Music flows from the speakers as he begins to take the stage. His body flings and twist into rhythmic moves, each perfectly synced together. Through his dancing, he is able to get the crowd pumped while also demonstrating his emotions and talent visually. This is what he’s meant to do.   

Senior Darren Simmington was inspired at a young age to start his dancing career, and he has been determined to continue his journey successfully since.

“Well it was honestly just an influence from movies like Step Up, and Stomp the Yard. I’d literally be dancing with the movie at 8 years old. I always danced,” Simmington said.

Dancing has been a way for Simmington to express his inner emotions, and also a way for him to pick himself up from hard times. Through dance, he was able to find who he really was as an individual.

“Most of the time I feel happy. It’s a way for me to express my emotion. It can help me go from sad to happy in a heartbeat but the thing that I most feel when dancing is true to myself,” Simmington said.

The emotions that he manages to express through his dancing are what makes dance resonate with him and truly have an impact.

“Well it has kind of had a huge impact on me. I use it as therapy and I’ve never stopped since. I’ve also met and inspired some good people and kids from this,” Simmington said. “I just want to be able to speak to a higher crowd.”

It is through these people who he has met that he has truly seen what he is capable of doing and has led him to demonstrate his passion to others around him.

“My friends motivated me to dance,” Simmington said. “It was through them that I found confidence to do what I loved, and it makes me feel like I’m always growing and making better progress with my craft whenever I receive compliments. I haven’t received any bad comments yet but whenever that time comes, I plan to let it fuel me to completely manifest into what I’m capable of.”

The motivation and the compliments he receives from peers has led Simmington to share his passion for dance on various social media outlets for the world to see.

“To show and broadcast my talents to another crowd [is the reason I started a youtube channel],” Simmington said. “It motivated me to always come back better, with better content and it’s also very inspiring knowing that there’s someone that is a fan of my craft.”

With his growing influence on social media he has made dancing his dream.

“It’s a dream and I plan to reach it. Dance will be a huge part of my future and I’ll do anything capable of reaching that goal. I just want to leave people in awet,” Simmington said.