A math teacher turns a love of dance into a side gig as a high school cheer coach.

When Eddie Torres grew up in the small Central Valley city of Dinuba, he knew he wanted to dance. He joined the jazz club in fourth grade (where he performed “song-pom” numbers), the cheer team in eighth grade and a hip hop dance club in high school. But knowing his skills weren’t up to a professional level, Torres went on to CSU Monterey Bay and majored in math. Now 27, Torres is in his fourth year as a math teacher Salinas’ Everett Alvarez High and has finally brought dance back into his life: He’s in his second year as a cheerleading coach at the school, and in his first as head coach. So far, so good: On the strength of an Oct. 12 performance at a cheer competition at Great America, the Alvarez cheer squad qualified for the nationals for the first time in years. The group heads to Disneyland March 20-22.

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When you decided to cheer in middle school, did it feel like a courageous decision?

I was always the type of person to not let other people judge me. If I want to do something, and someone tells me I shouldn’t be doing it, it makes me want to do it more. My parents were really iffy about it. A lot of times I really couldn’t handle myself. There was a time I went into a really dark place.

Did your parents think you were going to get bullied?

I did get bullied, for doing [jazz club] in elementary school, and [cheer] in middle school. It just wasn’t something that was done with a male. I was different. I did something that was out of the ordinary for males to do, and considering it was a small town, a lot of people didn’t like that, parents and students alike.

Once you started doing cheer, did it cheer you up?

It did actually. My cousin was on the squad with me. She was the one who gave me the idea to do it. So I did it and it was fun, but once high school came, I stopped doing it because it wasn’t me. I was still trying to figure out what I wanted. That’s when I found hip hop.

Did the bullying stop?

Yeah. I think it was self confidence. I portrayed myself differently in high school. In middle school, I was the weak one. When I was in high school though, the people that used to bully me in middle school, I became friends with them. I wasn’t the type of person to hold a grudge, I would hang out with all types of people. And if there was that one person who happened to make a smart comment, it was something that I could handle. That was what’s kind of changed me, was knowing that yeah, I can handle it. Why should I let you determine what I’m going to do or how I’m going to feel? It was a good learning experience.

What kind of reaction has there been from the students to have a male cheerleading coach?

A lot of them [were] really surprised. A lot of guys say, “Well can I be a cheerleader?” And I say, “If you want to be a cheerleader, you have to wait until tryouts.”

Why do you think so many men struggle with dancing?

I don’t know actually, because everyone can learn to dance. Just like everyone can do math. You just have to take the time to do it, feel the music, feel the beat. It’s not just a variety of doing random things with your arms and legs. It’s like a set algorithm.

Can you twerk?

(Laughs). I’ve never tried.

Why do you think cheerleading is important?

For a lot of the girls we have here, cheer is their outlet. If they have something going on at home, or if something happened in class or with their friends, they know that they can come here and have a squad. It’s a unity thing, it’s a family thing. It’s another place to go to just kind of let loose. They want to dance, they want to cheer, they want to be a positive person, and they can do that here. They know that this is a place they can just yell their heart out and hit those moves.

What do you enjoy most about being a cheer coach?

Just being able to know [the cheerleaders] are happy about themselves for the work that they’ve done. Because getting there isn’t easy. If you ask any of them they will tell you, there have been a lot of ups and downs during practice. But when it comes down to that day where they’re performing or they’re cheering, when you see their faces and how happy they are just to get there, it’s amazing.