Daniya Jackson is a junior BFA dance major with a concentration in performance and choreography.
Jackson has been dancing since she was two years old and has always had a love for it.
“I started dance when I was two and I don’t remember getting into it, or ever being like, ‘I’m starting dance.’ I was a baby, but I do remember around the age of five, my great aunt, before she passed away, she would always put on the musical Hairspray, one of my favorite musicals ever. Like, hands down. I can watch that in any mood…So, I remember watching Hairspray, and I was like, ‘oh my God, I want to do that. I want to do that. I want to do that’,” Jackson said.
Jackson has always loved to watch any dances or performances she could.
“Any musical or video, music awards, I would just be watching it and studying them. Teen Beach Movie was also another one, I just would study them and say ‘How can I make that Daniya?’ So, I don’t know, the love was always there, I guess,” Jackson said.
Jackson talked about some of her favorite styles of dance.
“I love all dance. I think all dance is really special because it brings people together. I specifically love jazz, street styles, hip-hop,” Jackson said.
Jackson talked about why she decided to choose Slippery Rock and the dance program.
“I had honestly never heard of Slippery Rock before coming here. I was like ‘where’s that at?’ But my stepdad was like ‘just try it out, go to the audition,’ and I went to the audition, and I was like okay, they’re friendly. They’re nice. It felt like home in a way. They were so comforting,” Jackson said.
Jackson discussed how the professors of the department truly care about their students.
“It was giving ‘we genuinely want your best interests and want you to succeed in whatever form that could be’…and I was like you know what, let’s go,” Jackson said.
Jackson is also part of the Colombian dance ensemble, Palenque, directed by Melissa Teodoro.
“This program is so amazing. Palenque is a driving force for me as well,” Jackson said.
“Something inside of me is like, this also feels like home, the community aspect of it, the people, the storytelling. I love a good story. I’m always in there if there’s a story, I just fall in love with it even more, the energy, the enthusiasm of everybody. I love it, it just carries everywhere,” Jackson said.
Over the summer, Jackson recently had the opportunity to travel to Colombia with Palenque.
“When we went to Colombia, and really seeing people in Colombia do these dances, I was like, when we go back to school we have got to make sure we do these dances right, because these people are out here getting into it and they feel it…So again, just being in Palenque, knowing the cultural roots, and just connecting it back to dance forms, it was beautiful,” Jackson said.
This semester, Jackson has had the opportunity to teach Zumba as one of the Hispanic Heritage Month events to SRU students.
Over the summer, one of Jackson’s professors asked the dance majors if any of them were interested in becoming a Zumba teacher.
Jackson was immediately interested and decided to take online classes to become certified.
“Coming from Colombia right before that, it just made me in touch with more of the roots. It was beautiful,” Jackson said.
Jackson’s online classes consisted of learning the history of the dances and the various styles.
“It was a lot of knowing the roots and knowing each part of Zumba dances, because Zumba is so many diverse dances coming together to create an exercise. So, it was knowing your history, knowing how to put different history dances together to create an exercise lesson while keeping the energy and keeping the class fast-paced,” Jackson said.
Jackson talked about what it was like teaching a Zumba class.
“I just love it so much, honestly, I fell in love with teaching while doing this. I love teaching, I love educating people, because education is important, especially in this day and age, it’s so important. So, I just love teaching, I love helping people, I love getting people closer to themselves. It’s just beautiful to me,” Jackson said.
Jackson mentioned she will continue teaching the class even after Hispanic Heritage Month.
“I love doing what I do, and again, like I said, education is important. Educating people is important, so it’s just important to me, we keep this up and we keep the energy going and the fact that every week new people keep coming and coming and coming that’s beautiful to me, so we’re gonna keep it going,” Jackson said.
Jackson gave advice to individuals who have never taken Zumba and what they should expect from her classes.
“Nobody cares, I will tell you that right now. The people that care and will judge you are people that can’t even do it themselves. If you’re stepping into a Zumba class and you’ve never done Zumba or anything, you have to go in the mindset of ‘I deserve to be here, I deserve to take space and I deserve to show everyone that I can do this too,’” Jackson said.
In Jackson’s free time, she loves to watch movies and talk to her family.
The dancer has recently started reading Shakespeare in her free time. She talked about her love for poetry.
Students can take Zumba with Jackson every Wednesday at 6 p.m. in the Aebersold Recreational Center (ARC).
