biography
Derrick James Hayes was born on March 23rd of 1987 in the Parkchester community of The Bronx, the second-born child of a shaky relationship between Jerome Hayes and Latasha Hunter, a couple that for all their troubles probably shouldn't have been trying to settle down with a family so young. Although their initial throes of love were the greatest imaginable, deep and full of a passion neither would have expected to reach a quick end once puppy love set off for the realistic expectations of a life together, giving birth to three kids in an economy that only grew rockier as they grew seemed to take a toll on the family and, in 1997, when Derrick was ten, her parent's divorced, leaving the three Hayes siblings -- older brother Damien and younger sister Tanya -- with their mother while their father moved on to greater pursuits (or at least the hopes of them) in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

Growing up, the siblings became extremely close. Damien would watch over his siblings where his mother, in her efforts to try and keep their household afloat by holding down two jobs, couldn't. Whether it was helping out with homework given he had already been through the same coursework a year or few before to making sure they were fed three square meals a day even if they weren't the best sack lunches, Damien essentially became their father figure, creating a strong family bond between the three of them which continued down the line with Derrick, in turn, doing his part to help when he was old enough to.

Although there was a time and place for him to follow his older brother's example, there came a point where Derrick started stepping out on his own. While Tanya sought out the finer things in life to do with fashion and make-up and, as Derrick had put it once upon a time, "girly ventures he wanted nothing to do with lest she make him look like a clown," Derrick found dance. Though the likes of Gene Kelly and classic dance routines were certainly things to appreciate, it wasn't something he had grasped on to as greatly as those moments where b-boys and hip-hop styles had their time in the spotlight. And, thankfully enough or perhaps luckily enough, through some trial and error, Derrick was actually good at it.

Despite their separation, years old at this point but still a struggle, Latasha did her best to make due with her children's growing interests and lives, holding down two jobs just to be sure they could afford even a fragment of their childhood ambitions. It was basketball for Damien, which came surprisingly easy considering every other extra cirricular activity he could have found himself in on his penchant for sports; dance for Derrick, which had become a beast of an effort thanks to auditions and classes outside of school grounds; and cheer for Tanya which had come only after that dilemma of following her older brother on the same course. Unfortunately, there was only so much family income and only so much help she could rely on from children growing up far too fast, and it wasn't long that she had taken to some less than legal means to make ends meet. It had been enabled through a new beau, through someone Derrick hadn't taken the time to know, Latasha pushing whatever dime bags of pot or prescription pills she could get her hands on for a couple extra twenties here, maybe a benjamin there, which at least put a little more food on the table.

It was during those high school years, Derrick approaching the end of his senior year, that the illegal dealings of Latasha and said beau came to the attention of the police who had, without a doubt, caught her red handed. Already off to college thanks to a scholarship earned from a stellar basketball career during his high school years, Damien was well out of the way over on the shores of California, leaving Derrick to become his own emancipated adult at the age of eighteen while his sister, with two years of high school left, transferred out of state to live with her father. It wasn't easy, suddenly without every measure of regular support he once had, but thanks to a grandmother, his father's mother, in the Bronx, at least he had a roof over his head. There was a silver-lining, after all, found in being able to focus more readily on himself than Derrick and his siblings trying to keep together the shambles of their parents' failed relationship.

While his sister took to Cosmetology studies in Boston and Damien took to a rather modest job in Business Management thanks to a bad knee ruining his basketball dreams, Derrick continued on his path to greatness which, for the moment, included taking care of his grandmother while balancing dance lessons - both professional and whenever he had a spare hour or two to practice on his own - and a dead end job that was only there for a paycheck. After all, stacking boxes and taking inventory wasn't exactly what he wanted to do with eight hours of his night, but it was better than not returning his grandmother's generosity in opening up her home to him.

His residence with her lasted until 2012 when she passed with much of the aftermath taken care of by his father as his mother, Latasha, was still trying to find her own feet after her release and subsiquent falls back into the very same habits that had gotten her in trouble, once more relinquishing Derrick to finding his own way. Thankfully, with a few friends in fair enough places to at least set him on the right course to finding a place to stay that wasn't a box on the streets, he was able to find a space with a roommate, a contemporary dancer he had met during a class, in the East Village, Manhattan, a considerable step up from his grandmother's home in The Bronx.

It was during these first couple of years here that he met one Tegan Lafferty, the two hitting it off and starting a long distance relationship of six months time, maintained by the occasional flights out to California as well as trips to New York City. Unfortunately and as was the case with any number of long distance relationships he had ever heard about anyone being in, the distance and lessening time 'together' became a defining factor, especially when Derrick's pursuits in dance came to full circle and auditions started lining up left and right - be they for projects with his friends, videos and showcases to get his name out there, or professional efforts in small, local shows. The break up was mutual, nothing born of bad blood or bad feelings, and when Tegan moved to New York City in December of 2014, taking up residence in the very same apartment he had been sharing with Ashley for a couple of years, it was just like welcoming an old friend into the fold.

As of 2015, Derrick has found himself teaching part-time at a small studio, offering up his services and talent for various projects throughout the city - be it as a dancer or in choreography for others - while holding down a full-time job at an art salesman for Devon Beckman in Chelsea. Life as he knows it is great and he's just waiting for the next thing it throws out at him.