Samuel Reyes brings inclusivity to the dance floor

Over Samuel Reyes’ 25-year dance career, he’s choreographed, toured for Disney and now teaches hip-hop to college students.

Raised in Brooklyn, New York, he first discovered hip-hop when two girls from his high school taught their classmates. But becoming a professional dancer wasn’t what Reyes first planned.

“I always say dance chose me,” he said. “I didn’t choose it.”

Reyes enrolled at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia in 1997 to pursue his dream of becoming an animator for Disney. To earn money, he took dance gigs and soon realized fine art wasn’t for him. He switched to an acting major, training in musical theater and classical movement. 

Remembering how much he loved dance growing up, he began asking Philadelphia dance companies if he could take free classes, but was often met with pushback.

“I was coming out at it as a very naive person, but I just wanted to learn,” he said.

Many of his peers had trained in dance since childhood, but Reyes didn’t let that deter him from pursuing it in his college years. He said he doesn’t like time stamps. 

He focused on learning hip-hop directly from its creators, including Michael and Janet Jackson’s dance teachers.

Reyes went on to choreograph for Disney while touring with the actress Raven-Symoné from the show “That’s So Raven.”

He said that moment in his career helped him find a stronger artistic voice and purpose. The pace was intense, but he said he thrived and enjoyed the challenge. 

After nearly three years on tour, Reyes sought a slower work environment and turned to academia. It took three years for him to agree to become a hip-hop professor at Lehigh, despite mentors pushing him to teach earlier. 

“I found that to be the biggest insult of my whole entire career,” he said. “I was like, ‘Are you trying to tell me I can’t dance?’”

Reyes said he agreed to the job because he felt Lehigh respected hip-hop culture and offered a variety of related courses. 

He said he strives to build camaraderie in his classroom. Reyes’ course is personal — different from a traditional student-professor dynamic.

“It may freak the students out how quickly I know their names, but I feel like when you show value to people in the room, they’re going to show up,” Reyes said.

Nina Vecchione, ‘26, one of his students, said Reyes values conversation, not quiet nods and blank stares. 

He’s also direct when dancers need correction. Robert Kleckner, ‘28, said he appreciates that criticism. 

“That’s what I like because it makes me a better dancer and makes the class a better class altogether,” he said.

As someone with no former experience, Vecchione said she once felt silly dancing in class, but Reyes created an atmosphere where mistakes are welcome.

“He wants us to be confident,” she said. “It doesn’t matter if we’re wrong or right.”

Reyes said he loves seeing students transform throughout the semester and pushes them to strive to be better.

He’s also been open about his struggles as a queer man in the dance industry. One of his career highlights, he said, was inspiring a student to come out to his parents.

“That was the biggest moment in my whole career,” Reyes said. “The fact that my class promotes strength, confidence, and also respecting and celebrating who you are is so beautiful.”

Reyes further developed his teaching skills by founding Sanbrooka Productions. While auditioning in Los Angeles, he wrote down the company name before it existed to seem more professional — and then decided to bring it to life back in Philadelphia.

Sanbrooka’s mission was to ensure hip-hop remained inclusive for people of all sizes, ages and ethnicities.

He shut the company down when he moved to Allentown but hopes to relaunch it in the Lehigh Valley to build a similar inclusive community. 

That same impact is felt in his courses.

Kleckner said if he hears a song used in Reyes’ dances later in life, he’ll think of his class.

“Professor Reyes built our hip-hop dance family, and these songs will be memorable forever,” Kleckner said.