A 17-year-old Oak Cliff teenager is on the verge of realizing his dreams, while dealing with unimaginable loss. Jordan Lovelace shows just how "the show must go on."
"I'm dancing for both my dad and my brother," said Jordan Lovelace, whose older brother, Nathan Lewis, died on Tuesday. It's not the family's only loss.
Lovelace lost his father when he was 12 and started taking ballet classes when he was 13, which was like his therapy.
Lovelace is a student at Booker T. Washington School for the Performing Arts in Dallas. He is a past winner of the Youth America Grand Prix, the highest honor for a young dancer, and was recently accepted to a summer program wth the Royal Ballet in London.
"So dancing and just having ballet in my life just kind of saved me," Lovelace said.
"We feel as though he's our son," said Jacqueline Porter, owner and artistic director of The Dallas Conservatory. "His struggle is ours, too."
Porter started teaching Lovelace four years ago. She said he was a natural.
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"The audience is a little bit breathless when he's on stage," Porter explained. "And that's sort of a star charisma."
In his Oak Cliff neighborhood, Lovelace said there weren't any role models who shared his passion for ballet.
"I'm pretty sure I'm the only one," Lovelace said with a shy smile. "Hopefully I can one day be a role model for young kids like myself when I get older, and inspire them to do things they will love to do."
Despite dealing with grief, Lovelace plans to dance in a performance this weekend.
"It's just my life," Lovelace said. "I wouldn't change it for anything."
There is a GoFundMe account to help Lovelace's family with funeral expenses, as well as help him realize his dream to be a professional dancer.
