Bellaire High School Spanish Teacher Turned Viral Dancing Star

Bellaire High School employs 203 teachers. Out of those, 11 are Spanish teachers. And out of those, only one is a viral dancing star. Meet Dr. Trevor Boffone. By day he teaches Spanish 1, and, well, also by day he dances along to the trendiest songs with his students. Dr. Boffone gained quite a bit of attention once he began to post his dance routines on social media, so I decided to sit down with him for a Q&A and find out what goes on behind the scenes of these posts.

Q: Were you a dancer as a child?
A: Yes. I always danced, but never formally. I’ve never taken any lessons or classes but in school I was notorious for being the first one on the dance floor. I always thought I could have been a dancer in a different lifetime, so it’s funny to me that dancing is now the thing I’m known for. It’s always been a big part of my life.

Q: What do you enjoy about dancing?
A: What I love about dancing is being free and not having to think about doing something right, but just having fun. It’s been a great way to bond with my students. I learn more about their culture and they learn about me.

Q: Who was the first student to choreograph one of your dances?
A: Very early in the year, maybe in September, my student Ariana Tezeno taught me how to hit the “whoa.” Then in fifth period was Takia Palmer, one of the Palmer twins, and every few Fridays they would do a Dubsmash. I would always ask them to teach me the dances. Really, it was a group of people: Ariana Tezeno, Takia and Talia Palmer, Reagan Boudreaux, Aeryn Thomas and De’Mya Robinson were the main ones. 

Q: What’s been your favorite dance so far?
A: I’ve enjoyed them all, but I think my favorite has been the D1xOkay Challenge. It took me forever to learn. Normally dances take me five to ten minutes to learn, but this one took me weeks.

Q: How do you choose who to dance with?
A: The Palmer twins have a pretty formal set up. Every week we have a few dances that we record at lunch on a Wednesday or Friday. As for everyone else it is more of a mixture of them approaching me and me saying hey, I know you dance, let’s do this song or challenge. I have refused people because they have to be passing and they have to be good in class. 

Q: When did you create your Instagram and were you expecting such a big reaction?
A: No, not at all. I made it on Feb. 20 at the end of second period. When I made the account, I did not think it was going to go anywhere. I really thought it would stay within Bellaire. My “goal” was 5,000 followers. Then that happened within a few days. Feb. 20 was a Thursday, and by the end of the next Monday I had around 70,000 followers. Now I have 140,000 followers. People stop me in the halls and want selfies.

Q: How has the social media community been towards you?
A: The reaction has been mostly positive. When I posted my breakdancing video I was nervous because I was not good. I expected people to make fun of me but all the comments were very nice and encouraging. There haven’t really been trolls. I might delete one rude comment per post, but that is about it. I enjoy the funny and lighthearted comments and I always try to respond to those. I also get a lot of DMs from people saying how they have been upset over something but my page brings a smile to their face, and I love that.

Q: What’s been your favorite part of this experience and would you change anything if you could?
A: My favorite part has been doing the videos and seeing the joy the kids get from being on the page. I enjoy interacting with comments and stuff like that. I wouldn’t change anything. I would want to be verified, however. 

Follow Dr. Boffone on social media to see the dances for yourself:

• Instagram: Dr_Boffone
• TikTok: Official_Dr_Boffone
• Twitter: TrevorBoffone