Jackson Jacobs lit up when he saw the costume for this year’s Yorktown High School Dance Company all-boys dance in the winter showcase. Dance company advisor Nicole Tolli recalled how “is face literally [brightened] and I could see how excited he was.” Jacobs performed alongside close friends, and the camaraderie and excitement are what performing arts is all about.
Yorktown News caught up with Jacobs, a Yorktown High School senior, to hear about his journey through dance, music, and what comes next.
When did your interest in dance and the arts begin? When I was 8, I joined an afterschool hip-hop dance club and also started playing in my band class as a trumpet player. That's where my love for music and dance really started.
Do you plan to continue in dance and performing arts after high school? Yes! It's not what I'm going into college for, but I really do love the performing arts and I want to keep doing things like pep band and dance performances on the side. I might also try a cappella singing because my experience in choir was really fun, and that aspect of choir really does interest me. Theatre is fun as well and if I have the time and opportunity, it is something I would do, but we'll see how it goes.
Who inspires you? The short answer? Jabbawockeez, Jacques d'Amboise, and Kristofer Maddigan. I love this dance group called the Jabbawockeez and they seriously inspired my dancing style and my love for hip-hop. They performed at the NBA Finals halftime show in 2022 and are an extremely fun group to watch. I also really love the former owner of a studio I used to dance for when I was living in the city. His name was Jacques d'Amboise of the National Dance Institute. He received a MacArthur Fellowship and Kennedy Center Honors, as well as starring in films like “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.” When it comes to my love for band and pep band though, Kristofer Maddigan is my inspiration. He composed music for one of my favorite games, “Cuphead,” and his big band numbers have stuck with me even after I finished playing the game they were made for.
What makes dance and the arts challenging? I would say, timing and precision, aka, the little stuff! If you put enough time into mastering your craft, you'll find that once you get the main ideas down, all the little things are what separate you from one skill level to the next. It's all about small things like getting perfectly in tune musically, getting moves down in the exact vision of the dance, and expanding an improvisation opportunity into something even more engaging to build up a scene.
How do you spend your free time? I do a lot of extracurriculars, like cross country, dance company, the YHS Musical (“The Wizard of Oz”), ping pong club, drama club, and tech crew. When I do have free time, I listen to a lot of music (80,000 minutes last year), play video games, hang out with friends, talk to my long-distance girlfriend who graduated last year, create some of my own music, and play “Dungeons & Dragons.”
What are the top five songs on your playlist? OOH I love my Spotify music! Here's a quick list from the last 12 months of my listening hours: “Godzilla” by Eminem & Juice WRLD, “Lovin On Me” by Jack Harlow, “Under The Sun” (with J. Cole & Lute feat. DaBaby) by Dreamville, J. Cole, Lute and DaBaby, WHATS POPPIN (feat. DaBaby, Tory Lanez & Lil Wayne) - Remix by Jack Harlow, Tory Lanez, DaBaby and Lil Wayne
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