Photo by Carolyn DiLoreto

Jesus “Jay” Fuentes never expected his ballroom dance course to become one of USC’s most popular classes. In fact, he never expected dance to take him this far at all. Despite growing up without any formal training, Fuentes was cast as a dancer in the cult-classic movie “Dirty Dancing” during his college years, which set him off on a career as a performer. Now, Fuentes serves as a lecturer for the USC Glorya Kaufman School of Dance, leading a course which covers a breadth of ballroom styles, geared towards non-dance majors.