Two years ago, Michael Cherry was studying textile engineering at N.C . State when he returned from an alternative spring break trip to the Dominican Republic. However, he did not come back tired from all the work he and his classmates had accomplished. Instead, he returned to the United States with a renewed passion and the plans to turn that passion into a system to help others confront the injustices of the world.

The organization Cherry founded about a year ago, called More Than Dance, is still going strong and inspiring students in the N.C . State community.

According to Cindy Lam, freshman in arts application and marketing director of More Than Dance, the organization has not lost sight of the inspiration that started it all.

This spark ignited in Cherry’s mind while he was doing manual labor as part of his alternative spring break trip, organized to help out an orphanage in the Dominican Republic.

“While we were doing manual labor, we got to know the kids really well,” Cherry said. “The very first night we got down there, the kids come up to me, and I looked at one of them and was like, ‘What’s up? I’m Mikey.’ He looked at me like I was crazy and I thought, ‘Oh crap. He doesn’t speak English, and he has no idea what I just said.'”

While thinking of how to respond, Cherry, who came from a dancing background, started dancing around the orphanage. This small action helped break through the language barrier.

“Kids started mimicking me and showing off their own dance moves, and by the end of the week, wherever I went, I had a line of 10 kids following me and dancing. Dance broke down that barrier of language to where it wasn’t even about dance anymore–it was about connection,” Cherry said.

Within a year of returning from the Dominican Republic, More Than Dance was running dance workshops.

Cicely Kaikai , junior in nutrition science, was one friend whom Cherry turned to for help in running the workshops. She is now a member of More Than Dance’s street team.

“I felt like this was a great way to combine my passion for dance, while still being able to do it for the right reasons. I don’t ever dance to show off or dance to be better than anybody else,” Kaikai said.

During these workshops, Cherry and his team of staff members teach dance choreography and raise money for various charities, such as the Charlotte rescue mission, raising funds for a friend’s cancer treatment and the Red Cross in Haiti. However, Cherry and his staff never want to stop there.

“Outside of raising money for causes, we strive to help people find what their specific passion is, and hopefully inspire them to develop and grow their craft so that they can ultimately take that turn that into a way to serve people,” Cherry said.

These measures are particularly significant when presented to high school kids who have yet to find all of their passions. Last year, More Than Dance took their workshops to R.J . Reynolds High School in Winston-Salem.

“If someone gives you $10, that’s dope … but there is so much more with that face-to-face, personal interaction, knowing that someone cares about you,” Cherry said.

Lam was one of the staff members who got to experience that day of workshops at R.J . Reynolds High School. Despite the toilet paper rolls strewn all over the outside of the school due to a prank coordinated by the senior class, and despite a fire drill, More Than Dance staff members were able to reach out and run workshops during every period of the day.

“One of the greatest feelings was at the end of the day, although kids are usually in a rush to go home, they lingered in the dance room,” Lam said. “It was so amazing. I never imagined that they would want to keep dancing as if they weren’t tired.”

More Than Dance’s effort has not gone unnoticed. This year, More Than Dance attracted they eyes of Tony Calub and Prelude Dance Competition. Prelude is a nationally recognized hip hop dance competition organized by Tony. On March 31, More Than Dance will be hosting the competition at Knightdale High School.

“Somehow [Tony] had heard about More Than Dance, and he thought we were a really good organization and he emailed us to see if we would be interested in hosting the very first Prelude Carolinas … for us, the winners get to pick a certain charity to give the money to,” Lam said.

Prelude Carolinas will feature 14 hip hop dance crews from Washington, D.C . to Orlando, Fl.

Calub is not the only person who has seen the potential in More Than Dance, Andrew Poon , an N.C . State alumnus and CEO of his own non-profit organization, Relaying Empowerment Anything Can Happen (REACH), is also working extensively with More Than Dance.

“More Than Dance started about a year after REACH did, and although we did have different audiences at first, at the end of the day, we have a very similar message in that regardless of where your passion is, you can create change through it and you can change the world through whatever you do,” Poon said.

Perhaps Poon is right. Something that Poon tweeted over his R.E.A.C.H . Twitter account March 21 reflects his feelings.

“Let your passion be MORE THAN a hobby, your love touch MORE THAN your immediate community, your life be MORE THAN ordinary”

For more information about the organization, students can visit their Facebook page.