While the ball was bouncing at a Mercer Island High School hoops game, a young Safiya Ricketts had her eye on the cheerleaders.
Mom Andrea vividly remembers that night when her daughter was 6 or 7 years old. “She said, ‘Momma, I want to do that when I grow up,’” Andrea said with a laugh on a recent afternoon.
Soon Safiya was kicking her legs up in the air at home and preparing for her future.
The 1993 MIHS graduate, who was the cheer captain, homecoming queen and a varsity track athlete, upped her game to become a Seattle Sonics basketball dancer and has toured with dance groups all over the planet, including one performance in front of the Pyramids of Giza in Cairo, Egypt.
Currently, she’s part of the cast as a dancer in “The Christmas Chronicles 2” on Netflix. She also dances in “Self Made,” an Emmy nominated Netflix miniseries about the life of Madam C.J. Walker. On its website, Netflix notes about Walker: “An African American washerwoman rises from poverty to build a beauty empire and become the first female self-made millionaire.”
Safiya splits her time between Vancouver, British Columbia, and Seattle, and her mom resides in Kirkland. She’s currently back in Seattle for a few months to be with her family and is working for Choose 180, a nonprofit organization that helps at-risk youth along the path to excelling.
She’s always found joy in dancing, from her beginnings on the Island and beyond. She remembers dancing in front of mirrors in the family living room as a child, and stepping up when volunteers were needed for a dance number one summer day at Luther Burbank Park.
“I feel that there’s something healing about the arts and specifically dance. I find that it was a great outlet for me. I felt a freedom of movement and expression. Even if you couldn’t find words, I could always find them through the movement of dance,” said Safiya, who sports a vast resume that features being the principal dancer at the opening ceremonies of the Paralympics Games and dancing and singing in prestigious Canadian productions “Generation Motown,” “The Best of Broadway,” “Esquire Show Bar” and “The Big Bazaar.”
“If I can dance, I’m gonna dance,” she added with enthusiasm. “Whether it’s for pay or whether it’s for absolute joy, whether it’s for teaching, sharing, I just think it’s something that’s a part of my soul, my DNA, and I’m so grateful that I discovered that at a young age because it’s been such a beautiful gift to accompany my life.”
When delving back into her dancing past, Safiya credits Camille Chrysler of Mercerart Dance and Chris Daigre of the Seattle Ewajo Dance Center for providing positivity along her dance journey. She took a class with Daigre last year, thus bringing their dance connection full circle.
Chrysler believed in Safiya and her dancing ability and encouraged her to continue with her craft. The teacher also pointed Safiya toward auditions for a Crest toothpaste television commercial, which the Islander scored at the age of 12.
Five years later in the summer of 1993, Safiya was taking a class with Daigre when another student and Sonics dancer said the Islander should audition for the Sonics dance squad. After turning 18, she won a spot on the squad and danced for two seasons while at the same time attending the University of Washington and focusing on African American studies and dance.
After two years at UW, Safiya began her dancing career with touring companies and eventually made her way to Canada in 2003 to start performing extensively across the country. She received dual citizenship, and aside from dancing, attended Ryerson University in Toronto, Ontario, where she studied French and received certificates in human resources and sign language.
Wherever she’s resided, dance has always been a major part of Safiya’s life.
“It’s something that I think is universal,” she said. “For me, it just really touched my heart to just be able to look at really awesome choreographers and really great dance routines, and just being on stage or dancing anywhere in a park.”
Safiya Ricketts. Courtesy photo
