Check Out Santana Dawson’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Santana Dawson.

Hi Santana, 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 backstories with our readers.
All my life I’ve loved dance, it was my everything it’s how I expressed myself. It was what I thought about almost 24 hours a day. It was a way to express all of the thoughts I had, without ever saying a word. However, at some point when I was entering my freshman year of high school at Milford Mill Academy, I fell completely out of love with it. As a result, it disconnected me from my passion for about a year or so.

Once Covid hit though I had nothing but time to re-discover my love and rediscover my passion for the thing I once considered home. As the months went on and we slowly re-integrated back into some sense of normalcy I quickly realized that; at my high school, there were so many talented young women and young men who were just wasting away in a classroom studying the most mundane of topics as their talent sat dormant. There were dance programs at the school existing but they were all technique and ballet based, However not all of these people were the beautiful ballerinas that you see in the movies but they didn’t need to be.

They had something much better they had the authenticity that made Dance not just a sport but an art. After the winter break of my junior school year, I came back to school on a mission to start a new program unlike any of the others before. A place where all talent, all styles, and all genres would be welcome we’re freedom and expression would be the priorities. When the program began things were hard, much harder than I initially anticipated. It was a new journey for me learning not only how to manage a team of completely new personalities but also learn how to be a friend and a captain, luckily I found it helpful along the way.

Some of my amazing team leads such as our amazing coach Lakeshia Dennis who danced for Morgan State and now is an MSU alumnus and has owned a dance studio and has traveled all over the world performing. My incredibly gifted and talented partner in crime A’mya Mckinney is so Swift and so levelheaded that she keeps the backbone of MMDC alive without her things would be a mess. A’mya was there from the very beginning from the earliest stages of drafting a logo to the ladder of full-blown performances. Finally, our newest addition to our Team Leads Brea Cole, who is one of the most gifted, wittiest, and creative, people I’ve met.

Throughout our time together the MilfordMillDanceClub became more than just a team or a sport we truly became a family. We spent countless hours together coming up with choreography. There were times we had nothing but two days to come up with entirely new performances, and we learned about each other’s personalities and learned each other’s triggers. We learned about each other’s motives, passions, desires, dreams, and goals and all of that ended up being something that money could never buy it truly made us a family that will never go away.

We work tirelessly being young black women and being students is not easy. There’s a bunch of cards stacked against us; people will whisper our accomplishments and scream our failures but that never stopped us. This journey has probably been one of the most incredible ones I’ve ever been on I’m so thankful that, not only do I have such an amazing and supportive team behind me but the support of everybody at the school has truly been the most overwhelming.

If somebody anybody would’ve told me two years ago when I was entering my freshmen year, That not only would I fall back in love with a passion that I almost gave up on, but that I would then be helping lead a new generation of young girls I would have thought they were crazy. However here I am today, 17 years old going into my senior year at Milford Mill Academy, and captain of the Milford Mill dance club. However, I could never have seen this entire journey through without the support of the following, My amazing mother Angela Blake, who supported me through this entire journey from the time when It was just a thought.

Lakeshia Dennis, A’mya Mckinney, Adrianna Reid, Mykel Harris, De’jae Erwin, Samya Watkins, and Brea Cole. As well as all of the other amazing people who supported us, reposted us, applauded us, and followed us on our journey. I can’t wait to see where the rest of this adventure will take us, because we’re definitely just getting started.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It hasn’t always been a smooth road, I think one of the biggest obstacles when MMDC first started was getting people to take us seriously. I think because there are so many young entrepreneurs out there today and so many people with so many ideas it’s kinda hard to separate the one in the million. This is something that I was truly passionate about and very serious about; So trying to make adults, as well as students, understand that this wasn’t just some passing club or some joking group that you could join to get out of going home and doing your homework was a little difficult at first.

However, I think throughout seeing our performances and people seeing just how much work and pressure it was being in the club we quickly started to riddle out the weak. We started with about 13 girls and ended up with six. Only the strongest and most dedicated could truly make it through an entire performance season. A lot of the girls who joined had never actually been in a performance dance team & they weren’t used to the pressure of having performances every month or having practices two hours a day & four days a week at times.

Not to mention the added pressure of being dedicated and committed to rehearsals or the fear of being able to get on stage and perform in front of all of your peers. Another big obstacle was also trying to differentiate ourselves from other existing clubs and sports, when we first began a lot of people often compared us to other teams and other sports contrasting what we did that was similar and what we did that was different. I often feel that society loves to put young girls against one another, not for jobs or sports but for attention. However, It was never our goal when we began to re-create somebody else.

We always wanted to be our program and create our journey. As time went on people started to see the distinction more and more. However, the comparison is something that we still deal with even today that’s inevitable. For the most part, once we were able as a group to come to an understanding that this was our team and that we were a family all of the outside voices went mute.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I would say MMDC is the most known for being an all-variety dance program, There’s no style that we won’t do. I would say we’re also most known for being an extremely hip-hop and urban-influenced dance program there’s not a whole lot of technical training required to join, and of course, we do provide technical training but a lot of what we do is based on of a dancers preference in personality for their style.

We’ve also made it a priority to give back to our community so MMDC is also known for volunteering and helping out different community events. Some of these include performing at Non-Profit Charity events such as IBIM Girls or volunteering at the local animal shelter B.A.R.C.S.

What has been the most important lesson you’ve learned along your journey?
I think one of the most valuable lessons I’ve learned throughout this entire journey is that, not only is it important to be a good leader and captain but listen to what your peers have to say. You have to be a good friend. Everyone has struggles and sometimes you never know what a person could be going through, Dance could truly be their only outlet that beacon of light that keeps the grounded in a sea of darkness.

You can be firm but fair and you can have empathy vulnerability is not a weakness it’s an asset if you’re able to be human in front of those who look up to you then you’ll let them know that they can be human as well. Nobody’s perfect, perfection isn’t a real attainable goal we don’t want to be perfect we want to be uniquely us.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://milfordmilldanceclub.mailchimpsites.com
• Instagram: @MilfordMillDanceClub
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/MilfordMill-DanceClub/100080138761815/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/MMDCDance/status/1506990886416261126?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1506990886416261126%7Ctwgr%5E9c2db375479bb250e66bcf80c4b63bb1a0e7ea30%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Flinktr.ee%2FMilfordMillDanceClub
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCpQyl45bUTa-WdRYfyLjsg
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@milfordmilldanceclub

Image Credits
@Alphastudi0_