Alexander Ocasio has a mission in life: to master the art of expression through motion and words. And with his experience as a dancer, and with an extensive list of studies, he’s well on his way to doing so.
Ocasio is perhaps best known at Saint Louis University as the salsa dance instructor at Simon Recreation Center.
However, his dance experience extends very far beyond the class he teaches.
“I’ve been dancing for about seven or eight years, on and off,” Ocasio said. “My mother used to be a dancer, and she’s always encouraged me and supported me in the fine arts fields.”
As an exchange student in Brazil in high school, Ocasio first picked up samba, but he attested that his love of dance is something with which he was born.
“I’m a Puerto Rican American, and I’ve always had that natural rhythm. It’s sort of in my blood,” he said.
Ocasio trained in Madrid for four years, and since his teacher at the time saw a lot of potential for Ocasio to also become a dance teacher, she trained him to deal with students with varying skill levels.
“She trained me to teach students who don’t necessarily have a natural rhythm for dance, as well as those who can progress rather quickly,” he said.
As a graduate student at SLU, he has a long list of subjects he’s pursuing: a Master of Arts in English, a Women’s Studies Certificate and a Master’s Thesis in Queer Theory.
He also is studying for a Master of Cultural Studies and North American Literature, as a part of the dual degree with Universidad Autónoma de Madrid.
When he’s not studying or dancing, Ocasio can be found working as a writing consultant in the Busch Student Center.
“I really have a strong passion for writing consulting,” he said. “I know that’s not very common.”
When Ocasio returns to Spain in August, he said that he is aspiring to have some sort of internship in the same field.
Ocasio has also participated in activities such as skydiving, bungee jumping, scuba diving and swimming with sharks.
He is a choreographer, and chartered a fox-trot swing number for last semester’s Students United for Africa Dance-a-thon.
He is also highly involved in several charted student organizations at SLU, including the Hispanic-American Leadership Organization, SUFA, Rainbow Alliance and the Student Activities Board.
In addition, he even won an award for his involvement in SAB at its recent yearly banquet.
Ocasio also performed at this year’s Relay for Life, and has been a volunteer ballroom dancing instructor for the past year.
“But my biggest accomplishment this year was probably performing at the St. Louis Science Center for their Diversity Awareness Week,” Ocasio said. “I danced with a Washington University student in a flamenco-based number and a Rumba, [which is] a traditional, two-person dance.”
As for his future, Ocasio looks to finish his degrees by May 2011.
He said that, after graduation, he hopes to apply for a doctorate program in English, and Feminist, Gender or Women’s Studies.
“I would like to be on a tenure tract position at a higher education institution, a university similar to SLU,” Ocasio said. “While teaching dance on the side.”
