Swimmer Finds New Passion Outside Of Pool

DURHAM, N.C. ? For Gerardo Mijares-Shafai swimming has and always will be his first passion.

“It’s the first thing I can remember doing as a kid besides doing school work and the other normal things a kid would do,” Mijares-Shafai said.

He has been doing it since he can remember and when high school started he began taking competing in the pool very seriously. His work in the pool paid off with him arriving at Duke as a member of the men’s swimming and diving team.

Around the age of 13 though, the Woodlands, Texas native began to find another activity that brought joy to himself, others and allowed for the junior to learn and grow as a person.

It seemed his family’s love for dance had finally consumed Mijares-Shafai, and after watching Michael Jackson music videos he decided he was no longer going to be the kid standing on the wall during school dances.

Mijares-Shafai has always messed around with dance on his own time, but finally this year he decided to become more involved joining defMo, which stands for defining movement. The on-campus club is Duke’s only multicultural dance group.

“DefMo allows for people to express their views and their personal beliefs through dance and through interaction with the community,” he said.

He first heard about the group during his freshman year, but waited until this year to finally become a member.

With the swimming season over, he has taken the initiative and is choreographing part of a dance for defMo this semester entitled ?The Perfect Girl’.

“It’s basically a hip-hop piece,” Mijares-Shafai said. “My kind of dance is popping and stuff like that. The people I really relate to you can see them on YouTube.”

Dance is no more than something the swimmer enjoys doing during his free time. He doesn’t see it as something he will pursue as a career.

“It’s fun,” he said. “That is all it is.”

Swimmer Finds New Passion Outside Of Pool

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