The bell rings and you hear loud music as students begin to rush down the halls in the same direction. They seem to be in a hurry, anxious, as if something is going on. You turn around and follow the crowd. The music gets louder and everyone gathers in a semicircle. You make your way through to the center to see a guy smiling and dancing like no tomorrow.

Since freshman year of high school in 2013, after watching an episode of “So You Think You Can Dance?”, Coppell High School junior Christian McDow has not been able to contain his passion for dancing. From early in the morning to late at night, McDow continues to practice dancing his heart out each and every day.

“The journey was actually extremely hard, and way more difficult than you think, to get really good at dancing,” McDow said. “But I enjoy it because as you get better, it becomes a reward. You realize that with every practice and improvement, you’re one step closer to becoming the kind of person you strive to be and dance is kind of like a fun, mental game.”

CHS sophomore Jaylon Wells was among the first of many to notice not only his technical improvement, but his growing passion for dancing as well.

“He’s definitely gotten a lot better technique-wise, but his passion…” Wells said. “All you ever see him do is dance — while he’s eating, while he’s talking, while he’s taking a test or walking around, just all the time.”

His dancing partner and best friend, CHS junior Devon Hawkins, hopes to continue performing dances together and looks forward to a dancing career with McDow.

“There are a lot of people out there that are dancers and a lot of them don’t make it,” Hawkins said. “But practice makes perfect and you want to be prepared for the future and that’s why we practice every single day. I hope that one day, we can teach people the art of dance and inspire others to learn how to dance or have the same kind of passion that we have right now.”

With a strong passion and mighty heart for break dancing, McDow has set his eyes on his goals for the future and does not plan on looking back.

“Dancing is just fun and I love it,” McDow said. “I can’t even control it; it’s like a fire in me. But with dance, I have something to look forward to in my future. The whole point of life is to be happy and to find a passion and I found both my happiness and my passion, so that’s what I’m going to do for the rest of my life. The fact that I found dance gives me something to look forward to forever.”

McDow has continued to inspire those around him. Through his expression of his love for dancing, he has gained fans and inspired many students, whether he knows them personally or not.

“I remember seeing Christian at Heritage Night a couple years ago,” CHS junior Akhilesh Pillai said. “I was amazed and ecstatic; I didn’t know that what he did was even considered a form of dancing, but it was really cool to see. It really showed me that if you have a passion and determination to do something, you can achieve anything.”

As impressive as his techniques are to others, his intrinsic motivation and positive attitude has caught the attention of many students.

“It’s not only the techniques,” CHS junior Brian Pak said. “But he inspires people with his attitude because he’s always smiling, so positive and extremely cheerful and I think that’s something really unique about him.”

Recently, a music video was shot by CHS students and it featured McDow dancing in downtown Dallas. CHS junior Sam Godly, a close friend of McDow, was one of the producers of this film.

“We decided to feature Devon and Christian in our video because we know they have big talents and I’ve always been inspired by the amount of passion they have for what they love to do,” Godly said. “What’s really unique about Christian though is that nothing he ever does is choreographed. Everything is off the top of his head which shows how creative it is and it’s just the coolest thing ever.”
In the same way that he was introduced to the art of dance, Christian hopes to not only become an inspiration for others, but that through his hard work and dedication, others can also learn to feel the same love and passion that he has for dancing.