When I moved to Louisville, the last thing I was expecting was the opportunity to pursue something I’d only ever considered a hobby. Despite my overwhelming insistence on becoming a lawyer or an astronaut at the age of twelve, the Youth Performing Arts School (YPAS) encouraged me to embrace a part of myself that has undoubtedly shaped me into the person I am today.

On a summer evening in Louisville, a wrestling ring stood in a space usually reserved for quiet contemplation. Beneath the clean lines of the Speed Art Museum, the ropes were pulled tight and the mat stretched flat. As wine glasses clinked and a crowd of gallery-goers took their seats, the atmosphere was one of polite curiosity.

Then the bell rang.

LaVelle Smith Jr. has been many things in his life: a Kentuckian, a dancer, a choreographer, an Angeleno, the mind behind some of pop music’s most iconic dances, the person who performed onstage with Beyoncé at the Grammys. But the one thing he’s never been? Afraid.