Dance might not be the form that jumps to one’s mind when art is mentioned, but that doesn’t mean it is any less impressive than its fellow forms of art. Winthrop University’s dance department has put on highly applauded shows in the past thanks to the talented performers among the student body.
In honor of Hispanic Heritage Month, the Arts & Culture section wanted to feature one of the newest artists to the dance department, freshman dance major with a concentration in education of Guatemalan descent, Steffan Mayrides.
Mayrides brings with him ten years of experience dancing.
“I took a hip hop class and it just came naturally to me. Since then, I’ve switched, jumped studios and have taken a bunch of other different classes,” he said.
Despite his enjoyment of these classes, Mayrides said he “didn’t truly feel at home anywhere until I started dancing with my high school dance team my junior and senior year because I was able to get a taste of everything that I wanted, and that was when I knew I wanted to keep dancing in college.”
During his 10 years of dancing, Mayrides has been successful in achieving many awards.
“With my [high school] dance team, we placed first in a competition at Fort Mill,” Mayrides said. “It was really nice and surprising because in our team’s history, we’d always come in second and the fact that we finally won first was just like a moment of relief.”
Mayrides continued by talking about the achievements accomplished at dance competitions with the studios he danced at.
“I won my first platinum plus award, it’s like the highest level you can get, pretty much perfect, and we won that because we were all on the same level,” Mayrides said. “We didn’t have someone who was better and was always featured. We were all on the same level dancing-wise and that’s how we won.”
While Mayrides does enjoy dancing, he doesn’t just want to perform. He also wants to teach high school students.
“I would love to be a high school dance teacher and influence kids the way my teachers influenced me and possibly have that ray of light in their day, even if for just one semester, just to make sure they have a safe space and let the students express themselves the way I was able to. And possibly in a new way in which they may have never even thought of,” he said.
Mayrides said that he wants to help students “find their community if they are still looking for it and give them a chance to be on stage and perform and just have fun and…not care what other people think because they can do their own thing.”
In the long-term, Mayrides would “love” to open his own dance studio.
“Owning my own studio is definitely a dream I have or starting a new dance program in a district that doesn’t have one would also be really nice. I can help make the curriculum. I could open up other schools to the idea of having a dance program and how beneficial it could be for them to have one,” Mayrides said.
As a Hispanic artist in the United States, Mayrides has also gotten the chance to be exposed to numerous other cultures.
“Being Hispanic has really taught me a lot about other cultures. My mom’s from Guatemala, so that’s where my Hispanic heritage comes from, and I grew up speaking Spanish and English in my house.
“I remember when I was little, my mom would always play music and teach me how to dance in the kitchen while we were cooking. Especially on Thanksgiving, we would always have our music playing and we’d just
be dancing and singing while basting the turkey and all that good stuff,” Mayrides said.
In regards to the current political climate of the United States, Mayrides feels “like it’s more important for artists of any background to be in the forefront because we have a voice and a perspective that not a lot of other artists do. I believe we could bring light to issues.”
Mayrides shared a personal story that followed the 2016 election.
He watched how his brother, who is classified as a Dreamer (children brought to the U.S. without documentation who are granted the right, under former president Barack Obama’s DACA program, to live in America because it is where they grew up, according to americasvoice.org), react to the election.
“It was a big issue because I was worried for him and his sake. And how my parents would feel about it, because my dad was also, he was born outside of the country…in Uruguay, but he’s white, so he’s also fluent in Spanish as well,” Mayrides said.
“And just seeing them react to the news and seeing who got elected president was very troubling for all of us. I remember we all cried the next morning because…we didn’t expect it…we didn’t know what could come out of it and what it can mean for our family, our community, our people.”
Mayrides continued and said, “Hispanics have more to offer than people think and it’s not just our food and our music, it’s our way of life, how we treat family and put them first and how religion is a big part of our culture as well and how this all accumulates into something magical.
“Yes, you have your blood family, but, like, your pueblo, your neighborhood, is just an extension of that, and I’ve been able to find my neighborhood, my pueblo, here at Winthrop.”
Photo by Kaily Paddie
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