Sprinter Parker Howard also excels with steps off of the track

South Carolina junior sprinter Parker Howard can really move. He can run pretty fast, too. Howard is an avid hip-hop dancer, and he hopes that his moves off the track will help him find a career in dance after his college career is over.

“After I graduate from college, I’m moving out to Los Angeles to pursue dance as a career professionally, fulltime,” said Howard, who is studying exercise science. “The first step is to go audition for an agency, so I can sign with an agent. From there, they help book you for auditions for teaching classes, going on tour with artists, being in music videos or movies, and performing at events.

“I really want to audition to go on tour with artists because you’d get to meet a lot of really talented dancers. A lot of the dancers usually teach classes in the cities where they tour, so I’d get to teach as well, which would be ideal. Down the road, I’d like to move to teaching fulltime and choreography when my body starts breaking down a bit, but I definitely want to keep performing while I can.”

Howard’s enjoyment of hip-hop dance started at an early age while growing up in Virginia.

“I started dancing around the fifth grade. My twin sister, Mason, had started dancing before me, and I wanted to meet her friends, so I told my mom to put me in some classes,” Howard said. “I ended up really enjoying it, and the story goes on from there.”

As he continued to practice, he soon discovered he was pretty good at it and entered competitions.

“I ended up winning two national championships for dancing,” Howard said. “The first one was when I was in the eighth grade, and the other was when I was in high school. I’m from a really small town, so there’s not much to compare yourself to. When I got up on a national stage and came out on top in that first championship, that helped me feel validated.”

“Working out for athletics has helped me in dancing, and some dancing stuff has helped me with my coordination and simple things like that.”

Since then he’s enjoyed sharing his passion for hip hop dancing with others by teaching kids.

“I work with a group called ‘Dance to Inspire,’ which is based out of Augusta, Georgia,” Howard said. “We teach classes, do choreography, and we host conventions. That’s helped get my name out in the industry. There’s a local studio back home in Lynchburg, Virginia, that reached out to me to teach a master class to kids, and I said, ‘absolutely!’

“The hip-hop community is like a big family. I like passing on knowledge that I’ve learned. It’s only fair because the people who helped get you to where you are, they chose to give that information and they didn’t have to. The best way to pay them back is to pay it forward. I really enjoy showing people and kids new ways to express themselves.”

Howard noted that dancing has helped in his athletics career.

“I’ve played sports my whole life,” Howard said. “Doing two different things at the same time has taught me time management and that you never quit anything that you’ve started. There were days when I only wanted to do one or the other, but my parents always told me I couldn’t quit on anything in the middle of the year, so I always finished it out.

“They both help each other. Working out for athletics has helped me in dancing, and some dancing stuff has helped me with my coordination and simple things like that. That’s important as well.”

Howard says he enjoys his exercise science studies and emphasized the importance of having a backup plan for a career if dancing doesn’t work out as a profession.

“I’m interested in sports performance, and I think coaching would be cool or anything in biomechanics,” Howard said. “I definitely want to stay involved with athletics as well. I love track because I just love to compete.”

For now, Howard dances a little around his teammates, but he’s not one to show off after a race.

“Our coaches always tell us to act like we’ve been there,” Howard said. “If it was a big race where we were racing Clemson or we’re in the national championship, maybe. Coach (Curtis) Frye seems to have all his moves down now on his own.

“A lot of my teammates can dance. We haven’t had any dance-offs yet, but that could be in the works. I like to be very versatile.”