immediately hop into the next match. The game hooked us. We may have been playing this game for the past three hours, but we are as addicted as we were when we started. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is my favorite Nintendo game in co-op mode of all time. Today, it may be an older game (which is so hard to think about), but when I played it for the first time with my friends for the first time, it was an experience I may never get again. Experiencing a new video game for the first time is a magical experience. Whether it was Breath of the Wild, Hollow Knight, Persona 5, or Animal Crossing: New Leaf, playing these for the first time brought back some of that childish wonder that I always seemed to want in my life as I grew older. Experiencing this excitement for a new game with my closest friends was so exciting. I played Super Smash Bros. Ultimate with my best friends for the first time at one of their houses, in this little gaming room with only a few controllers and a smaller-sized T.V. Despite this, it was some of the most fun I've had playing a game not only by myself but with my friends. Even today, many years later, some of us are in college, and others are in New York City, but when we are together, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is a game we will almost always rush to just because of how much fun we have playing it together. Each time we play, it brings back some of that childish wonder.