Dancer Leaves Everyone In Tears With Heartfelt Tribute To His Adoptive Mom

Aug 16, 2018 by apost team

At some point in your fearless childhood, you probably wished that you had the ability to fly. You probably pretended that you could fly when you were jumping on your trampoline or playing on the beds and furniture throughout your house. But for some people, they actually have the ability to fly. One boy, a 16-year-old named Jaxon Willard, has no need to pretend.

The reality television show World of Dance showcases contemporary dance solo contestants, where Willard participated. He was raised in American Fork, Utah, and was brought up by an adoptive family that was all white. Obviously, as grew up he struggled with identifying as an African American, unlike his family. Willard focused on dance to help him understand and process his complicated emotions and feelings.

He got his start when he was just 11-years-old, focusing on ballroom dance, hip-hop, ballet and other types of contemporary dancing.

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For the last 5 years, Willard has been practicing dance. His performance on the show which aired August 8, 2018, seemed to showcase his talent to its fullest. Willard created his own choreography that went along to Jack Garrett’s notable song, “Surprise Yourself.” His touching and moving performance had the audience emotional and left some in tears.

When judges on the show asked Willard what his dance was about, emotions ran even higher as he explained. He was holding back tears of his own as he stated that his dance was a visual representation of the emotions he held about abandonment towards his birth mother.

He explained that he wasn’t able to express these feelings to his adoptive mother, as he wanted to spare her feelings after all she had done for him. He remains grateful to his adoptive family, but some sense of abandonment and hurt still lingers towards the mother that gave him up.

Willard’s adoptive mom sat in the audience as he spoke, beaming at how proud she was of her son.

It was no surprise when all of the judges praised Willard for his performance. They admired his talent, but also his strength when he was telling his story. A judge named Ne-Yo even noted how proud his mother should be of him.

Jennifer Lopez, through tears, told Willard how much of an honor it was to meet him. The love didn’t stop there. Willard’s public Facebook page was bombarded with lovely comments from people who were touched by his story.

Jaxon’s talent is something everyone should see for themselves in the video of the performance. Needless to say, Jaxon has moved on to the next round in the competition thanks to the judges. What do you think of Jaxon’s story?