After June 18th, many new Bruin alumni might spend the summer
starting their first jobs, working on graduate school applications,
or awkwardly making the transition into life back at home. Right
now, Vanessa Verdoodt’s primary post-graduation concern is
deciding on the most efficient way to go from dancing in Senegal to
teaching conflict resolution in Maine.
For Verdoodt, a graduating world arts and cultures student, the
path leading to and from college has always been an unconventional
one. While most would-be Bruins spend high school choosing
activities to attract colleges, at 14, college was the last thing
on Verdoodt’s mind.
“Before I moved here, I was really a bad kid. For me, to
graduate from UCLA is a major thing because I would have never
thought I would go to school,” she said.
Verdoodt grew up in Belgium, where graffiti writing introduced
her to dance.
“I started break dancing. I only knew street dances before
I moved to the States,” Verdoodt said. “I was a street
kid, I was a hustler, and I moved here on street money.”
Dancing became the only thing that mattered to Verdoodt. When
Poppin Taco, one of Michael Jackson’s choreographers, came to
Belgium, he encouraged her interest in hip hop culture and
recommended she move to Los Angeles. For three years, Verdoodt was
driven by the vision of Los Angeles, and at 17, she finally saved
enough money to come to the United States.
“I was 17 when I moved here by myself, and I just started
working hard and tried to find any opportunity I could to keep
working,” she said.
Verdoodt joined a dance company but still had no interest in
school ““ until she needed to renew her visa. To keep it, she
enrolled at Santa Monica College while avidly dancing in companies,
music videos and commercials. Two UCLA WAC students in
Verdoodt’s company recommended that she apply for the
program. She still did not want to go to school, but they continued
to encourage her until she applied. Ironically, the WAC department
rejected Verdoodt, and it was only then that she realized how much
she wanted to go to UCLA.
“I appealed because that was the only thing I wanted to
study. I really wanted to go, and they finally accepted me,”
Verdoodt said.
Soon the formerly street-dancing, academia-wary student became
the darling of the WAC department, as she applied the same
unrelenting focus to school as she did to moving to Los
Angeles.
At UCLA, Verdoodt balances teaching at Santa Monica High School,
founding her own dance company, and working with multiple youth
programs such as Zulu Nation and Afrika Bambataa. Verdoodt
genuinely lights up when discussing her activities and passions.
However, she does admit her desire to do everything can be a little
overwhelming.
“When I got here, anything that happened I would just take
it in, and never say no,” she said, laughing. “I am the
busiest person in WAC. My life is out of control. When I am in
class, I am in vacation!”
Verdoot’s life shows no signs of slowing down in the near
future. The Dean of the School of Arts and Architecture awarded her
with the school’s only undergraduate scholarship, and she
hopes to go on tour in California with her dance company.
After successfully proposing a trip to Senegal to WAC professors
Al Roberts and David Gere, Verdoodt and other WAC students will be
dancing there this summer. Soon afterward, she will jet back to the
States to work at a conflict resolution workshop program for
children from Palestine and Israel.
“Everything I do has connections,” Verdoodt said.
“I love everything I do and I am going to continue doing
it.”
When Verdoodt speaks about how much she values her education, it
is difficult to imagine her as the “bad street kid” she
describes. The bold, focused, multi-layered dancer is bursting with
goals and bolstered by confidence from a life of seeing her dreams
come to fruition.
“I am not fearless, but almost, and I trust everything out
there. I trust what (happens) is meant to happen, and if you want
to do it, you can,” she said.