LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — As hip-hop superstar Kendrick Lamar took the stage at the Super Bowl halftime show, a Lexington dancer's dream was also coming true.
For 18-year-old Kendal Hughley, the moment was not just another performance; it was her professional dancing debut in front of nearly 80,000 fans at the Caesars Superdome.
“It still doesn’t feel real to me," she told LEX 18. "I'm still on a high from it. I never thought I’d be there this early in my professional career."
Hughley is back home after spending two weeks in New Orleans. She auditioned for Lamar's show after encouragement from her agent.
In January, just weeks before the big game, Hughley found out she had landed the job, and she headed to the Big Easy for rehearsals with some of her idols.
“Kendrick, he’s very humble, he’s very down to earth, and he thanked us a lot,” she said. “And SZA, she just... her soul is so pure. So nice. She’s just an angel. Oh my God, sorry, fangirling right now again.”
Kendal’s journey to the Super Bowl stage started at age nine when she began dancing at Upgrade Dance Company. After graduating from Paul Laurence Dunbar High School last year, she now plans on being a backup dancer full-time.
Sunday night was just the beginning.
“Walking out onto the field and all those people looking at you, once I started dancing, all those fears went away,” Hughley said. "I was like, it's go time. It’s time to do it."
Hughley credits her faith in God and herself for her success so far.
“I just love being onstage and performing for people, making people happy through my dancing,” she said. “So it was phenomenal.”
