"I Could Swim, Golf, or Dance"

Viliami Matangi

17-year-old Viliami Matangi was not allowed to join the wrestling team. He was advised against basketball and told that soccer was too dangerous.

Worst of all, doctors told him that he could not play football – his priority and passion in life.

“They said I could swim, golf, or dance,” Matangi said.

Due to a genetic condition resulting in a narrow spinal column, his athletic options at Logan High School were limited.

So Matangi chose dance.

“I heard about the Utah State dance company right during football season, so it was the perfect distraction for me,” he said. “I came to tryouts and made the team.”

Now a member of the Utah State University hip-hop team, Matangi has become an inspiration to his teammates, his high school peers and members of the community.

“His story shows that life never turns out how you planned it,” said Joni Nelson, a family friend and instructor at the Tueller School of Dance. “When one door is closed, there is always another one that opens.”

Nelson was one of many individuals who encouraged Matangi to audition for the university team.

Because Matangi and her son grew up playing football together, Nelson understands the devastation Matangi felt upon discovering the condition during his sophomore year of high school.

“You’re supposed to have fluids that run through your spine to keep your nerves cushioned,” Matangi said. “Because my spine is so narrow, there’s no fluid so my nerves get pinched every time I move.”

The severity of the problem prevented Matangi from playing contact sports, especially football.

“If I ever get hit on the top of my head, all of my discs would collapse and I could be paralyzed,” he said.

With the possibility of paralysis, Matangi’s time on the field was ended.

“His senior year was getting harder and harder for him to watch the football team,” Nelson said. “We had seen him and his cute little brothers dancing around, and I just wanted to help him find something to fill his time.”

Though Nelson and her daughter had encouraged Matangi to dance for years, they once again suggested that he audition – this time for the Vilociti hip-hop group.

“The day of tryouts, she called and told me that she was coming to pick me up,” Matangi said. “I said I didn’t want to, but she didn’t give me a choice.”

Taylor Martin, a graduate of Logan High School and member of the Full Circle contemporary team, also encouraged Matangi to audition.

“One day, I saw a video of him on Facebook goofing off and dancing with his friends,” she said. “He could really do the moves, ‘serious swag’ as the kids say.”

Though others believed in his ability, Matangi did not.

“I’d never learned a choreographed dance before,” he said. “After everyone performed at auditions, they called us back and said, ‘If we read your number, you didn’t make the first cuts.’ So I took off my number because I thought I was getting cut.”

However, after being instructed to reapply his audition number and run the second choreographed routine, Matangi made the team.

“He was really good but extremely nervous,” said USU dance director Krissy Smith-Fry. “But once he started dancing he came out of his shell, and we took him on as an intern.”

Though he remained shy for the first few company practices, Matangi has come to accept his newly discovered talent as well as the teammates he now calls family.

“My favorite thing is the family bonding,” he said. “I’m glad I had that this year because it was nice to come to practice and get my mind off of football.”

His teammates feel the same.

“We are so protective of him. He is like our baby brother,” said Vilociti member Mary Taggart. “We’d do anything for him.”

While Matangi relies on his team for choreography, they look to him for inspiration.

“Football was the biggest part of his life,” said Kumiko Osterloh, a captain for the hip-hop team. “We shouldn’t take what we love for granted. We should appreciate everyday that we dance and make every practice worth it.”

Although his story has brought others to a sense of awakening, Matangi is still in a state of disbelief.

“Sometimes I take a step back and think, ‘oh my gosh I’m a dancer,’” he said. “I never thought I would dance, but now I will dance as long as I have an opportunity to.”