People that are inspiring, that work so hard, people that you would never believe they are doing so much, People with stories that you will never hear and you never will. You might have friends or know someone like this, but then you hear that they are charismatic and out there, I know many, and some people I know will say that I am one of those. I thank them for the love and the respect, but I am talking about those heroes that not many people hear about, like that mum that gives so much for their boys, or a gramma with a fascinating past, full of stories that make you want to write books about them. But no, I am talking about a different kind of silent hero, heroes that are cornered by the circumstances but they keep living and finding solutions to keep going, challenge himself, and doing a bit more to just survive. Today I want to talk to you about Wayne. It is an emotional writing, because I see his face full of life when gears connect and he discovers how to synchronise his movement with his whole body. Slowly but disciplined, he has shown a respect for dancing greater than anyone I’ve ever met.
Wayne is our videographer at Cortés Dance, he has performed within a team and with Tiffany a Pro-Am. The latter was an advanced competitive show full of musicality, complexity and a routine full of passion. The speed of that song is fire, and he performed like a pro. Tiffany created a routine that could challenge any dancer, with tricks, lifts and multiple spins (Watch his show here Wayne and Tiffany La Familia 2024).
Even though that sounds impressive, what you might not know is that Wayne has aniridia, a genetic condition where the iris is almost missing, it is quite a rare condition that comes with a lot of different issues like, light sensitivity, reduced vision, so understanding body movement and dancing in general, represents a huge challenge for him and his teachers, not because he is not open to learn, but because the teacher probably never worked with someone like him. I taught thousands of people in different levels and areas of dancing and I always rely on visual cues for everything. So with Wayne it has been a journey of learning for both of us over the last couple of years. He became our videographer, because he is dedicated and diligent, we help each other. We try to teach him a bit of what to film and how to produce videos for us. He produces high quality videos for us, videos that we use in all our promotional materials. We are so grateful, sometimes the logistics are tricky. In the last year or two there has been a lot going on in our lives so we have not been able to produce together like we did at the beginning, but we are trying. We are finding ways, we are trying things.
But in the last months we found him making great progress in his dancing and can see discipline in his movement. Yet, yesterday his face reminded me that he is also in pain, that his condition is degenerative and his sight will keep diminishing and his eyes are causing pain equivalent to having alcohol poured into an open wound. I pinch him trying to understand how much pain he is in sometimes, and that is the analogy we found, an open wound. But yesterday, there he was again, that face, the subtle smile full of contentment, despite the pain, he was enjoying the lesson. Battling a cough and his normal eye pain, but finding life for a second through dancing. I cried a couple of times in the middle of the lessons without him knowing, tears of admiration and respect, because here I am sometimes not appreciating how lucky I am with the life I have, trying to be real in my own approach to life, seeing the love in what I do. I am taking decisions and looking for ways to connect better with myself so I live the life I want. What are you doing to enjoy this moment here and now, to embrace your present and to simply be the amazing lucky human being that you are.
Wayne told me yesterday that he understands that everything is relative, he understands that we are all dragging our own crosses. I understand a bit of that, because as an immigrant I have seen this first hand and in all levels, as one developed country believes the worst and at the same time several cities rank as the most livable places in the world, or people I know scared about getting a house with money they earn, or buying a car, instead of celebrating for either. It is an adventure that we should be grateful for. In Venezuela, there were moments that were very challenging, but I was always ok, more than ok, I never missed a meal for lack of means. I always knew that there were people that live kms aways from me that were dumpster diving, but bins in Venezuela were not like the ones in coles supermarkets, with bread, fruit and vegetables, and pre package meals that are perfectly fine. Yes, I can see a different perspective on things.
Despite paralysing pain, he is looking for alternatives, he is coming to dance, he is planning to understand and learn better ways of coping with his reality. I called him a silent hero because he does not want articles like this to be his presentation card for what he does. I will show him this and he allowed it, it is the reason you are reading it now. In my opinion his show should have a bit of a prelude, that explains a bit of his life, so you can really appreciate his craft, so you can see his performance like I do, with kind appreciation for his efforts, with admiration for his discipline. I can’t help but feel hope for myself everytime he comes to my lessons, I am just grateful to be part of his journey. Gracias Wayne for being you, Gracias for the glimpse of hope that you bring to our lessons.
Gracias for reading,
Pedro
Ps: Just if you want to know more about aniridia: Aniridia (Absence of Iris)