So I had the absolute pleasure of interviewing Darby on a chill Friday afternoon, in the midst of cleaning and laundry. Just like anyone who knows her would expect, she was bustling about trying to get things done, but she snuck in some time for me.
Name: Darby Williams
Nickname: Darbs
Hometown: Rutherfordton, North Carolina, but you may hear her call it Rufton
Class: 2017
Major & Minor: Psychology & Dance
Campus Activities: Dance Ensemble President, Dance Team, formerly in FreeWord (she insisted on the formerly, but then didn’t want me to put that because she still loves it)
Relationship Status: Sorry everyone, she’s taken. It’s a long-distance relationship, which she called “#theworst.”
Celebrity Crush: Benedict Cumberbatch, Helena Bonham Carter, Emma Watson, Oscar Isaac, and Beyoncé.
Hogwarts House: Hufflepuff. There’s no way I can bold this to capture how she said it.
Favorite Food: Homemade macaroni and cheese.
Favorite Disney Movie: She likes different ones for different reasons, but the first one she thought of was The Lion King, followed by Tangled. She then realized Inside Out counted as a Disney movie, which trumped everything else because, “Yay psychology for children and yay mental health awareness!”
Abroad: She went to New Zealand, which she described as “the most beautiful country on the face of the planet. It’s like living in a movie all the time, because even in a college town you see Lord of the Rings hills in the background.” While driving around the island, she said they were constantly stopping to take pictures. She was there for five months and still didn’t get to do everything she wanted to do. She added that if Donald Trump wins the presidency, she’s totally moving there.
Plans After Davidson? / Dream Job: At this point she went “Uhhhhhh” for a really long time. She said, she used to know, and now she doesn’t. When she discovered psychology she was sure she was going to be a counseling psychologist for children, and while she still likes that idea, she’s reconsidering. She’s now more interested in starting some kind of non-profit for underprivileged children that would involve dance classes with counseling, but she’s still fleshing out the idea. She would most like something that would bring together working with children, dancing, and mental health.
Loud Voice?: As her friend Matt discovered, her voice comes in at 2000 Hz, or 2 kHz, which is the most annoying frequency for the human ear to hear. That also coincides with her naturally loud voice that projects itself. When she’s talking or laughing, you hear her above everything else, especially in Commons. Her mother came to pick her up in preschool and asked the teacher, “Do I hear Darby over everyone else because I’m her mother or is she just that loud?,” to which the teacher responded, “She’s just that loud.” Her voice is loud, and she embraces it.
Best Songs to Dance To: For quality dancing, Beyoncé, anything Beyoncé. “Shut Up and Dance” and “Shake It Off” for ugly dancing. And then anything with a good twerk beat.
What’s it like running the largest club on campus?: She said, “It’s great, but it’s a lot.” She’s usually not thinking about how large it is, because she generally works with her eboard, which is only seven people. She’s more focused on delegating tasks to her eboard and herself, but she will probably think more about it once it gets closer to the show. She also wanted me to plug that the show is Friday, April 8th at 5:30 p.m. and Saturday April 9th at 5:00 p.m., and she wants everyone to go.
Do you literally dance all the time?: Yes, she dances all the time. She’s in offseason now for dance team, but in the middle of dance team season, she would have two hours of practice on Sunday, two hours of technique on Monday, one hour of lift on Tuesday and Thursday, two hours of Dance Modern II and two hours of dance team, and frequently had games on Wednesday and Saturday. She added, “that makes it sound like I’m complaining but it’s awesome and I love that life. I’m so sad not having games to dance at right now.” She rushed in later to say she also has an hour of dance practice on Wednesday for DE and spends countless hours doing eboard stuff. She then gave a shout-out to Dance Team because, “I love my team, they’re the greatest” and they help her get through.
What team?: WILDCATS!
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