Waking up at 5:15 a.m., showering, getting dressed, then making lunch for the day. Packing up, attending classes and staying after school for color guard. This tight schedule belongs to senior Mauricio Munoz-De Los Rios.
Munoz-De Los Rios values self-expression, which takes form in many ways for him, such as photography, dance and color guard. These interests have helped him build his community of friends.
“I’m very, I guess, very open about dancing and expression through dance. When I have the chance, not every day, but when I have the chance, I like to like dance,” Munoz-De Los Rios said.
For him, photography is an outlet to create and tell a story. He was introduced to photography by his cousin, a professional photographer, at the age of eight years old. He naturally grew curious and continued to pursue his interest in photography.
“It’s really more about exploring photography in the various ways that people have used photography because it’s more than just point and take the picture, but it’s how you tweak it and how you can create, like a narrative through it,” Munoz-De Los Rios said.
Expression through dance is something that Mauricio has always done and cared about since his childhood. His parents were a large reason for his interest in dance as they also love dancing.
“They were that influence to like dance and just be very expressive with your body. Because, I mean, yes, I wasn’t much of a singer, and I’m not really planning to be,” Munoz-De Los Rios said. “So my parents, obviously, they just wanted a way to express myself, in which was dance, and, I mean, it’s part of our culture.”
As Munoz-De Los Rios was looking for a dance class at school during his sophomore year, he accidentally stumbled upon the color guard team. He became intrigued and decided to give it a chance.
“[Color Guard] was kind of just like an extension of dancing, because obviously, you take the equipment and you dance along with yourself, with your body. So yeah, I like how it’s like an extension of [dance] and kind of just rolled with it,” Munoz-De Los Rios said.
Color Guard soon became a huge part of Munoz-De Los Rios’ life. It became an avenue to express himself physically through a routine. Something that cannot be done through words.
“If you can’t like [express yourself] with words or with some sort of presentation, you can do it physically with dancing. I think it’s a good way to be able to express yourself, because obviously there’s multiple ways to dance and various ways to express an idea,” Munoz-De Los Rios said. “And I feel like color guard is a good way to really have an interpretation of those things, and to have a lot of creativity with those interpretations.”
He soon began to build a community of friends through color guard. Spending such an extended period together pushes the members of the color guard to form friendships. Guard director Aylin Vural shared this sentiment.
“We ask them to step out of their comfort zones quite often, and so they like to lean on each other, or they need help with homework. And so, it’s just a community. They spend so much time together that they ultimately become friends, but also, they rely on each other to stay sane and motivated,” Vural said.
For Munoz-De Los Rios, art and dance are the perfect way to express himself and show what he feels. This has helped him build the community he has now.
“Being able to express myself with choreography and using the equipment to express something physically, instead of with words or anything. I think it’s the relationships that you build, especially with guard, I have, well, have a whole new set of sisters,” Munoz-De Los Rios said.
