Roberson displays dancing skills

When students acquire a particular flair for a certain hobby, school-related activities like volleyball, forensics or Scholars Bowl first come to mind. However, Silver Lake High School showcases many students with extraordinary talents in and out of school. Sophomore Austin Roberson has received national attention for his unique talent.

Although he participates in several SLHS activities, his most prominent passion is dancing.

Roberson has exhibited exceptional dancing skills since second grade when he began to dance under the advisement of his sister, senior Val Roberson. He developed a fondness for it and decided to continue.

"I first pursued dance when my sister told me that she thought I'd be good at it, so I went to watch one dance class and decided I wanted to start," said Roberson.

Roberson dances with his sister in the highest class at the Dance Factory. He participates in jazz, hip-hop, tap, ballet, street jazz and funk. His favorite type of dance is jazz.

"My favorite would have to be jazz because you get to move and turn," he said.

Even though Roberson loves to dance, he still has a least favorite: ballet.

"My least favorite would probably be ballet because it is hard and really challenges everyone. You could be an amazing dancer and ballet would still be the hardest," said Roberson.

He has been enrolled at the Dance Factory for 10 years. Now that he is in the highest class, he has several responsibilities.

"My responsibilities at the Dance Factory are to learn choreography and be able to perform it well. Also, I must increase my ability and my performance ability, as well as being a role model for the younger students there since I am a student teacher," said Roberson.

Because of his passion for dance, he and his family traveled to Los Angeles, Calif. this summer so he could try out for Tremaine, a national dance company. Roberson performed a dance routine in front of judges.

"We flew to L.A. to audition for this company. We learned a quick jazz combo. You have to pick it up really fast. We performed it in front of four judges. They critiqued you, and I found out about a month later that I made it," said Roberson.

While in the Tremaine Company, Roberson will travel to several cities across the United States. He plans to travel to Orlando, Tulsa, Los Angeles, New York City, Indianapolis, St. Louis, Kansas City, and Houston. He is ecstatic about his eminent trip to Houston.

"Houston is one of the biggest cities with the most people that the Tremaine Company goes to. I'd have to say I'm pretty excited. I'll get to perform in front of a lot of kids. I like big audiences, small ones as well," said Roberson.

Roberson's audition and acceptance into this national company have encouraged him to further his dance career.

"It took a lot of confidence to go and audition. I feel that getting accepted into this group has influenced my dance career a lot. I'm really excited that I get to travel around the U.S. and help other dancers learn just like I learned," said Roberson.

He hopes Tremaine will allow him to influence younger dancers and to develop his dancing skills.

"My goal is to influence my dance career. Make you better. Give you teaching experience and learning experience as well. When you dance at these conventions, they teach really quickly and being able to pick up the choreography is important," said Roberson.

On his journey to dancing success, Roberson has had to overcome some obstacles. The most obvious obstacle is being a male in a female-dominated sport.

"Usually it's fun hanging around a bunch of girls. Sometimes they have mood swings, but it's usually fun, and they're usually nice. Not always, but most of the time. And I can learn a lot of stuff about dance because most of the seniors are better than I am," said Roberson.

Although dancing occupies much of his time, Roberson still participates in hobbies include acting, serving as the drum major in the SLHS band, and leading the school musical as Emile de Becque in "South Pacific."

He said he takes his drum major responsibility seriously.

"It feels like everyone is depending on me to start and end the songs the right way," he said.

He also described the sensation he feels while acting.

"When I am on stage performing, sometimes I get an adrenaline rush, especially when I'm in front of an audience. Usually I'm pretty comfortable and relaxed once I start speaking," he said.

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