“All My dreams were born in this room,” said James Smith as he opened his invitational assembly in the auditorium on February 8. Smith, a 1993 alumni, is a dancer, singer, actor and performer who has worked around the world for companies like Disney. He has performed on Broadway in shows such as “Tarzan” and “Spring Awakening”.

Smith spoke alongside jazz pianist and member of U. City’s class of ’87, Peter Martin, as part of the Returning Artist Series. Both spoke in front of a relatively small audience of student dancers, musicians, writers, and reporters. Not only was this an opportunity for current students to see what can be achieved; It was also a chance for these alumni to come back and see the U.

“It’s great to be back but it also helps put things into perspective to remember what it’s like to think and feel like a student,” said Martin.

Coming back prompted both good and bad memories. Both Martin and Smith graduated early, though for very different reasons. Throughout his high school career Smith was bullied just about every day. He remembers being shoved into lockers, publicly humiliated, and feeling lost and alone.

“I didn’t understand why being gay meant I had to be bullied,” said Smith.

As it turned out, even this cloud had a silver lining. Smith recalls gym being the worst, due both to his sexuality and his disinterest in conventional sports. Because of this, he pleaded with his counselor to switch out. So they placed him in dance and it was this moment that would change his life.

Although at the time he never thought of taking dance past graduation, he found a sense of belonging. It wasn’t until he asked his dance teacher for her signature in his yearbook that his life truly changed. She returned the yearbook with a professional portrait of her self and a small handwritten note that read “I look forward to seeing you televised.”

“For the first time someone told me I could succeed in something,” Smith said.

Succeed he did, but he wasn’t the only one. Martin, although he didn’t share a story of a long-past epiphany, he did have a recent show of his own self-fulfillment. About three weeks ago he had a chance to do something most of us will only dream about.

“I shook hands with President Obama,” said Martin

Martin, along with singer Dianna Reeves, performed for the U.S. and Chinese president Hu Juntao on January 19 along with a number of political icons and Chinese stars.

“Bill Clinton was over there, bopping his head,” Martin said. “It was amazing to see all these world leaders appreciating what I love.”

Both men presented students with enough inspirational words and interesting, true life stories to make anyone proud of where they come from.

“I’ve done musicals on Broadway,” Smith said “but I started here.”
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