So, when Dakota met choreographer Lacey Thomas at Dance Theatre of Harlem, it seemed like the stars aligned almost a foreshadowing of sorts. They dreamed of a training ground for the next generation of dancers-a place for others in their community to grow and learn the traditions and new styles of dance in their own neighborhood. Which is why, it’s not surprising, Cheryl’s daughter, Dakota Hill, also went on to become a dancer and more and more they wanted to build something of their own in Harlem. I'm 44 years old and I've been dancing since my mother enrolled me at nine years old,” Cheryl said. And in the years since, besides earning a couple of degrees and having a family, dance remains her passion. While sometimes it’s easier to leave, get out, start fresh, Cheryl knew that there was still more to be done, even if that meant slowing down the schedule and focusing on teaching more than performing.
That lifestyle is all you know, that community is your whole world. This is commonplace for competitive athletes and performers. So, I had to learn to embrace having a backstage kind of behind-the-scenes vision really, really early on.” So that took me out and I changed-it just changed everything for me. I tore my hamstring really, really badly during a performance at Lincoln Center and did some shows on a hurt leg. “I've always said I only ever wanted to be a dancer, but I got knocked out of the game at 18. Cheryl would learn from Williams and then teach the other kids from her neighborhood the moves, sharing her love of dance to her own community.īut, like with most things, and especially for athletes, sometimes that constant work can lead to burnout-sometimes you push yourself too far.
GO HARD OR GO HOME HOW TO
After years of grueling schedules and relentless hard work, Ruth Williams made young Cheryl her main assistant and she would go on to continue the tradition of teaching generations of families how to dance. You know, it was everyone in the community, because everybody saw I had a talent.”Īnd that dedication paid off. No one would let me, they’d say, ‘no, you have to go to dance lessons.’ In the end, I have to thank the guys on the streets for keeping on me like that. “You know, I wanted a job as a teenager just like everybody else had, but I wasn’t allowed. They’d say it was mandatory!” Cheryl explained. The guys would even want to see my report card. You have dance!’ I couldn't catch a break! Everyone in the neighborhood kept me in line. And even when I was trying to hang out, you know, hang out with the boys-those guys would be like, ‘What are you doing out here? Get in a cab and get out of here. But everybody in the neighborhood knew that after school I had to get upstairs, get a shower, and go dance. By the time I started getting a little bit older, when I was becoming a teenager, I would want to linger a little bit, hang around a bit in the neighborhood, just like all the other kids did. But I had to be there every morning at 9:00 AM. But for Cheryl, growing up in Harlem in the ’70’s and ’80’s meant a strict training schedule under Williams, one that those in her community refused to let her slack off on. Ruth Williams truly is an institution-she’d been teaching for so long that quite often she ended up teaching the great-grandchildren of some of her former students.
We got the Yellow Pages out and she started flipping and we found Ruth Williams Dance Studio.”īorn and raised in Harlem herself, Ruth Williams established the Ruth Williams Dance Studio in 1946, where she taught tap, jazz, ballet, interpretive and African dance to generations of children in the community. But when I was eight years old I made my mother find me a dance studio. I thought, ‘I’m going to join a dance studio! I'm tired of only dancing at all the aunts and uncle's parties.’ I mean, I made a good couple of dollars. Growing up, I always knew I had to dance. We had tennis courts, basketball courts, and everything a city kid would need to have fun, so there was really no reason to leave the projects. It was built in 1935 and the development has since received landmark status. But, I always stayed in the Harlem River Projects where we lived because the grounds there were really cool. I used to love variety shows, and I used to love Fame and watching Debbie Allen and local hero Tony Ray (who infamously played Leroy). “Growing up in Harlem, there was a lot going on-I was just always dancing. And when it comes to dance, no one goes harder than the founders of the Go Hard Dance studio: Harlem natives Shea Evans and Cheryl Thomas, who has been dancing since she could walk.