Remarks by this year’s Distinguished Speaker. Full transcript below.

Good morning,

It is such an honor to be here at the USC Kaufman 2026 Commencement Ceremony. Thank you, Dean Ritter, the Kaufman Board of Councilors, Kaufman faculty and staff, and the families and friends who are here.

We know today is all about this year’s graduating class. It has been glorious to watch this program and institution support you as the next generation of dance artists, makers, and leaders.

I have often been asked by many emerging artists my opinion on their future: if they are ready, and what the best next steps are for them. It’s a really hard space for me to live in when my own path was so unorthodox and not direct at all, and still is, at times, quite uncomfortable.

So I have decided to tell you the truth. I was the dance miracle I didn’t see coming.

I applied to one college: Howard University. Debbie Allen went to Howard, so end of story. But if I had done the smallest amount of research, I would have known there was no dance major when I was there in the 1990s. So, with my focus swaying between becoming a Psychology major and loving to move, I decided to take a semester off during my junior year, go to NYC, and dance, just to get it out of my system.

One of the hardest decisions I have ever made, but I did it anyway. I moved to NYC.

Here comes what most would call the sad part. I didn’t get what I thought I wanted. I kept hearing NO.

I tried, but didn’t get a scholarship to study because of my weight. I could stay as an intern, which meant working one hour for every class I took, but there was little performance opportunity.

I later auditioned for Philadanco and was told I couldn’t perform until I lost weight. I auditioned for the Ailey company, and Judith Jamison called me herself to tell me there were works I wouldn’t be allowed to dance until my body was tight.

I was told NO a lot.

If I were to use my life and my story as a map, I would say to you: do it anyway. Regardless of what you may hear, in spite of the NO’s, keep pushing, or define what you want.

I didn’t get many performance opportunities, but the one I did get led to me being an original member of Complexions. I didn’t dance for 8 months at Philadanco, but I learned more about administration and how the company was run from a different perspective. Those works in the repertory I wasn’t able to perform in didn’t keep me from being in world premieres, having works made with me in mind, or creating 4 ballets for the Ailey Company.

I was the dance miracle I didn’t see coming. I just wanted to dance, but I was being prepared for something I couldn’t yet see. And those frustrations and setbacks turned out to be great gifts.

So I am going to say the hard thing: hearing NO happens.

You may hear NO because they like you, but there is no contract available. You may hear NO because your perfect company can only afford to hire someone who fits the costumes of the dancer who just retired. You may hear NO because someone has been waiting, and they are next. You may hear NO when you are in the company and still not first cast. You may hear NO when someone new walks in the door and they are the new fun, flashy flavor of the month, and they are given the opportunity you wanted.

You will hear NO sometimes. Maybe many times. Or what could feel like every time. Do it anyway.

I’m talking about doing the work — the very hard work. You are so talented. You are so gifted. And so are so many others.

I’m not telling you to give up or give in when you hear NO. I believe you should fight for yourself. Fight for who you know you are. Fight for what you want. You may be rerouted for a moment. You may find something you could have never imagined. But you will only find it through your work.

In spite of what we don’t necessarily like to call rejection — but it’s surely how it feels. Embracing the difficulties of having to make your own schedule now that you may no longer be in a formal program. Deciding how many roommates you’re going to have so you can live in a certain part of town and still pay your rent. Being forced to stand in long lines at an open call audition and seeing your friends get something you wish you had… I want you to do it anyway.

This is now the beginning of your waiting period. But waiting is a huge part of the work. As you wait, you will be able to decide what it is you want, but stay ready and be prepared to change.

Maybe you’ll shift. Maybe your plans will evolve. Maybe your goals will move. Maybe your overall outlook will become so refined you no longer have a choice but to see your life from a different perspective.

AND it is okay. Give yourself grace. AND… don’t hesitate to pat yourself on the back when you have done a good thing, when you followed the plan, and have arrived. YAY.

But I was told, in a long list of rules… Rule #9 is: when your there becomes a here, it’s time to get a new there. And Rule #10… forget everything you have read.

But what if we still are not at the ultimate goal or dream yet?

Keep doing it anyway. Make a schedule. Be about running the business of you! Clock in for you, stay in class for you, choreograph that new great idea for you. Invite some friends and perform that great new idea in a park for them, but really it’s for you. Read books, go to museums, start uncomfortable conversations — it’s only going to feed and fuel YOU.

I heard once, on YouTube University, that motivation makes what you do easy because you’re excited, and excited feels good. Discipline is doing it anyway.

Do it for you. Start when you think you’re tired. Build community. Join the group. Call a friend when it’s hard… This is the work no one sees, the work you have to do to get the thing you say you want and to get the maximum reward for your investment in YOU.

You have been investing all of your life, especially these last four years… so now, DO IT ANYWAY.

In 2021, I wrote a piece I’d like to share with you about my difficult and low moments, which still creep in. You may have heard it because I choreographed to this text for Kaufman alum Jada Vaughn for her senior solo. But it goes…

At my lowest, my lowest,
My weakest, when I feel there is no more…

I ask myself a lot,
Maybe I should ask you.
How you do it,
How do you do it?
When your heart is aching,
In pain, hurting from whatever,
That thing,
From everything, from nothing.

When I’m sitting, impatiently waiting,

At my lowest, my lowest, my weakest,
When I feel there is no more…

I wonder why. Have you ever wondered?
When change would come?
Bring you up from low,
Dress you in ideas, new thoughts, interests, dreams?
Yes? No?

Both can be so, at my lowest.

At my lowest, my lowest, my weakest,
When I feel there is no more…

I still look and see a strange but clear possibility
Rising up in me,
Moving me to the moment I decide to
Find courage, filling the moment,
Reshaping who I am from out to in,
Showing you, but really me,
An overbrimming capacity OF power.
Capable or not.

At my lowest, my lowest,
My weakest, when I feel there is no more…

More comes.
In and out, but it comes, bringing me to my feet,
Moving me in ways I could not imagine.

Rounding questions,
Solutions coming, becoming clear,
Resolving issues from issues, forced when I doubt,
When I doubted who trusted and believed in hope,
All not less of me, at my lowest.

BUT…

At my lowest,
My weakest place is no longer weak,
Broken is not ended, can be mended,
Built up again, and again.

My lowest, my weakest,
When I feel there is no more…

I know better than ever before,
I am, can be here, alone, valley and all,
Taller thaannn my lowest.

My lowest is not my weakest,
Not my failure, not my end.

My lowest also is where I regain, recover,
Regain, renew,
Regain, find more to give to you, because
I have enough now to give.

Even at my lowest,
I ask myself a lot,
Maybe I should ask you.
How you do it.

If you ask me,
I’ll tell you…

…and what I will tell you is to… do it anyway.

Do it in spite of your mood. Do it if you think it may hurt a little, or a lot, even when you doubt you can.

My pastor once said: “Doubt is important because doubt highlights what’s special to you.” If the center pool of light on a dark stage is the goal, and your doubt lives right outside that pool, it means you are standing close enough to see what you want.

Are you ready? Maybe. Are you going to step in? Maybe. Are you afraid? Maybe.

Here is what I know: if you stay outside the light, you have already decided your ending, the conclusion. But when you step into the light, when you step into your center special, it is a risk, but it is your risk to take.

So, my advice: step into the risk. You are your greatest risk. So risk. Invest. Try. Try again. Fall down. And when you do, I will give you 8 counts to stand up again. Over and over in the most creative way you can. So you can… Do It Anyway.

Okay. Back to me for one more moment… the story of the school I auditioned for and was told I was too heavy to get a scholarship, or the company I auditioned for and was told, “Oh, we’re gonna take you, but you won’t dance until you get your body together,” or when I heard, “I wouldn’t be in the unitard ballets,” taught me so much.

The truth is, YES, I did get what I wanted. I danced professionally for over 25 years, creating works for companies and universities around the country and the world… MY STORY just looked a little different than I planned.

I am honored to share all of my experiences and the truth of my opinion, and I hope you remember and maybe take my advice — not because I’m older, not because I’ve been to some of the places you want to be, but because I was told NO, not you, not yet, and I did it anyway.

Maybe you have heard me say NO has become my favorite word. It is not vague; it lands as a complete thought. BUT now… my work and my work with you is turning NO into YES.

Maybe there was no one who looked like me, but I did it anyway. Maybe it was kind of a YES and sort of a NO — I did it anyway. After leaving Howard in 1993, the biggest detour ever, I graduated last week, 33 years later.

And guess what?

My reward for doing it anyway is to be able to stand here with you today.

It may not end up exactly as you have dreamt or imagined it. But I am here to remind you to…

Do It.
Make it.
Build it.
Join it.
Work it.
Slay it.

Fill what’s missing with you. Fill it with…

Ryan
Emily B.
Jaelin
Travon
Carolina
Tyler
Emmy
Cardin
Catherine
Emily Fluker
Kyson
John
Rhaine
Ella
Nina
Andrea
Kali
Lincoln
Mia
Jayde
Irena
Avery

I will be watching and cheering so loudly for all of you and all you will accomplish!

Do It Anyway and Dance On! Congratulations!