I was one of those kids who went to a regular, local junior high school. It just so happens there was a step team that was led by a beautiful man, his name is Mr. O’Neal. He took inner city kids and we taught people about God through step.

Once I traveled around the world and [had] seen what God can do with dance and spirituality, I just knew that that was what I was to do. That was the first time I was able to worship maturely through my body, as opposed to just my mouth. It was the beginning of working from the inside out.

I think dance has taught me to trust the unknown and trust what my body can do without the limitations of my mind telling me what I can’t do. The mind and body is one, but it also can be, of course, a battle between the two because there’s something that you’re receiving from yourself, and there’s a greater you inside of you that is being slowly developed and expressed through your own voice.

And that feeling, that worship for me, that spirituality, and the fact that it’s a language I don’t have to say anything but it’s felt, allows me to be my most authentic self without it being forced. Or without me trying to be something in society.

We are athletes, we lift bodies, not weights, and society is constantly distracted by the tights worn oppose to the strength beneath the garments. Hip Hop and B-boys are the acceptable “get out of jail free” card for men who dance. And based on American culture, when you are in the commercial dance world, in order to be a popular brand to advertised, you have to fall under those two categories. But I feel I’m trained to be ambiguous so that I can reach humanity, not just sell a brand.

Your sexuality is seen before the art of the anatomical body. And, although I’m gay, my straight friends who trained with me constantly had to defend their sexuality and machismo, because they had the ability to engage with a more gentle quality of movement outside of masculinity.  Their vulnerability was chastised and seen as a sign of weakness, instead of a sign of strength.

I want people to learn to be themselves. That there’s room for you to be who you are, especially being a male. Although we’re all men, we all want to be a different type of man and be strong and it’s just like, just be what your heart offers. And don’t try to look for something but just be able to receive everything through a medium from man to man.

What we need today in the world is more forms of communication, and dance is definitely that for myself and a lot of people. It’s not easy to always just open your mouth and say what you feel. But it is very easy to emote that through your movement.

I have a lot of male students that are comfortable in the classroom and on stage but in their everyday lives, they don’t really feel like they have a chance just because they’re so privy to want to prove themselves to the outside world and society has deemed masculine or a man. And I feel like that’s not necessarily true. Being a man is a self-defined thing and it’s different for each guy. I feel like you yourself define who you are. “You can only be yourself because everyone else is already taken.”

I’ve realized over the years people are different and I can’t allow myself to be responsible for what somebody else thinks and/or feels about who I am as a man. That’s not my job or my concern. Dance has helped me love the man that I am. Whether it be a day where I have to be super strong or proud or a protector or a lover. It has allowed me to be free with my inner self and love every part of me. There’s no right or wrong to being who you are.

I feel like sometimes, especially coming from a strict ballet background, [men] get labeled as a tool a lot of the times just to show off the girl; you’re there to look nice in your tights and costume and make sure the girl stays on her “box.” But a lot of the times, we have to diminish our art so that we are an asset to someone else.