(gentle piano music) - [Elbert] It's the best freedom to be on stage performing.

It's like taking flight.

(gentle piano music) (energetic music) - [Elbert] Here at Norfolk Academy, I am the Dance Master.

That's my title.

One of my goals when I first came here was to make dance an integral part of life.

And so, I've made dance a corporate part of the whole lifestyle of the school.

I teach grades one through 12.

Creative dance, classical ballet, modern dance, hip hop, ballroom, musical theater.

I'm also the wellness coach for some adults here.

I do private lessons.

I'm the pliability coach for every team on campus.

I think for the children's point of view, to see a dance teacher and the football coach together in the same room, communicating for the same things says a lot about education.

You see a leap on stage, it takes hours of practice.

How can I make that leap apply to your track team?

(gentle piano music) - [Elbert] As a little kid, I always loved dancing.

I love moving.

And I remember, my parents would have a guest to come over, and just say, "Junior, come out, come out, show those ladies a dance" or whatever.

So dance was always a part of my life, but more as a hobby kind of thing.

I know that you could dance professionally.

Somewhere during my late teens, early twenties, I had an epiphany.

I'd heard these elderly people say, "If I could do it all over again, I wish I could have done this."

And I said, "I don't ever want to say 'I wish I had done'."

What do you really want to do?

You should really go to New York.

And the first time I did it, they said to me, "You're really, really good, but you need some ballet classes, you have no technique."

So okay, I went home and studied for two years.

Take as many ballet class as I can and get ready, which paid off.

My second audition, I made it.

(energetic music) - One thing my parents gave me was good work ethic.

They weren't college professors, they're regular people who just say, "you gotta do your very best."

Then go do your best.

Be the best garbage man.

Be the very best at it.

If rehearsal finished at 12, I was gonna go back, add two more and really work on it.

And I found that it had benefits.

And the benefits were that you became more acute with your technique, but also sharper, more confident, from that kind of consistency.

I've (indistinct) knew that I wanted it.

I could depend on me, and became a principal of dance within a year, which is unheard of.

And they worked me incredibly, I was rehearsing all night and all days to put my standard up to the level.

Now, it wasn't fun but it was good, cause I realized that with principal dancing you're representing the company, you're not just the person in the back, you're the person who is like the brand name.

What was always exciting was, every season I got a new part.

But then you sort of get typecast and then suddenly it wasn't exciting anymore.

"Give that to Elbert, he can do that."

And I thought, "What?"

That means I didn't have to work for it.

I felt like time was going by and I was locked.

So, I went to a place called New York Conservatory, had this Russian teacher.

He saw me totally different, which was great.

Then I left there and went to Germany and he saw me totally different, which was great.

So I would be in all these parts I wouldn't normally to do.

(peaceful music) - [Elbert] The company in Germany was very unique in that, you had a ballet company that was separate from the theater and opera.

That particular theater decided that they wanted to get rid of the ballet company and only have the opera only.

I decided to come home.

I was here for about a year and a half, waiting.

And in that time I was teaching at Richmond Dance Center and then (indistinct) Academy, summer camp.

And when the letter finally came for me to go back to Germany, I realized I was a different person.

I really liked teaching children.

Dancing can be a very sort of self-absorbed career cause you're really working on your body and yourself personally.

And suddenly I was giving back to children.

That was a exciting thing for me.

So then I told myself, "If you go back to Germany, you're gonna be a dancer only."

But what about the teaching part?

What about the choreography part?

What about the directing part?

I decided not to go back.

So that's how I wound up in Norfolk.

(energetic music) - [Elbert] When I have a person in class and they have no idea about what to do, me trying to find that way to communicate does a lot for me.

And everybody's different, and we come from different backgrounds.

I mean, some people are more visual learners, some are much more like, images, whatever.

Once they get it, I've empowered them.

You become a role model and with that comes responsibility.

Do you do what you say you do?

Are you a person with integrity?

Are you gonna do that?

And they sort of expect something from you, they expect if I do something, they expect a certain quality.

Just teaching the good students is not good.

It's the ones who are introverted, who just (indistinct) raw material, and all they need is somebody to say "You can do it".

I think I was just sort of awkward but I always loved reading.

You know, I'm the kind of guy who would sit up in the tree and watch birds, or I would be catching bugs all day.

(upbeat music) - [Elbert] I told myself every day I wanna see something beautiful or learn something new.

It keeps life fresh and exciting.

There used to be an old guy at my church, he said, "When you're green, you grow.

When you're rip, you die and fall off the tree."

(laughs) (upbeat music) - [Elbert] Dancing has been my identity, it's my purpose.

I always tell people, "Once you find your purpose, life is great."

I'm doing what I love doing and getting paid for it and my life is an adventure.

When it's time to move on, I'll do something, serving somebody somewhere.

I always know when the season's over, that much I do know.

(upbeat music)