When OVS students filed down into the amphitheater for the Friday morning Milk and Crackers meeting, none were aware of what was set to go down. As part of a series of “Funky Fridays,” sophomore Carlton and senior Carter Hsu, the dancing brothers, were getting ready to face off in front of the entire school.
Dawin’s “Dessert” blasted through the speakers as Carter and Carlton sluggishly meandered down to the stage. And they were off. Carter began by flailing his arms in a robotic manner, his dancing feet struggling to keep up with the rapid fire movement of his arms; then his feet took over, his ankles rotating, his hips gyrating fantastically. Carter began winding down, his swiveling extremities carrying him to the side of the stage where his brother stood.
As soon as he finished, Carlton, like a tag team WWE fighter, took off. He began by hitting the chorus of the song harder than hard, groovier than ever, dropping to the floor to dramatically flare his legs up eliciting whoops from the audience. The two took turns like this until the song itself began to fade out and the sound of the entire student body cheering for the dancing brothers. And the sound of the entire student body cheering for the dancing brothers filled the morning air.
“I like to see the amphitheater as a venue to continue energy and excitement, something to liven up the mundane announcements,” said Zach Byars, who organized the dance-off. “We’ve got some really good dancers and I thought that would be a great way to start.”
Carter and Carlton came to Ojai Valley School all the way from Taipei, Taiwan. The brothers have long been close, certainly close enough to venture all the way to California together.
Carter came halfway through his sophomore year, and within the first month of his OVS experience he was dragged on the fabled honors trip to southern Utah. Instantly he was accepted into the fold, and quickly became known as a tremendously kind individual. He was already known as an iconic member of the Class of 2020 when he first showed off his moves at a Valentine’s dance.
“We had heard that Carter was a good dancer because some people had spent time with him at summer camp,” explained Avery Colborn, a member of Carter’s class. “[At the dance] we just got Carter into the center of a circle and started telling him to dance. It was awesome, especially since he was so new to school.”
Similarly, Carlton had also already been hyped up before he even got to OVS. The new sophomore is always smiling, and like his brother has quickly become a familiar face of his class.
The Hsu parents wanted for both brothers to attend school in the United States, but it was Carlton who made sure to follow his brother. Carlton affirmed that part of his decision to come to school so far from home was rooted in how much of a good time his brother was having.
For these dancing brothers a love of dance was born from necessity. In just third grade, their father entered them in a talent show.
“At the time I felt like I had no talents, but I soon found out we had been enrolled in a family dance class,” Carter explained. In this class the brothers not only learned how to dance but learned to love their performance.
Both Carter and Carlton had to keep up with the improvement of the team, acquiring dance moves and close friends along the way. The relationships that they built with other members of the team made it even more fun, and further cemented the boys into the troupe.
“Dancing was fun because we got to play with the older dancers,” Carter said. “And those dancers became friends with us. So every time we dance it’s like hanging out with a bunch of friends.”
For the boys, dance never revolved around competition, but rather improvement, expression, and fun.
But despite the combative nature of a dance-off, these boys still manage to exude an aura of harmony, firmly putting competition on the backburner, allowing for teamwork and mutual merriment to reign supreme. Their lack of competitive spirit is overshadowed by their combined exuberance to twirl, to shake, and to dance. And it’s contagious.
As the golf cart carrying the sweet sweet tunes of a Funky Friday rolled into the amphitheater, the school buzzed with excitement. Carter and Carlton walked down to the stage to applause from the student body and they hadn’t even begun dancing yet.
The brothers rolled and shimmied, rocked and bopped, causing a great deal of whooping and hollering. Mr. Byars, looked on clapping his hands to the beat of the music and beaming at the brothers. As the brothers took turns showing off their moves, they watched each other, their moves progressively getting more and more fantastic, the smiles on their faces never fading.
“When I’m dancing, I can show myself how I want… to everyone,” Carlton concluded. “And I can have fun.”