I stand here today having built a career
telling stories through dance I’ve
choreographed my heroes I’ve taught
dance in every corner of the world and
they’ve been put up tours of the likes
of Alicia Keys I mean I built a life I
never thought was possible and
accomplished things that surprised even
me but beyond that the power in this
world of dance is unlike anything I’ve
ever seen it’s the only thing I’ve
witnessed that can impact people felt
intimately who have nothing else in
common the visceral reaction people have
while dancing or even just watching it
it links everyone on this earth in a
real time physical and deeply personal
way so yes I’m a teacher a director and
a choreographer but the way I got here
wasn’t the way you think and before you
think this is another follow your dream
speech
stick with me see since I was very young
I wanted to be a doctor I followed every
expectation of my family I got good
grades I did what I was supposed to my
mother was a nurse with incredible work
ethic so I knew that I wanted to help
people change lives and do important
work my work would be medicine and dance
that would be my daydream see after
college something happened even though I
love medicine I didn’t feel motivated to
jump into med school something held me
back and would not let me move forward I
rationalized in so many ways but really
at the end of it I physically could not
commit to the life I thought I was
supposed to live because when your
calling is so insistent upon you that it
sabotages even your own plans you have
to follow along right so I did I took a
break got a job NIT I still dance and
immerse and dance culture training took
classes but it was a hobby well somehow
I found myself having an aha moment
while on my very first gig see I booked
the
MTV Video Music Awards I mean I was
lucky I was one of two dancers chosen to
be on top of a giant tour bus as it
rolled in front of MTV Video Music
Awards in Radio City Hall with Ludacris
to move be get out the way it was
glorious I mean I had the hot pants I
had the cut-up shirt I had a magnificent
curly fro you couldn’t tell me anything
okay but the building was right my
building was right in front of Radio
City so all of this happened right in
front of my offices okay so as I’m
living my very best life I look over and
in the crowd I see my reality in the
form of my bosses the heads of IT
looking very curiously back at me so
when I’m having this aha moment on top
of that bus I realized wait this is a
job I mean you’re paying me for this the
pure joy of expressing my art it was my
first epiphany that I could do what I
loved that I could be a dancer and
choreographer that I in fact already was
those things and this was just a
manifestation this had been living
inside me all along but I pushed it so
deep and so far back that it had no
choice but to come out as daydreams
throughout my life and what do I mean by
daydreams I’m not talking about
picturing lottery tickets or cars or
take me away escape isms I mean visions
of you doing something you were very
passionate about to the nth degree a
vision of your truest for yourself and
these day dreams aren’t like real dreams
either they don’t just you don’t shake
them off and move on when you’re done
they live inside you they sit in your
marrow and they chase you from the
inside out they persist to give you
hints at what your place in this world
truly is and what actually makes you
happy
not what people tell you happiness is
see I spent a lot of time trying to fit
the mold of what I thought people wanted
me to be I was born in Eritrea East
Africa and my mom and I we fled to the
US to escape war now running from
conflict and stills a sense of fearing
you and you seek stability to balance
that conflict yes and
doctor lawyer nurse engineer stability
and even if you’re not running from
those things and you just want a better
life for your kids and you want them to
have more than what you had this comes
with a tremendous will to succeed I
inherited my family’s work ethic I mean
my mom she was fierce she was a single
mom enrolled at university full-time
working nurse cooking incredible
masterpieces home every night to make
sure I was loved that’s how I grew up so
I understood why they didn’t approve I
mean the practicality comes from a sense
of instability I totally understood I
mean we shared the same valiant values
of course I did and the last thing that
I wanted was to disappoint them in fact
nothing scared me more except for one
thing and that was to not live up to my
own potential it was my greatest fear to
know everything that I was capable of
and to do absolutely nothing about it
so fear was on both sides of the fence
you know when I see my dancers or
students or even artists fighting in a
sweaty room I can see what they’re going
through just by how they dance I see all
the people that told me weren’t good
enough I see their doubts their fears
their battle for identity the fight they
had with someone they’re loved it was
written all over their bodies and how
they move and see dance is not just one
thing it’s not just a career it’s their
livelihood as their ability to eat to
survive and sometimes feels like a
determines our self-worth their
relationships everything hinges on this
one thing and there’s so much doubt of
not involved with it it feels like a
battle for your life sometimes and I’m
trying to help them navigate this at the
same time trying to figure out my own
path
see practicality hid my calling from me
you don’t know that it’s gonna work out
when you jump you just don’t you know
how am I gonna commit to a life to had
no guaranteed success no stability how
do you do that but see I decided early
on that I would tackle it I would tackle
this practicality issue I decided I
would find a way to be practical in
everything that I did so not including
using everything I ever knew or learned
while gaining new skills along the way
for this I mean I stayed up late
creating my own websites I figured out
how to make how to code flash HTML I
built well sites for other people i
freelance I made logos I learned Adobe
Photoshop Illustrator dreaming for
anything that I could at the same time I
discovered this website called YouTube
through my dance videos on there lo and
behold I become the first-ever
choreographer followed online and from
that I’m teaching sharing traveling
everywhere had to build a business under
that from scratch at the same time I’m
designing a streetwear brand for dancers
still t-shirts with hoodies anything
that I could build a brand from that had
partners business plans pitched to
investors all of these things these were
aha moments along the way me figuring
out what I needed to do to be I was
using all of the practical and
experiential knowledge I had inside the
dream of my life and it paid off when I
wanted to be a doctor it was to help
people do important work change lives
well through dance through traveling all
the world teaching through touching
people through powerful shows with huge
icons with big ideas through mentoring
young artists I was doing exactly that
see dance was my medicine the way I
thought I’d get here by being a doctor
that was my fear of instability that was
in my head but see I was still an
anomaly to the world outside of dance
I’d ran to run into folks from college
from time to time and now they’re
doctors and lawyers incredible
professionals themselves and they would
all ask me the same thing are you still
doing that dancing thing
I mean I’d heard it all I’ve heard it
all I’ve had interventions with
concerned family I’ve had multiple sit
downs that get me to see straight and
what I was hearing though wasn’t
hostility it was fear concern and love
but this type of love didn’t help me how
could I get them to see all I’d
accomplished but in their language on
their terms how could I get them to see
what I saw well I was sitting one day in
Starbucks and I got a call from a
well-known artistic director to work on
Michelle
move your body campaign I mean this was
an incredible opportunity is a
collaborative effort with many different
choreographers and I would never see
Michelle but the process was priceless
it gave me a small portion of one of the
most prized currencies in all of
choreography access access here meant
through this director I would also get a
chance at my dream artist on her next
big breakout music video I mean
everybody was vying for a spot I was
honestly really intimidated but the time
for daydreaming was over this right here
this was the real thing so I got to work
I focused my creation time thinking
about not what made me great but what
made me different
and there was nothing more self defining
to me than my culture as an Aryan women
and when she know this video was set to
be a major female anthem so I was super
excited it’s perfect I would research
the iconic women of East Africa because
of strength of the women in my culture
was a legendary thing to me and my
family the resilience of spirit and when
they danced man they got down I mean
they left in the air beating their drums
all ages and they swung their hair and
their neck was so powerful yet so
graceful and feminine but most of all it
was all about the shoulders I mean they
had the syncopation this rhythm it was
like a hit and a shimmy and an accent it
was everything I’d never seen anything
like it except growing up it was
everything the artist asked for and more
it was feminine powerful and universal
the artist loved it she made it a solo
in a video with a hundred dancers I mean
I was ecstatic I was on the ceiling it
was just the intro just the very
beginning but it was mine it was my
mother’s it belonged to every woman in a
legacy I was born to and the video ended
up winning a Best Choreography VMA now
as a lesser contributing choreographer I
didn’t get a Moon Man statue but what I
did get was a phone call from my mother
and she saw that run the world video and
she said wow look at Beyonce she’s doing
our dance and she’s doing this so well
that was everything to me I mean I think
it’s something taboo in my culture and I
used it to represent us and my mom loved
it
that was my moon man everything begins
in a daydream the most flighty of all
things a very definition of what you’re
not supposed to do to be successful but
what they’re missing is the vision isn’t
singular it encompasses not just your
thing but everything that comes it with
it see practicality is the unseen
backbone of your daydream once you jump
you have to figure it all out you have
to pull into many extremely different
sides of yourself that’s the true leap
to be everything you need to be inside
the dream of your life do you know what
your friends your parents your children
do you know what they daydream about
have you ever asked them because this is
who they are see the stigma of daydreams
comes from the idea that time spent and
dreaming could be spent doing but it’s
not a frivolous thing it’s a glimpse
into your truest self and that self
needs you to use every bit of that
incredible brain of yours to make that
dream come true recognize you’re dating
for what it really is don’t just try it
be practical and relentless in your
pursuit use everything you are and
mostly set yourself apart I tell my
dancers dance for the stages you want to
be on not the room you’re in visualize
what your future looks like and find
yourself there because the thing is
we’re not guarantee supportive
recognition that’s not why we do this
there has to be a bigger reason I’m
driving for us stability see is a mirage
here practicality can seem like
stability a lot of times but I’m here to
tell you it’s an illusion because as you
push higher and higher towards your
potential the air gets thinner and
thinner
that’s because a dream is a dream but
your process is the part of that dream
that lives outside in the physical world
it’s a real intangible thing and you can
move it forward with
action you take there are a million
reasons why I should have played it safe
and taking the proven route but my
daydream my calling was too powerful too
insistent and most of all it never shut
down it gave me my life it gave me my
happiness and it helped me find my
ludicrous moment and my Beyonce shake
thank you [Applause]
telling stories through dance I’ve
choreographed my heroes I’ve taught
dance in every corner of the world and
they’ve been put up tours of the likes
of Alicia Keys I mean I built a life I
never thought was possible and
accomplished things that surprised even
me but beyond that the power in this
world of dance is unlike anything I’ve
ever seen it’s the only thing I’ve
witnessed that can impact people felt
intimately who have nothing else in
common the visceral reaction people have
while dancing or even just watching it
it links everyone on this earth in a
real time physical and deeply personal
way so yes I’m a teacher a director and
a choreographer but the way I got here
wasn’t the way you think and before you
think this is another follow your dream
speech
stick with me see since I was very young
I wanted to be a doctor I followed every
expectation of my family I got good
grades I did what I was supposed to my
mother was a nurse with incredible work
ethic so I knew that I wanted to help
people change lives and do important
work my work would be medicine and dance
that would be my daydream see after
college something happened even though I
love medicine I didn’t feel motivated to
jump into med school something held me
back and would not let me move forward I
rationalized in so many ways but really
at the end of it I physically could not
commit to the life I thought I was
supposed to live because when your
calling is so insistent upon you that it
sabotages even your own plans you have
to follow along right so I did I took a
break got a job NIT I still dance and
immerse and dance culture training took
classes but it was a hobby well somehow
I found myself having an aha moment
while on my very first gig see I booked
the
MTV Video Music Awards I mean I was
lucky I was one of two dancers chosen to
be on top of a giant tour bus as it
rolled in front of MTV Video Music
Awards in Radio City Hall with Ludacris
to move be get out the way it was
glorious I mean I had the hot pants I
had the cut-up shirt I had a magnificent
curly fro you couldn’t tell me anything
okay but the building was right my
building was right in front of Radio
City so all of this happened right in
front of my offices okay so as I’m
living my very best life I look over and
in the crowd I see my reality in the
form of my bosses the heads of IT
looking very curiously back at me so
when I’m having this aha moment on top
of that bus I realized wait this is a
job I mean you’re paying me for this the
pure joy of expressing my art it was my
first epiphany that I could do what I
loved that I could be a dancer and
choreographer that I in fact already was
those things and this was just a
manifestation this had been living
inside me all along but I pushed it so
deep and so far back that it had no
choice but to come out as daydreams
throughout my life and what do I mean by
daydreams I’m not talking about
picturing lottery tickets or cars or
take me away escape isms I mean visions
of you doing something you were very
passionate about to the nth degree a
vision of your truest for yourself and
these day dreams aren’t like real dreams
either they don’t just you don’t shake
them off and move on when you’re done
they live inside you they sit in your
marrow and they chase you from the
inside out they persist to give you
hints at what your place in this world
truly is and what actually makes you
happy
not what people tell you happiness is
see I spent a lot of time trying to fit
the mold of what I thought people wanted
me to be I was born in Eritrea East
Africa and my mom and I we fled to the
US to escape war now running from
conflict and stills a sense of fearing
you and you seek stability to balance
that conflict yes and
doctor lawyer nurse engineer stability
and even if you’re not running from
those things and you just want a better
life for your kids and you want them to
have more than what you had this comes
with a tremendous will to succeed I
inherited my family’s work ethic I mean
my mom she was fierce she was a single
mom enrolled at university full-time
working nurse cooking incredible
masterpieces home every night to make
sure I was loved that’s how I grew up so
I understood why they didn’t approve I
mean the practicality comes from a sense
of instability I totally understood I
mean we shared the same valiant values
of course I did and the last thing that
I wanted was to disappoint them in fact
nothing scared me more except for one
thing and that was to not live up to my
own potential it was my greatest fear to
know everything that I was capable of
and to do absolutely nothing about it
so fear was on both sides of the fence
you know when I see my dancers or
students or even artists fighting in a
sweaty room I can see what they’re going
through just by how they dance I see all
the people that told me weren’t good
enough I see their doubts their fears
their battle for identity the fight they
had with someone they’re loved it was
written all over their bodies and how
they move and see dance is not just one
thing it’s not just a career it’s their
livelihood as their ability to eat to
survive and sometimes feels like a
determines our self-worth their
relationships everything hinges on this
one thing and there’s so much doubt of
not involved with it it feels like a
battle for your life sometimes and I’m
trying to help them navigate this at the
same time trying to figure out my own
path
see practicality hid my calling from me
you don’t know that it’s gonna work out
when you jump you just don’t you know
how am I gonna commit to a life to had
no guaranteed success no stability how
do you do that but see I decided early
on that I would tackle it I would tackle
this practicality issue I decided I
would find a way to be practical in
everything that I did so not including
using everything I ever knew or learned
while gaining new skills along the way
for this I mean I stayed up late
creating my own websites I figured out
how to make how to code flash HTML I
built well sites for other people i
freelance I made logos I learned Adobe
Photoshop Illustrator dreaming for
anything that I could at the same time I
discovered this website called YouTube
through my dance videos on there lo and
behold I become the first-ever
choreographer followed online and from
that I’m teaching sharing traveling
everywhere had to build a business under
that from scratch at the same time I’m
designing a streetwear brand for dancers
still t-shirts with hoodies anything
that I could build a brand from that had
partners business plans pitched to
investors all of these things these were
aha moments along the way me figuring
out what I needed to do to be I was
using all of the practical and
experiential knowledge I had inside the
dream of my life and it paid off when I
wanted to be a doctor it was to help
people do important work change lives
well through dance through traveling all
the world teaching through touching
people through powerful shows with huge
icons with big ideas through mentoring
young artists I was doing exactly that
see dance was my medicine the way I
thought I’d get here by being a doctor
that was my fear of instability that was
in my head but see I was still an
anomaly to the world outside of dance
I’d ran to run into folks from college
from time to time and now they’re
doctors and lawyers incredible
professionals themselves and they would
all ask me the same thing are you still
doing that dancing thing
I mean I’d heard it all I’ve heard it
all I’ve had interventions with
concerned family I’ve had multiple sit
downs that get me to see straight and
what I was hearing though wasn’t
hostility it was fear concern and love
but this type of love didn’t help me how
could I get them to see all I’d
accomplished but in their language on
their terms how could I get them to see
what I saw well I was sitting one day in
Starbucks and I got a call from a
well-known artistic director to work on
Michelle
move your body campaign I mean this was
an incredible opportunity is a
collaborative effort with many different
choreographers and I would never see
Michelle but the process was priceless
it gave me a small portion of one of the
most prized currencies in all of
choreography access access here meant
through this director I would also get a
chance at my dream artist on her next
big breakout music video I mean
everybody was vying for a spot I was
honestly really intimidated but the time
for daydreaming was over this right here
this was the real thing so I got to work
I focused my creation time thinking
about not what made me great but what
made me different
and there was nothing more self defining
to me than my culture as an Aryan women
and when she know this video was set to
be a major female anthem so I was super
excited it’s perfect I would research
the iconic women of East Africa because
of strength of the women in my culture
was a legendary thing to me and my
family the resilience of spirit and when
they danced man they got down I mean
they left in the air beating their drums
all ages and they swung their hair and
their neck was so powerful yet so
graceful and feminine but most of all it
was all about the shoulders I mean they
had the syncopation this rhythm it was
like a hit and a shimmy and an accent it
was everything I’d never seen anything
like it except growing up it was
everything the artist asked for and more
it was feminine powerful and universal
the artist loved it she made it a solo
in a video with a hundred dancers I mean
I was ecstatic I was on the ceiling it
was just the intro just the very
beginning but it was mine it was my
mother’s it belonged to every woman in a
legacy I was born to and the video ended
up winning a Best Choreography VMA now
as a lesser contributing choreographer I
didn’t get a Moon Man statue but what I
did get was a phone call from my mother
and she saw that run the world video and
she said wow look at Beyonce she’s doing
our dance and she’s doing this so well
that was everything to me I mean I think
it’s something taboo in my culture and I
used it to represent us and my mom loved
it
that was my moon man everything begins
in a daydream the most flighty of all
things a very definition of what you’re
not supposed to do to be successful but
what they’re missing is the vision isn’t
singular it encompasses not just your
thing but everything that comes it with
it see practicality is the unseen
backbone of your daydream once you jump
you have to figure it all out you have
to pull into many extremely different
sides of yourself that’s the true leap
to be everything you need to be inside
the dream of your life do you know what
your friends your parents your children
do you know what they daydream about
have you ever asked them because this is
who they are see the stigma of daydreams
comes from the idea that time spent and
dreaming could be spent doing but it’s
not a frivolous thing it’s a glimpse
into your truest self and that self
needs you to use every bit of that
incredible brain of yours to make that
dream come true recognize you’re dating
for what it really is don’t just try it
be practical and relentless in your
pursuit use everything you are and
mostly set yourself apart I tell my
dancers dance for the stages you want to
be on not the room you’re in visualize
what your future looks like and find
yourself there because the thing is
we’re not guarantee supportive
recognition that’s not why we do this
there has to be a bigger reason I’m
driving for us stability see is a mirage
here practicality can seem like
stability a lot of times but I’m here to
tell you it’s an illusion because as you
push higher and higher towards your
potential the air gets thinner and
thinner
that’s because a dream is a dream but
your process is the part of that dream
that lives outside in the physical world
it’s a real intangible thing and you can
move it forward with
action you take there are a million
reasons why I should have played it safe
and taking the proven route but my
daydream my calling was too powerful too
insistent and most of all it never shut
down it gave me my life it gave me my
happiness and it helped me find my
ludicrous moment and my Beyonce shake
thank you [Applause]
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