For most Baruch College students, being a full-time student is already a tough commitment. For 19-year-old sophomore Jay Angelo Bie, pursuing his career in dance while balancing being a CIS major on the cybersecurity track is a stressful yet rewarding performance.

Growing up in a creative household, Bie had always been exposed to the arts. As a child, he enjoyed dancing at home while his parents sang. As a family from Pampanga, Philippines, the Bies have a lot of appreciation for the arts.

“Having that emphasis on arts being a positive thing, I think really facilitated me to be secure in being this much into dance,” Bie said. “There are a lot of competitive dance teams in the Philippines… I was lucky to have my culture represented in this niche.”

In fifth grade, Bie participated in a ballroom dance program at school, the first time he was able to showcase his skills to other people. From sixth to tenth grade, Bie did not have other public experiences to showcase his dance skills due to the pandemic and a lack of opportunities.

When Bie was a junior in high school, he joined a dance team called Project Spark. Performing with the team in front of an audience for the first time in years became one of his most meaningful performances. With all the adrenaline involved in that day, Bie says it was one of his most surreal and momentous memories.

At Baruch, he joined Filipinos Uniting Students In Other Nations and conFUSION, the modern dance team of FUSION. In his first year, Bie choreographed and danced on the conFUSION team, which allowed him to perform at school events and join a community of committed dancers at Baruch.

Outside of Baruch, he dances with the Synchronic Dance Team in Manhattan and takes classes at Nitrogen, a talent agency on Long Island. He maintained leadership roles in choreographing and hosting auditions at Synchronic Dance.

In the dance world, it’s valuable to have mentorship and a professional background. “Especially in a professional setting…it’s kind of frowned upon to not come from that type of background,” Bie said. It’s also a financial thing, to not come from a background that could monetarily support your hobby.”

In Bie’s situation, he was able to attend classes for free under Taylor Wickham’s mentorship. Wickham sponsored Bie’s tuition at Nitrogen after seeing the talent Bie held. Since joining, Bie believes he has significantly improved his skills.

In his first few performances, Bie described the experience as “you blink and then you’re done.” Since then, he has worked on living through experience. “Right now, on stage, I live off of hearing, being in the moment now.”

While the audience watches a fast-moving performance for several minutes, they often remain unaware of the hours of choreography, effort and practice which go into a dance. Details such as choosing songs, assigning dancers to roles and planning the next steps, take a lot of consideration behind the scenes. Enduring the weariness of teammates and the energy of the crowd can also be tough to deal with.

The schedule of being a dancer and student in New York can be grueling and tough for time management. In addition, the dance world is competitive and cutthroat, leading to a lot of stress and fear of judgment.

Despite the challenges, Bie remains grateful for the feedback he has received from his teammates, friends and audience members. One of the most rewarding aspects is hearing his teammates are confident with the material.

During a competition in high school, Bie’s team did not place. Looking back, Bie is now grateful for the outcome. “Forcefully not experiencing that made me realize the value in other aspects and outcomes… Winning was not the motivating factor in creating pieces.”

Bie is most grateful for his parents, who drive him to practice, support him in juggling work and school and encourage him to pursue his passions.

In the future, Bie wants to continue dancing on top of maintaining a career in cybersecurity. He hopes to have enough time and financial support from cybersecurity to continue pursuing dance.

“Don’t lose the reason why you want to dance… Don’t lose your initial enjoyment,” Bie advised.

Bie’s work can be found on his Instagram @jayangelobie.