
SHORT STACK PROGRAM 2023
THE CROWN - TRANSCRIPT
The Crown
[David speaking]:
Me, at this point in my career, I don’t care what people judge me on, you know? If I’m battling somebody, I always–never think about the judges. I only think about the music and whoever’s in front of me and that moment we share, and I believe energy doesn’t lie. I know if I won, you know if you won. We both know if we both just went crazy, we both just went crazy. At the end of the day we’re both winners, you know what I’m saying? Because there’s no such thing as losing. In this game, like in a sport, we could both run track and you could dust me and be like “okay, well you obviously could dust me.” But in this game if we’re both at a higher level and you went 100%, you did everything perfectly to the music — However your soul speaks and my soul speaks, we both just gained a beautiful experience. We both won. Bye.
My name is David Stalter Jr. I am also known as “The Crown.”
[Crowd]:
5, 4, 3, 2, 1
[David speaking]:
12 years now, that’s as long as I’ve been dancing. I firmly believe that it saved my life. I would get sick, you know, if I wouldn’t dance for a certain amount of time or I’d get really moody, like anxious, like I wouldn’t be able to fully express myself about it.
A lot of my friends in middle school that I did know, and even like in my earlier days of high school, a lot of them aren’t here anymore, unfortunately. I feel like what kept me on a steady path, or a more positive path, was the music and dance and just my love for it, it kept me out of a lot of it.
In high school I would dance like four to six to seven hours a day and nowadays I would dance at least four hours a day. Something that is really dope that I heard Coby Bryant say is back in high school people would be on the basketball team and they’d practice like two days a week for an hour and a half, you know? But the difference is he would practice every day for at least three hours. Take that into a year, two years, three years of doing that habit? You’re at a very high level.
If you truly enjoy what you’re doing, it’s never gonna be hard work, you know what I’m saying? But the moment that you start to make it into a chore, or you force yourself to do certain things, it’s kind of when the love gets taken out of it. So practicing, but finding a way to love the practice that you’re doing and be honest with yourself. I think something that’s very important and common with a lot of people on a high level, like Kobe Bryant or you know Usain Bolt, Floyd Mayweather, a common theme is knowing yourself. You know I think that’s the number 1 most important thing is knowing yourself. Having that mental fortitude of like, whenever I enter a competition, I know already that people are gonna either rock with it or not. 100% of people might think what I’m doing is just the worst thing ever. 100% of people might think it’s the best thing ever, but I’m already prepared for either/or situations because I know myself.
To me I feel like these wins or trophies or whatever, they’re just experiences. They’re like my little milestones of life. Like, “okay, I persevered through this.” No matter how many times I didn’t make it past prelims or how many times I lost in the finals or whatever, now that I got this trophy it’s like, okay, I persevered. It’s like a championship of persevering. But I don’t go in with an ego mindset. I really go in more with the mindset of enjoyment and having fun. Because in my experience I do the best to the music when I have fun, and then that’s when I can add whatever personality in there – if I want to be a little confident, if I’m a little “cocky” – whatever you want to call it – I can spice it up because at the root of it, at my base, I’m having fun.
I think what makes me different as a dancer is the fact that I have consistently and always, since day one, told myself that there’s no one on the earth like me.