Today we’d like to introduce you to Santiago Villarreal.
Hi Santiago, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I was born and raised in Monterrey, Mexico. I have always been interested in dance and other art forms since I can remember. However, I did not start dancing until I got to High School and joined Prepa Tec Dance Team. This was the beginning of a new journey that I never expected.
I started dancing hip-hop and just that, after some months, we decided to go compete and attend a dance convention in where I was “forced” to take Jazz and contemporary classes. Little did I know that I was going to fall in love with every dance form. I remember feeling an overwhelming amount of joy by just moving, dancing and sharing for a whole weekend. The next day when I came back to the studio I told my professors I wanted to take all of the classes and started to train in Jazz, Contemporary and Ballet. I was a very intense kid and since I started dancing at 16, I felt that I had to catch up and be better every day. I remember staying until after hours to stretch and train, I would go home and continue stretching, show up early to rehearsals, and I would ask so many questions. I wanted to be better and dance was becoming something more than just a passion for me, I started to need it in my daily life. My senior year of high school, I remember I really wanted to study dance and I wanted to go to the US for that. I do not come to from a wealthy family and applying to schools outside of Mexico can be very expensive, also my dad really wanted me to be an engineer or to study something that was going to give me money and a “better” lifestyle.
When I told him I wanted to be a dancer, he wasn’t super supportive at first, but he knew how much I wanted it and how hard it is to get in into a dance program in the US so he allowed me to pick just one school and to go audition for it and if I made it then we would talk about it and see. I chose Chapman University and trained all year for this audition. When I went to Chapman and auditioned, I remember feeling that this was it, this was where I needed to be. After a couple of months, I got my acceptance letter and I remember I cried for days! My dream was coming true. I got a scholarship and my dad saw that I made everything possible so he supported me and helped me all the way. Chapman gave me the most amazing four years o my life. I learned so much from my peers, professors and guest teachers. I fell in love even more with dance and academia. I was pushed as a dancer and as a choreographer and I felt I had the support from everyone around me to fight for my dreams. At the beginning like any other start, it was a little bit rough and hard, but my family told me to never give up when things get rough and reminded me that I fought so hard to be where I was. So I decided to not take anything for granted and to work harder than ever. All the hard work payed off and during my Junior year I got an apprenticeship with Backhausdance a dance company based in Orange County, California.
With Backhaus, I have had the opportunity to travel and work with professionals while I was still in school. I worked with Walter Matteini, Mauro Astolfi, Ido Tadmor, Dwight Rhoden, Jenny Backhaus and more choreographers and performed in New York City, Orange, Palm Desert and more. After graduation, I got injured at my first audition in Los Angeles. I was out of dance for seven months and these seven months were the hardest moments of my entire life. I questioned my future and who I was going to become if I couldn’t dance, my worth as a person and as a friend. It was hard, but It allowed me to understand that I am so much more than just a dancer, I started to develop new skills, I joined a dance company as a manager and helped them create shows, intensives, workshops and plan a whole year long of events, I started teaching in Los Angeles, and most importantly it allowed me to see that dance will always be a part of me and I worked very hard to still be in shape while I was injured because I knew that as soon as I was cleared, I was going to go back into the dance scene. After I recovered, I worked on a music video with MILCK, started working with Heidi Duckler a company in LA, worked with Jacob Jonas The Company, joined Ate9, and worked with The TL Collective. and joined as a faculty member of The Next Move a dance convention. I got to meet amazing people and choreographers that keep pushing me and believe in me. Right now, I am freelance dancer and choreographer in Los Angeles and I am very happy with every opportunity that I have had.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It is never a smooth road, at least it hasn’t been for me. Moving to a different country brings whole new challenges that you never expect or you can’t be prepared for. In Mexico, I was in a bubble in where I thought I was a great dancer and was given a lot of opportunities. When I arrived to California, that bubble exploded and I realized I had to work four times as harder to “make it” or to achieve all the goals I had for myself. Joining a new culture is also very challenging, it took me a little bit to adapt and understand how different Americans are and how to be a part of this new community. I had to let go of my fears and just get out of my comfort zone. I almost gave up and went back home my freshmen year, but my mom reminded me that I worked so hard to be there and that nothing in life comes easy. That I needed to work hard and to keep fighting for my dreams and that if I wanted it enough then they would come true and she was right.
After my freshmen year, I started to get more and more opportunities within the dance department and I continued to learn and grow in many different ways as a dancer, artist, and human. My other big obstacle was when I got injured after I graduated from Chapman University. I had never had a major injury or broken any bone in my entire life and of course as I am going across the floor at my first audition for a dance company in Los Angeles, I land from a jump wrong and break my third metatarsal of my right foot completely in half. At first, I thought it was just sprained and that it was going to go away and waited a whole month for it to “fade” I was too scared to see a doctor. When I finally decided to see a doctor the first one told me that my metatarsal was broken and that my whole middle toe had four different fractures because I kept trying to walk on it and that eventually, my whole toe was going to basically “shatter” so I had to get surgery to avoid that. However, the surgery consisted on putting a metal plaque between my metatarsal and my phalange that will limit my movement to around 20% and that it would be very hard to dance or even run.
Of course, I said there is “no way I am doing that”, so the next option was to let my bone break and heal and see if it would heal differently in where I would recover my joint, since the bone was broken there I had no joint between my metatarsal and phalange. I decided to wait and see a different doctor, I went to this orthopedic and he saved my life, literally, he decided to get an MRI and not just follow the x-rays and he realized that he could fix the head of my metatarsal by putting three screws and that it would limit my movement a little bit but eventually, I could recover almost 100% of my joint mobility. I decided to do that and it worked! After seven months, I went back into dancing and I now have almost 100% of mobility and hasn’t affected me in any way when dancing. I can talk about this very easily but it was the hardest and darkest time of my life. As dancers, we often make the mistake to label ourselves as just dancers first then these other attributes and I used to do that all the time. When my main identity is to be a dancer and that was taken away from me, I felt lost. I decided to dig deeper within myself and find out what else can I be. I realized that I have multiple other passions that I can pursue and yes dance will always be my number one but I can use all of my other skills and abilities to help that passion and allow me to grow even more as an artist.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I am a dancer and choreographer in Los Angeles, CA. I am starting my second year here since I moved from Orange County and I have had the opportunity to dance in a music video with MILCK and Jordy. I have worked with multiple and leading dance companies in LA such as; Jacob Jonas The Company, The TL Collective, Ate9, Backhausdance and work with other choreographers and peers that keep pushing me and inspiring me. I have also taught at a dance convention; The Next Move and continue to develop my classes and teaching practices as well as my own choreographic voice. I am very inspired by my own life experiences and by society and how it changes, reacts and adjusts to changes, limitations and conflicts.
Most of my work is inspired by those things and my own perception and I am currently working on creating a very short dance film that showcases my own experiences from these past months how it has affected me internally and externally. I love learning from others and pushing my friends and collaborators and will always find a way to collaborate or create something with my peers just for the sake of keeping each other motivated and excited about our work even when the world around us is crumbling. I am known for my big expansive and athletic movement, however, I don’t want to label myself as that dancer. Even though I know that is where my strength is I believe in always being open for change and for growth and I am pushing myself to explore different qualities and movement types in order to become a more well-rounded artist and dancer.
What quality or characteristic do you feel is most important to your success?
Tenacity is the most important value and quality for my success. I do not give up easily and if I hear a no, will work twice as harder to get a yes next time. I believe in myself and know that nothing is impossible, if you fight for what you want and stay true to yourself the only person that can stop you from achieving your dreams is you. I am extremely positive and try to find the good thing out of everything even when it is hard, I like motivating others and helping everyone around me. I believe that if the people around me succeed then I will succeed with them.
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: santiagovrdz
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGSkdY8wAPjkqliwygiLK4g
Image Credits
Camryn Eakes, Alissa Roseborough, Malachi, Vickie Roan
