The Struggle for Greatness

Ever since I was little, dancing has been such a prominent thing it my life. I grew up watching my brother grace the dance floor over with, not only an amazing show of dance, but a show of raw unperturbed passion too. I wanted be like him. I wanted to become a dancer. Naturally, when I was offered the chance to learn how to dance and become a part of a team, I immediately jumped at the opportunity. Even though I knew that learning how to dance would be a hard and arduous process, I still wanted to dance and become one of the best, or at least try to. For this effort, my coach had decided to make me one of the captains. I was honored to be able to lead this team. For ten years I strove to be the best in every aspect of dancing. For ten years I gave my heart and soul for dancing with no regrets, and it all culminated in the biggest performance of my dancing career: World of Dance Los Angeles or WoDLA as it is more commonly known.

World of Dance is single-handedly the most hyped up hip-hop dance competition in Southern California. We needed all the time and resources to prepare for this competition. In all my years of dancing, this competition meant the most to me, especially since we won the prestigious honor of WoD Champions four years ago. For this last one, I knew I'd want nothing less than 1^st place. The preparation and the performance itself was such a bittersweet experience.

The road to WoD was strenuous to say the least. For me, underlying health issues and school problems kept me from the team when I should have been there. As I recovered from the depression and breathing problems, I begun to dance again and just in time to practice for WoD. Unfortunately, our set was barely anything. Half of an unpolished set would not get us anywhere if we truly wanted to compete for the first place honors. So everyday from late February to mid April, we labored for this set. We asked choreographers to come in and teach pieces for us, then we asked them to come back and set formations and transitions for us. Needless to say these days were a struggle. Every day after school, practice was from 5pm-8pm and even 5pm-9pm when we felt pressured to finish. The worst days were on the weekends or holidays however. Grueling 10am-7pm practices were not only a test of mental fortitude, but a test of endurance. Dancing for 9 hours with only an hour break at 12 pm was so hard. My legs felt like exploding after every Saturday practice. Especially the ones where I was forced to bike 4 miles to get to practice. Despite all the pain and suffering from the 9 hour practices, they paid off. Our set began to come together and take on a theme of its own. That theme itself was hype. The premise of hype hinges upon fast musical beats and crazy dub-step to get the audience and dancers into a frenzy. At first I hated the idea of hype since it was too bland and simplistic for me, but as time went on and the set took better form, it grew on me. Doing run-throughs of the set began to feel better as the cogs began to mesh harmonically. At that point, we were ready to tackle the behemoth we've been prepping for.

When the day finally arrived, I couldn't sleep the night before because I was so hyped up for the day. Arriving at the L.A convention center was surreal. I actually missed the previous WoD, so seeing the convention center decked out in all its WoD glory I would say decoration was a sight for sore eyes. My heart leaped when arrived in the familiar parking lot. Aside from the scorching heat and unbearable humidity, it felt good to be back. The first thing we did as a team was congregate in an area we could practice in and for once have a picnic. Our director decided to try something I used to see in my brothers days; light practice and bonding over food. It worked well as our spirits were high and everyone was in a jovial mood, until we got kicked out of our practice space.

Tensions ran high as we frantically searched for available places to call our own until our performance time. Thirty minutes later, we finally found a spot we could call our own. The problem was that performance time was coming up sooner than we realized. As a team, we settled into our practice spot and ate our lunches to replenish any strength lost from moving place to place. After that, time seemed to speed up. Undeclared, our junior team, was on soon and practice time was waning down to almost nothing. We changed into our performance gear and began our traditional relax and feel the music sit down. For this we gathered in a circle and listened to the music to get us to be more in tune with our set. Five minutes later we stroll backstage to await our incoming performance.

Before I knew it, it was time to get on stage. My heart was pumping hard and fast. It has been a while since I've performed on such a huge stage like this. My nerves were getting the best of me. This was it. The final performance. All those endless grueling hours practicing and holding angles just for these five minutes on stage. I have to make it worth it. The music starts playing our intro. I'm ready to give it my all. And thus I go into autopilot relying on my body's muscle memory while focusing heavily on my facials and performance level. All the aches and pains I've received get pushed out of my mind while I'm on stage. One section down. Two until I go back on. The crowd goes wild when we fall to the floor in one of our sections revealing Miles Brown, a famous kid who's been on Ellen DeGeneres and has been with our team for a while. I felt the fatigue catching up to me when I get off stage for a transition. I swallowed back the urge to throw up and take in a deep breath before heading back into the fray. The loud music blared from all sides as I spearheaded my group on stage. Few seconds later and I'm off stage. As soon as I get off stage I felt like passing out. One section left and its the closer. I have to end strong. We have to end strong. Let's go. The base dropped and the screaming doesn't let up as we continue our assault. *THUMP* Our set ended with a climactic fall that reverberated throughout the convention center.

Finally it was over. The gut-wrenching, fatigue-inducing set was finally over. We gave it our everything. Unfortunately there was no rest for the weary. Awards were coming up soon. Time to look presentable because our team was going to be on stage. Awards in general has always been a very nerve-racking experience, but this time it was different. Normally I'd be able to steel myself against these nerves and be calm, but for some reason my heart was beating extremely fast. My hands were clammy and it was as if I was in a sauna. First it was 3^rd place that went down. Leading up to second place, my heart was pumping faster than it was before until the words “Emanon!” rained through the convention center.

We won second! Second place. I was bursting with joy. I knew it wasn't first, but I was so proud of my team. We gave it our everything and it showed. That’s when I realized that competing for first didn’t really matter to me. I was an entertainer first and foremost. If the crowd loved it, then I'm set. It made me so happy to be on Emanon, and I've never felt more proud. We won second place at World of Dance Los Angeles 2014 and it was of our own accord. Albeit it wasn't the 1^st place that I dreamed about and wanted, I realized that it didn't matter what place we got. All that matters is that we put on a show, and the crowd loved it every minute of it.

Names

My full name is Diomy Perio Gabasan Jr. My mother chose to name me after my father since I was the last child. I actually didn't have a name until my parents got to the hospital the day I was born. I was going to be named Diomedes until my dad changed his name because it was too long for him to write. At school, I've always been known as Diomy, but on my dance team I was known as jr or jayare. I always thought that I should have a separate name for dance and school since it was two different things and two different locales. As I grew up however, I began to mix the two because my friends started to join me in my pursuits in dancing. This came into prominence around high school and it became a regular thing. Even some of my teachers began calling me jr and it was kind of nice just having one constant name for once.

Ever since elementary, I've always enjoyed my name simply because no one else at school had that name. I was always the only Diomy in the class, and it made me feel special. Bearing the name of my father also makes me feel proud of being his son and of this family. Speaking of then, I had to do a report on my name for a class and I learned a little bit. Since my father decided to shorten his name to Diomy, there is no meaning to it. His original name however has one meaning to it. Diomedes means “evil king” while also being the name of a king in Homer's Illiad. Although it isn't my actual name, I like to say that my name essentially means the same thing. My middle and last name had the similar effect on the internet. I could find absolutely nothing on what Perio or Gabasan means. My family had told me that the prefix gaba- meant rice, so my last name probably deals with rice or something of the sort. I really wish I knew what any part of my name meant. All of my name is probably Filipino, although when I was younger I had doubts that I was because of my last name. Gabasan did sound a bit like it was Japanese, and I was holding out hope that I was because I watched a lot of anime and manga.

I don't think I would change my name if I had the chance. Albeit I would prefer at least the name Diomedes since it would afford me a meaning to my name, I think keeping my name as Diomy is perfect as is. I've got a lot of pride in my name, being the second Diomy and all. Plus, I think its a pretty nice name despite the botched pronunciation almost every time I meet someone. Besides, it's kind of funny hearing people struggle with my name. Hm. Diomy Perio Gabasan Jr. I like the way that sounds.