The garage was a stage, shuffling feet kicking up dust and debris, clouding the illuminating headlight beams from the cars in the driveway. The air was filled with enthusiastic cheering, chanting and a beautiful, rhythmic blend of percussion, vihuelas and harps.

But Ernesto Duran-Gutierrez, CAS ’20, isn’t focused on watching his family folklórico performance — he’s sifting through the crowd looking for his next opponent. With an unbridled confidence, he searches for anyone courageous enough to accept his challenge: a dance-off.

“It could have been cousins or my mom’s friend’s kids, whoever I could find and convince to battle me,” says Duran-Gutierrez.

His passion, drive and competitive spirit are the driving forces behind Duran-Gutierrez’s life. These traits, instilled by his family and those around him, allow him to keep reaching beyond his goals.

Finding Rhythm

The son of two Mexican-American parents who were both dancing fanatics, Duran-Gutierrez couldn’t escape dancing in his early years. His father was a trumpeter in a jazz band and avid ’80s hip-hop fan, while his mother was a ’90s rap aficionado.

“Growing up, we’d go to parties, quinceañeras or weddings, and there’s always music playing and people dancing,” explains Duran-Gutierrez. “My parents, aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, everyone would be out there dancing.” 

While his family has a rich history in Hispanic and Latin dance styles, they’re not afraid to venture off into different, newer forms. “My grandma, who’s in her 70s and partially deaf, will destroy anyone in the Wobble,” laughs Duran-Gutierrez. “She can’t hear the song too well, but can feel the bass and knows what to do.”

Dance didn’t become a serious part of Duran-Gutierrez’s life, though, until second grade, “Which is honestly, pretty late to start,” explains Duran-Gutierrez. “Most people start ballet around three, so I had to play a little bit of catch-up.”

The mid-2000s was the prime era for hip-hop dancing, making it the perfect time for Duran-Gutierrez’s interest in dance to explode. Music videos were still being shown constantly, MTV debuted a dance competition show and movie theaters were chock-full of dancing movies including “Stomp the Yard” and “You Got Served.”

“I was constantly watching," explains Duran-Gutierrez. "Whether it was movies, music videos, YouTube, it didn’t matter. I remember watching Gene Kelly in ‘Dancing in the Rain’ and the one where he danced with a mouse, ‘Anchors Aweigh’ ... I was just fascinated. It was so different from sports, different from anything I knew.”

While those aforementioned ballet dancers were getting their formal start at a young age, Duran-Gutierrez’s parents were getting him involved in sports. In high school, he was a three-sport athlete — a bowler, a running back for the football team and a thrower on the track team — allowing him to scratch his competitive itch.

Duran-Gutierrez went to two different high schools. He didn’t move or switch high schools after sophomore year, however; he went to two different high schools at the same time. “It wasn't like a co-op or anything. It was literally just two different high schools in two different districts,” says Duran-Gutierrez. “One was where I did my conventional schooling and all my sports, and then the other one was a performing arts school.”

Doing this allowed Duran-Gutierrez to get the best of both worlds — dance and be heavily involved in sports — and it only cost him a couple of extra classes over the four years. Being able to do both also helped him achieve the goal his parents laid out for him. “They told me, ‘we don’t care where you go, we don’t care what you do, but you’re going to college. But we can’t afford it, so you have to get it paid for,’” Duran-Gutierrez says.

While Duran-Gutierrez was attending the Saginaw Arts and Sciences Academy for their dance program, Oakland University’s student dance company performed for them. He was familiar with it, knowing a fellow classmate that had gone on to attend in the dance program, but it wasn’t until that performance that he started looking into attending.

“Everything just kind of fell into place with the financial aid and auditioning,” says Duran-Gutierrez, who was accepted into the dance program and excelled at OU.

While at Oakland, Duran-Gutierrez was a Keeper of the Dream winner in 2019; MaTilDa winner in 2020; Admissions Ambassador and Programming Assistant; OUTAS Scholar; a member of The Honors College; the president of OU’s D.A.N.C.E.R.S. student organization; a member of the Student Advisory Group in the School of Music, Theatre and Dance; and an Orientation group leader. He was a valued member of his 10-person dance cohort.

“I got super lucky I had my cohort,” recalls Duran-Gutierrez. “Each of us was so different and unique in our styles. We just fed off each other, never overly competitive or comparing ourselves to one another, just focused on bringing the best out of each other.”

In 2020, Duran-Gutierrez graduated with a BFA in dance and, as a well-decorated student, achieved more than he could have imagined. But he walked away with a stunning realization. “My least favorite part about being in a college dance program was physically dancing,” says Duran-Gutierrez. More intrigued by the theory of it than the action, he wanted to focus on how to push the envelope conceptually. “With acting, there’s a script. With singing, there’s lyrics. You can’t replicate dance. You can’t. I mean, people have tried to, but you can’t codify it.”

He found himself enjoying dance more while researching and studying different techniques and styles, expanding his knowledge of dancing as a whole rather than perfecting it on stage. He uses that knowledge he gained at OU to help inform others and choreograph new and exciting dances that go far and beyond for his students across the state.

Duran-Gutierrez’s ability to turn a childhood obsession — a part of his family’s culture, a skill that he dedicated nearly all of his free time to, practiced, studied, became infatuated with — into a career is what people dream of. He used this skill to not only make his way through college, but it also allowed him to thrive in other ventures at Oakland, as well as achieve what his parents challenged him to do.

Yet somehow it wasn’t enough. He had to go a step further and find a way to combine that skill with his other passion: sports.

Motown Moves, End Zone Grooves

“During my junior year at OU, a couple of my classmates were cheerleaders for the Lions,” says Duran-Gutierrez. “They told me the Detroit Lions are looking for some guys to run flags and asked if I was interested.”

He applied for the job as a member of the Detroit Lions Hype Squad in 2019, landing the gig as a flag runner. Duran-Gutierrez and the crew lead the team out of the tunnel before every home game, sprint across the end zone with the flag after touchdowns, interact with the crowd to keep the energy high, and help set up and break down halftime performances and promotional events in the stadium.

Photo Credit: Michael Ferdinande/Detroit Lions

Ford Field is unique in that it only has one tunnel, so both the Lions and the opposing team come out of the same place before each game. Duran-Gutierrez is smack dab in the middle of the Lions players and whoever they are playing pregame. He gets a close-up look at those intense conversations and interactions between players before kickoff. “You get to look the players in the eyes before they play,” says Duran-Gutierrez. “You can feel the tension in the air.”

The early years were tough. The Lions struggled in Duran- Gutierrez’s first two seasons with the team, going 8-23-1 with Matt Patricia as head coach. “Those years were brutal,” he says. “We would start off full staff, both end zones were running flags. By the end of the season, we were only running one end zone because we just didn’t have enough guys that would stick around.”

The tides have changed with Dan Campbell being hired to lead the Lions, though, going from the Lowly Lions to Super Bowl favorites. Over the past three seasons, Campbell led the Lions to a 36-15 record, winning the NFC North for the first time since 1991 and in back-to-back years for the first time in the division’s 57-year history.

In 2024, the Lions were the top team in the NFC with a 15-2 record, securing the Lions a first-round bye for the playoffs and home-field advantage in their games. They didn’t have a storybook ending, losing to the Washington Commanders in the Divisional Round, but it was still a historic year for the team.

Quarterback Jared Goff came in fifth in Most Valuable Player voting, leading the No. 1 scoring offense in football, meaning Duran-Gutierrez and his team ran plenty of laps in the end zone with their flags, while the notoriously raucous Detroit fans erupted.

“I remember for the playoff game, they set off pyrotechnics as we ran out. They warned us to be ready, that we might hear some loud bangs. The fans were cheering so loud it drowned out all the noise. I couldn’t hear anything else.”

Ernesto Duran-Gutierrez

Michael Ferdinande/Detroit Lions

Field-level access has not gotten old for Duran-Gutierrez. “Does it get old? No, no it does not,” he says. “There’s always something, we always try to take it one step further. Each game just raises the bar by that much.”

“One step further” — words that Duran-Gutierrez could use to sum up his life. For some, winning dance battles in the garage at family parties would be enough. Using a skill you developed over the early years of your life to make your way through college: That’d be fulfilling. Being able to share your experience and influence a new wave of dance students: It’d scratch the itch. Being paid to combine your two childhood passions is an extraordinary accomplishment.

Yet for Duran-Gutierrez, it’s not enough. He continues to thrive in his endeavors while still looking to do more.

“Oakland University has already provided so much for me to grow in all aspects of my life,” Duran-Gutierrez says. “Although the present allows me to fuel so many of my passions in my current roles, soon I hope to return to the classroom and earn a master’s degree from OU.”

“Dance continues to be the driving force no matter which role I’m in, because it teaches you to constantly be inspired, to look at things from all angles and to take action when words aren’t enough,” he adds. “My goal is to use every platform I’ve found myself in to keep those skills strong.”