CARSON : Dance Is a Key Chapter in Jamal’s Story

Jamal Story took the stresses of life as a teen-ager and student at a high-pressure math and science school and turned it into a dance piece that won him a $5,000 scholarship and the admiration of entertainment professionals.

Story, 17, said he could feel the audience respond emotionally to the prizewinning piece titled “Stress Release,” which he performed at the Music Center in March. Part of the program, choreographed to the music of Chopin and Mozart, included rhythmic drumming on himself.

“When I slapped myself it was because of what I was taking on. . . . I think people got that whole feeling,” Story said.

Writer and producer Allan Burns, a longtime supporter of the Music Center’s Spotlight Awards who saw Story’s performance, said the student is an astonishing talent. “I turned to my wife and said: ‘I think we’re looking at the winner of the whole thing.’ ”

Story developed the work, which took first place in the jazz/modern dance group, as a positive way to get out the frustration and anxiety he has struggled with.

One of the most challenging things he faced was earning a 3.92 grade-point average at the California Academy of Math and Science, a high school at Cal State Dominguez Hills. He was also writing a teen column for the Daily Breeze, and taking on extra projects such as orchestrating the music for last year’s California Academy graduation, which was attended by Gov. Pete Wilson.

“I was having a difficult time,” Story said. “This was basically my little shout, my emotional response to that.”

The athleticism of dance was what attracted him to it, he says. Between ages 8 and 14 he studied gymnastics, but gave it up and focused on other things.

In recent years he has turned to dance and choreography, learned piano, won poetry and dance contests, and won speech competitions. Last month’s Spotlight Awards was only his second dance competition.

Story said the math and science concepts he has learned at California Academy have influenced his dance. The number of jumps or the way tempo and rhythm affect the mood can be very important, Story said.

“When you have a math background, it’s much easier to see those connections. . . . A lot of artists aren’t necessarily interested in that type of stuff . . . but subconsciously it enhances the work,” he said.

Currently he dances with Lula Washington’s Los Angeles Contemporary Dance Theater. Story schedules his classes around the company’s tours, and does his best to keep up with his senior course load. Burns and other contacts at the Music Center are trying to help him study dance in New York City--in part because he has never had the time to concentrate solely on dance. But ultimately he plans to be a choreographer, not a dancer.

In addition to dancing and schoolwork, he is busy filling out college applications, looking at schools that will let him major in both music competition and communications.

“Education is pretty much what you make of it,” he says.