Spirited student dances for student body

In the sea of green and gold spirit gear, one could not tell what all the commotion was about. The circle formed in the middle of the commons was a barrier. It kept in good thoughts and unified a band of support. The support was for one person in particular–Eric Wang.

On September 13, at precisely 7:18 A.M., the time indicated on his flyers, Wang captivated all ages of students and teachers with a performance of “Cotton Eyed Joe”. A sophomore who loves penguins and the movie “Madagascar”, Wang is a confident performer and entertainer. Surprisingly, he has only been dancing and pursuing a career of performing arts for seven months.

“It was on my 15th birthday, February 3rd. I was celebrating my birthday party and then I realized I wanted to do something that would make me famous. I thought about beatboxing first and then later became a dancer. But I am a retired beatboxer and I am a dancer today,” Wang said.

It very well could be the fact that because it was Fishbowl everyone was already so spirited. However, there is no doubt that Wang’s enthusiasm and dance performance enhanced everyone’s feelings to be a proud Seahawk.

Students stood on tables and chairs while shouting words of encouragement and cheering Wang on.

“It was Fishbowl. It was the Fishbowl assembly,so people would be spirited, I’d be spirited, and there would be more people coming to school on that day,” Wang said.

Many students reacted with enthusiasm and were impressed with the courage Wang had to give such a performance. Junior Piper Wysaske and freshman Campbell Winter were two of the many students that made up the audience.

“I think its pretty cool he performed for everyone, I mean nobody else has the nerve to do it, so somebody’s got to do it and it’s great, I love it. Eric is very upbeat and positive, he doesn’t get discouraged easily and he is a  very good guy,”Wysake said.

Some students believe Wang has plain guts.

“It takes some kahunas, hes got big guts in him. I wouldn’t do it,” Winter said.

Winter and Wang met in middle school math class, and that’s how their friendship began. Friends, like Winter, are loyal to Wang. They support Wang and tell more students of Wang’s performances.

Wang creates flyers to help spread the word to the entire student body. The flyers were given to Wang’s fans to know when, where and what time the performance would take place. He was able to put in a few extra words to motivate an audience to come and asked for the word to be spread and to bring video cameras.

The song, “Cotton Eyed Joe”, was not even the intended song. Wang’s fans voted on Wang dancing to “Drop it Like it’s Hot” last year, but Wang did not find out that the person who made the download made a mistake and created a download for “Cotton Eyed Joe” under the name “Drop it Like it’s Hot.”

Ironically, while Wang was still pursuing beatboxing,  Wang began his dance career. He was competing against a fellow beatboxer at the school last year when Wang began to move. This was the start of something new.

“My first move was the arm circling and that’s when it escalated into more difficult dance moves,” Wang said.

Wang trains at home and works alone. He studies dance moves and practices until the moves are perfected. From this drive of perfection and pleasure in achievement, Wang has gained confidence in himself and his abilities.

In addition to dancing, Wang also has a background in magic tricks and breaks it out in class and lunch. Wang performs magic tricks for Wysaske and her friends at her lunch table, and they enjoy watching the show.

“Eric is just very comfortable in his own skin, and I commend him for that. I don’t know the specific names of the tricks, but they are pretty cool. I don’t know how he does them or when he has time to practice them, but he sure does put on a good show,” Wysaske said.

To put on a ‘good show’, Wang’s favorite magic tricks are card tricks.

“Eric shows me a lot of card tricks every week, they blow my mind. Once, he gave me a card, I gave it back, he smelled my hand, then smelled the cards, and found my card; it was crazy,” Winter said.

Unfortunately, Wang cannot participate in the drama department or take professional dance classes because finding a ride home from these activities is difficult. But Wang doesn’t mind. Working at home and alone is his preference.

Wang is a very talented student who is persistent and desires to share his talents with everyone. Look forward to performances in the future.

“I will be there. I will be cheering him on,” Winter said.

So check the latest flyer, be early, and get a spot to see Wang’s performances before he becomes famous and moves to Hollywood. Also check out Wang’s “PHS Entertainer” page on Facebook to see updates on new dance moves and the latest videos.