Nhee Vang is a second-year master’s student in the Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences studying College Student Affairs. His philosophy on life is believing in hard work and helping others. He enjoys playing volleyball and basketball, traveling the world and eating different cultural foods.
I will always be a b-boy. Break dancing not only changed my life, it shaped it.
I moved from a small city to a bigger one when I was 11 years old and finishing up my 5th grade year. It was hard to adjust to city life with more people than I was used to. It was even more difficult making new friends. When I started middle school, most people I knew were joining clubs or groups they were interested in, like band, choir, science, math, or a sport. It was a hard time for me. I felt depressed and lonely. I didn’t know what I wanted to do. I didn’t know what I really liked and didn’t know what I would be good at. I didn’t have any confidence in myself.
But by the end of my 6th grade year, there was a new student, Bobby, who just moved from California and transferred to my school. I was too shy to talk to him but I could tell he seemed lost and probably felt lonely too. I noticed that he usually stayed late after school. I thought he stayed late to study so I decided that I should stay late as well. I remember from outside the hallway, I heard funky dance music. I followed the sound all the way to the end of the school where I saw Bobby doing what looked like dancing, but I wasn’t sure. He turned down the music, smiled at me, and asked, “Want to learn?” I didn’t know what he was talking about but I replied, “What am I learning?” He said, “break-dancing.”
I didn’t understand what break-dancing was, so he showed me. He was spinning on his head, doing flips, walking on his hands, and finishing it off with a pose. It looked awesome. He moved so fluidly and was so smooth. I wanted to try it and I wanted to learn. I felt like this was something I could do. But Bobby was very honest and clear with me and said, “If you’re going to break dance, you’re going to need to learn the basics. It’s going to be time consuming and hard since you have to develop your body, but I guarantee you, with time and patience, you’ll be able to do it.”
From then on, I practiced every day after school. I would stretch, lift a few weights and learn to control my body’s center of balance. Break-dancing was hard and challenging. I didn’t learn my first b-boy move until after three months of practice and training. However, during that time, I had the opportunity to build my self-confidence. It was fun and exciting. At the end of 6th grade, I was part of the talent show with Bobby and we won 1st place.
I found my confidence. I learned to have fun. I learned to appreciate music and dance. I practiced break dancing all through middle school and high school. I was able to join dance groups and be part of musical productions. Learning to break dance was a big challenge, but I was able to apply it to my own life. All the adversities and challenges I faced, I was able to overcome with time, patience and the willingness to try. Putting hard work and effort into something that I enjoyed helped me realize my own passion for learning.
It’s been years since I have practiced but whenever I hear music, I will definitely break it down.
