Bibby Agbabiaka

Dance & Business

Bibby Agbabiaka well knows that dance often isn’t considered as practical a pursuit as, say, business. However, it’s a passion that he cannot deny. “While it’s true that it’s hard to make a stable living in dance, it is not impossible,” Agbabiaka says. He’s been involved in the performing arts, mainly as a theater kid and actor, since he was a child growing up in Nigeria. “I really thought I was going to major in theater at Emory,” he says. “After all, I had only been dancing for a few years before I came here.”

But because the arts at Emory are so interconnected, he wound up taking a few dance classes and immediately knew this is what he wanted to study instead. “The dance program is so amazing and the faculty have been so supportive,” Agbabiaka says. In addition to his classes, he joined the TNT (TrickaNomeTry) hip-hop dance crew where his talents soared—as did his leadership skills.

Yet in the back of his mind, he felt like he needed something else to solidify his career path. He declared a double major in business, with a focus on marketing, so that he could augment his appeal to dance companies and arts organizations. After he started adding business classes, Agbabiaka felt at first like his mind was being torn in two different directions. “But the more classes I took, I started to understand how the skills I was learning in both my dance and businesses classes weren’t as far apart as I initially believed,” he says. “Both require great communication and teamwork skills. I learned not only how to let my voice be heard, but also to hear other people’s voices.”

Now a senior, he feels like the two areas of study have come together in exciting ways. “I have a better sense of my own identity and I’m not being torn apart anymore—I feel like my whole self,” Agbabiaka says. “The dance courses at Emory have helped me to fully explore and surpass the furthest bounds of my creativity, encouraging me to create and innovate. My business courses, on the other hand, have taught me how to apply structure and planning in my everyday life, as well as helping me to better collaborate with others on big or small projects.” Agbabiaka hopes to find an internship this academic year, and when he graduates this spring, he will follow his dream to become a professional dancer.