trevordayschool

Left top: Nikiesha choreographed and performed in the dance she entitled All Souls. She is front, center; Left middle: Nikiesha takes a bow to thunderous applause following her Bridge performance in June 2012; Left bottom: Nikiesha's Bridge performance; she is on the far right. Her commitment to Choreolab continues, even as an alum. In December 2020, Nikiesha participated in a workshop with then current Choreolab choreographers. She spoke about cultural appropriation; Right top and middle: Zoom shots from this interview; Right bottom: Nikiesha in front of City Hall, when she was a NYC Urban Fellow from 2016–17. What advice about the workplace or life ahead do you have for current Trevor students? Don't let people tell you who you are; you define that for yourself. Trevor is giving you the skills to ask questions and listen; those are the two most critical qualities you can have as a human being—and key to being successful. Trust yourself, trust your gut, trust your instincts. Because if you don't trust yourself, then you won't trust the success that's coming your way. Is there anything else that you would like to share? e teachers! I loved my Trevor teachers so much. ey have been such a critically important part of who I am. Everyone at Trevor is different, and the teachers understand that; they cater to what you need. Once, for example, I approached Mr. Tarbath and asked, "Can you give me a different essay question because I don't connect to any of these?" He created individual questions relating to my thesis statement. During college, I often checked in with Ms. Roth. She might observe, "You look sad. Are you dancing? Are you stretching?" And she would be right. I'd realize that I hadn't danced in a while; I hadn't stretched in a while, and I wasn't happy. Trevor became a critical part of my mental health and how I sustained myself. I have to be balanced. I have to be an artist just as much as I am a scholar. Trevor taught me that. e patience, the kindness, the love that Trevor teachers afforded to me helped me become the confident woman that I am today. n n My favorite times were sitting in e Center after school with the teachers … or spending every morning with Mr. Raisher, my science teacher, because he and I would both be there by 7:00 am. n But the most fun was always Choreolab. I went from not wanting to audition in front of my classmates in 9th grade, to three, four years later, participating in two dances. en, all of a sudden [in 2012], my dance, All Souls, was the last dance. And, as everybody in Choreolab knows, when your dance is the last dance, it's the best dance. As an adult, when I look back at Choreolab, I realize we were really serious high schoolers. We were very sensitive about our craft.

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