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the arts

Mariandrea Villegas has talent and showmanship beyond her years.

Dance is a unique art form in that the medium it utilizes is the human body itself. Simply through purposeful and graceful control of movement, dancers can express and evoke joy, sadness, fear, confusion—the whole range of human emotion. And when dancing is done well, it's utterly mesmerizing.

Such is the case with Mariandrea, a 14-year-old from Mexico who auditioned for America's Got Talent in July of 2023 and wowed both the judges and the audience with her dance performance. She has been dancing since she was 5, and as Simon Cowell pointed out, it's clear that she was born to do this.

After showing off her sparkling personality during the pre-performance interview, Mariandrea danced to a cover of Tears for Fears' "Mad World," personifying the song in her performance. But it wasn't just her intentional movement that reflected the emotional complexity of the ever-popular hit. Her facial expressions, ranging from subtle fear to a clown-like smile to genuine sorrow to angry defiance, change on a dime, adding an acting element to her routine that takes it to the next level.

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New Orleans Tourism

After spending 12 years pursuing acting in Los Angeles, Anthony Bean never thought he'd end up right back in his hometown of New Orleans.

However, after his teenage daughter suddenly passed away there, he felt like it was time for him to return.

Anthony Bean. Photo via Anthony Bean, used with permission.

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How one woman is helping to unify Detroit through dance.

The creative arts in this town just got a major upgrade.

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Detroit is known for its cars, Motown music, and 8 Mile (the district and the movie). But now, it wants to be known for its dance.

And Joori Jung is the woman for the job. When she moved to New York from South Korea to dance, she realized the city wasn’t for her. In a city so large, it felt to her like there was little community. So instead, she followed her now-husband to Detroit, where she settled down and founded ArtLab J.

All photos by ArtLab J, used with permission.

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Taco Bell Live Más

"While I’m dancing it’s just different. I feel like I want to use a word that I don’t know yet. It’s the most myself I ever feel."

A new scholarship program gives young people the chance to follow their passions.

Posted by Upworthy on Thursday, October 6, 2016

For Khorii Tinson, an opportunity to go to university for what she loves is the natural extension of her lifelong passion for dance.

Her dad, Karl, said Khorii knew she wanted to be a dancer before anyone else did. Even when she was very young, she was finding ways to make dance a part of everything they did.

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