Joining late in the game, senior Rez Orosa details her experience with dance, both with breaking in and breaking out. Here are 11 introspective questions about Orosa’s experience within her movement:

What kind of dancing do you enjoy more than others?

“Hip Hop. That’s like the main thing. Because I started with choreographies and not fundamentals. I don’t really know other dance styles well; my fundamentals aren’t great.” Orosa laughs nervously.

Was it easy for you to find others who enjoy dancing when first involving yourself into that space?

 “Yeah, luckily the classes I took were all K-pop based, so we all had that common ground of liking the same music. I got introduced to my sister’s friends, and they were in a dance crew, so I got introduced to their crew. It was pretty easy once you get the kickstart, once you start off with a high.”

How has your relationship with music changed ever since you got into dancing 

“I’ve been able to appreciate the musicality and beats more. I still love music with its lyrics and meanings, but when you listen to the dance and you listen to the back, you kinda hear the producer’s side of it.”

What is the dmv dancing scene like for you?

“It’s really fun. I’m on the ‘younger’ side of it. I think I’m on the younger side of it because a lot of my friends are in college or out of college. It’s very fun. Everyone is open to learning, [and] there are so many different workshops and ways you can network and meet new people.”

Do you prefer doing solos or groups?

“I prefer groups and duos. You have other people that rely on you, and you rely on them. It’s much more dependent on each other. I think it allows you to see different vibes of how people groove and their styles of dance.”

What is your process in learning a dance?

“I learn them whenever I have free time. Luckily a skill I have is that I can pick up choreography quickly. If I watch a dance multiple times I get the basic moves down, and if I want to perfect it, I’ll take some time to really solidify it.”

What are your obstacles in dance?

“Always thinking I’m the worst person in the room, again I started late, and I did not have the basic foundation my friends and other people in my classes do. Feeling as if I’ll never be as good as them because I started late no matter how hard I try. A lot of my friends started with ballet when they were younger or contemporary when they were younger. Mine was just, ‘oh a dance class let’s sign up!’”

Being more independent, what has brought more motivation to you?

“I use it as an outlet. I like doing nails and singing. Dancing is another thing that gave me a challenge that I can keep on learning. No dance is the same; you’re always learning different things, especially because I did not have that foundation.”

Has there been a dance or type of dance that you just cannot do? How has that demotivated you?

“A lot of footwork, especially when it comes to K-pop boy groups. There’s a lot of fast footwork and house shuffling, and I have not been able to pick it up. I have not taken enough classes for me to be fully comfortable learning it on my own. It has been pretty discouraging but also there’s ways I could fix it.

I definitely have thought about doing different styles, I think it’s something more down the road. Luckily with having fundamentals of a kpop style dance, it takes styles of jazz and contemporary. But I definitely want to go more in depth with contemporary.” 

Do you feel like the K-pop community has been harder to break into, or felt like you haven’t belonged?

“There were times where I felt out of place. Especially being southeast Asian with the beauty standards of having to be pale, be thin, have long legs, and tall. It’s very hard to compare yourself, especially when there are many artists my age and younger; it makes it hard to feel connected. 

A good thing about it is that everybody there has the common ground of liking the same music and the dances that come from it. Times that I felt more out of place is the fact that I’m pretty young in the community, being in that community of older people does make me feel out of place. The fact that everybody comes from different backgrounds in terms of body types, race, ethnicity, different types of dance – everybody is coming from different points of their life and when they started dancing. It has been allowing a lot more people to be open to the idea of new people coming in.”

What would you say to someone who would want to start dancing?

“Go to one dance class or watch one dance tutorial, that’s how I started – just watching videos. If you start off on your own, you can’t really fail in front of people, you can just film it and laugh at it later on. Take that step and don’t be afraid of looking stupid. Everybody is so focused on themselves. Be in your own world.”