For Dreyfoos senior Eddieomar Gonzalez, dance started as a better alternative to the aftercare program in elementary school. What began as some afterschool hip hop classes, has resulted in some great opportunities – the Juilliard Summer Intensive program in 2012, an Alvin Ailey summer program in 2013, and participating in a festival in France called DARC Stage International. Most recently, Eddieomar joined the 8 other Dreyfoos students that were selected as YoungArts finalists and were invited to participate in National YoungArts week in Miami.

Annually the National YoungArts Foundation receives about 11,000 applications and the 170 finalists are given the opportunity to spend a week working with master teachers and mentors in their fields. YoungArts then nominates candidates for the U.S. Presidential Scholars in the Arts, and Eddie has been selected as one of five candidates from Dreyfoos.

“YoungArts Week really brought out a deeper artist in me. I would always be so self-conscious about performing, but YoungArts really showed me that art is subjective and that everyone is different and has their own form of art. No one is better or worse and when I perform it's not about the tricks I do, it's about showing everyone your truest form and really who you are.”

Eddieomar admits that he spends most of his time dancing, “When I'm not sleeping I'm dancing”, and plans to go on to study dance in college, with his top choices being Juilliard or SUNY Purchase.

“Dreyfoos has offered me the opportunity to be surrounded by other aspiring artists and allowed a creative atmosphere … [It] is a place where you can be infatuated by all the art that surrounds you. From vocal majors warming up their voices to painters painting, everywhere you go you get mesmerized by other people's talent and hard work.” For Eddie, all that hard work will continue to pay off, and he hopes it will land him in a professional dance company.