With Father’s Day approaching, we asked a few of our male instructors at the Ailey Extension to show some appreciation by sharing wisdom from their admirable dads.

“My dad supported my decision to pursue a dance career but he told me this: ‘Make sure to put in all your effort. It is not going to be easy but you can accomplish whatever you put your energy into. And make sure you finish school!’ He has always pushed me to become the best and never accepted a bad grade. Once I came home with a test that was 85/100. Happy for my accomplishment, I showed him my grade and he said ‘Why didn’t you get a 100? Just so you remember, you don’t have a job yet, which means you CAN NOT GET LESS THAN A’s!’ It makes me laugh now but that is one of my biggest memories and lessons from him! My father has the biggest heart ever. He is humble, funny, he loves to party, works really hard to support all of his family members, dresses better than me and has always supported anything that makes his family happy. Thank you Pa, I truly love you from the bottom of my heart.”
– Jose Ozuna

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Make sure to put in all your effort. It is not going to be easy but you can accomplish whatever you put your energy into. 

- advice from Jose Ozuna's father

“I love my Dad! We have our best discussions when we're in the car together. He's extremely confident, gregarious, and generous. Many of these traits I have picked up from him, but dancing is not one of them.  He swears he can do it but I beg to differ! We have a good time laughing about life and I'm so grateful for him!” – Jonathan Lee

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My father was very supportive in my desire to pursue a career in dance because he himself was a professional dancer. His main advice was to continue my studies even when my schooling was difficult. My father definitely had rhythm because as I mentioned above, he was a professional dancer. He liked to take credit for my talent (even though my mother was also a professional dancer). The most memorable piece of wisdom my father shared with me was to never deny myself of dance because it keeps me healthy and maintains my sanity. My favorite thing to do with my father was to dance. I have many, many memories of times we danced together. The first time I danced with my father professionally I was four years old. My father was going to perform in a theater in Habana Vieja, Cuba and he wanted me to perform with him, so he taught me a dance that we practiced together a lot in the days leading up the performance. Everyone else in my family besides my father was very nervous, but my father had faith in me and we gave a terrific performance. He said that I danced exactly as he had taught me!”  – Stevie Insua

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