HUBBARDSTREET2

Nick Korkos gathers inspiration from the amazing people he has met on his journey of movement, from growing up in San Francisco and making his way to Hubbard Street. Here’s his story.

Photo by Kathryn Sullivan

Motion soothes me, moves me. To know that I am traveling, continuing and allowing what is next to happen, lets me relax and trust. I have found that motion – movement of all kinds – is essential. Without it there really is no reason for anything. Without it we lose sight of what is possible. Of what’s ahead and what has been. We freeze, unable to move forward in any capacity.

The ability to move through space on an emotional, mental and physical level has always been part of who I am. I have always been one to push through a wall that has sprung up in my path. Always been the person to get to the root of the problem: to take it out for a nice long walk, listen to its side and deal with the issue head on, not straying from my goal.   

Growing up in San Francisco with the always supportive and devoted family that I have has made me into the man I am today. From the two I have learned always to be open to new people and new views on life. To open your heart to those who haven’t ever seen someone do it before. To be someone who asks how people are and honestly care. To look at those different from myself without judgment and with compassion. Differences are what are most interesting to me about life. So many people forget how vital they are to our survival.

What I’ve found from being first at Alonzo King LINES Ballet, then dancing for Robert Moses and Kara Davis and now at Hubbard Street, is that it is truly the people who make the experience. Dance is the language that I have chosen to learn. It’s an outlet; a way of releasing everything inside myself, and I couldn’t live without it. But the most valuable things in my life on a daily basis are the encounters I have with people: the strangers and those who hold my heart, alike.

My time at Hubbard Street has changed me as all experiences do to us. But it is the people who have impacted me and therefore my dancing. It is they who’ve helped me grow into someone more than who I was a when I joined in 2010. It is they who have helped me grow into more than who I was just yesterday.

Life is all about perspective. Who we are, at what moment in our lives, and who is around us all impact the way we perceive everything in our world. But more than anything, it is our choice how to take in each moment. I have chosen, with no regrets, to see life as an ocean. The never-ending supply of intermittent waves and tides we are handed from day to day nourish and enrich our lives to the point that only gratitude is a worthy emotion. I would only be so lucky as to spend a lifetime at sea.

Things I like: truth, writing, painting my nails, singing, taking pictures, good horror movies, empathy, animals of all kinds (except bugs), acoustic music of any kind, the sun and the ocean, Sarah Michelle Gellar, chocolate, love, Pilates (with Emilie Leriche), lying down, moments outside, muscles, Beyonce, San Francisco, dancing, observing, passion, the food I cook, my bed, mermaids, joy.

— Nick Korkos

View Nick Korkos’ dancer page, see videos and photos on hubbardstreet.com

Photo by Todd Rosenberg