Khara Williams loves a stage … any stage.
It may be in an auditorium, where the York junior acts, sings and dances, or it may be simply a lane on a track or a triple-jump runway, where he competes for the Dukes’ track team.
All Williams really needs is an audience.
“I just like to perform and entertain people so I can make them feel good,” he said Tuesday, moments after jumping directly from an after-school singing assignment to track practice.
He has been singing and dancing almost his entire life, but he didn’t get involved in organized sports until he joined his middle school’s track team in 8th grade. That also was when he made his musical theater debut, playing Jafar, the main villain in the Disney movie “Aladdin.”
Williams loved it, in part because Jafar was such a stretch from his friendly, outgoing personality.
“My favorite characters are usually mean guys,” he said, laughing. “I like to yell and throw stuff. It’s fun.
“If I’m having a bad day I save it for the play, my character, but I’m really not that mean.”
Williams has appeared in several musicals at York, including “Aida” last spring. He currently is in rehearsals for “West Side Story.”
He was going to skip “West Side Story” to concentrate more on track, but another student left the production, creating a need for someone who could quickly master a role that includes a dance solo. Williams agreed to step in.
It is making for another busy spring, even if he also recently had left York’s hip-hop dance team. Now he usually goes from classes to track practice to rehearsal, often resulting in 13-hour days.
“He’s a pretty busy boy,” York track coach Stan Reddel said, “but he balances his schedule pretty well.
More Top Picks Hiking Boots
“We ask a pretty good commitment in track, but he follows through. He’s a great teammate, and the kids really enjoy him.”
Last spring Williams had to cut a few practices short for “Aida” and seemed tired at times, but his coach said he tries to accommodate Williams as best he can.
“He’s a renaissance person,” Reddel said. “That kid is so talented it would be a sin for any person to say, ‘He can only do my activity.’ “
On top of all that, Williams sings in the York choir and in an a-cappella group. He recently was named to an all-state chorus.
He says he likes the arts and track equally well. Occasionally he even gets to combine them by singing the national anthem at a home track meet.
“It’s all performance,” Williams said of his various pursuits. “When I run, I entertain the crowd.
“It’s fun. I like the adrenaline rush.”
He got a huge dose of it at a recent school talent show, when he and a partner did a ballroom/hip-hop dance performance. Midway through it they removed ballroom clothes to reveal hip-hop apparel.
“Everyone was screaming when we were introduced,” Williams said with a huge grin. “I made rippable dress pants, and when I ripped them off everyone was like, ‘Oh, my God.'”
As a sophomore in track, he stood out initially as a triple jumper, leaping a solid 43 feet 5 inches indoors. Later he began to excel as a sprinter. He ran on two sprint relays that qualified for the Class AA state meet last spring, and his recent 52-second split on a 1,600-meter relay indoors got his coaches’ attention.
Williams is just happy to contribute, whatever the event.
“I really don’t care,” he said of running vs. jumping. “I’m just for the team.
“I love track.”
Williams hopes to pursue a career in dance, in some combination of performing, teaching and choreography. But he also wants to continue in track, first on a college athletic scholarship and later as a competitor in a 2016 Chicago Olympics.
“I like to be on stage,” he said, “and track is my stage.”
———-