Reesa Partida is lacing up her sneakers for a run with her students. The shoes are one of the few possessions she has left after her home in Agoura Hills was destroyed in the Woolsey Fire.
“But we’re still running, yeah? Because life goes on,” Partida tells the students before sprinting down the track.
Running is part of the dance teacher's identity. Biking too, and she spent nearly every day doing one or the other in Malibu Creek State Park — which she calls her playground.
“The mountain is very, very precious to me,” she sighs. “It’s my favorite place to be. It’s so sad it’s gone.”
Gone, along with the home she rented and everything she couldn’t fit in the car. While she hasn’t returned home to see the devastation… her husband sent her photos and video, so she’s well aware of how much they’ve lost.
“Some bikes and bike parts,” she says, scrolling through photos on her phone. “My aerial stuff. I had a rig in the back.”
As students come to her class, she opens her arms to them.
“Hugs. Give me all the hugs. I need all the hugs today.”
Of course they know she needs a lot more than that. As soon as they heard her home had been destroyed, a few of them set up a GoFundMe campaign, soaring past their $5,000 goal within a few days.
“They’re so wonderful,” she beams. “I wasn’t surprised at all because they are like that. They’re just loving humans.”
“She’s just a teacher that really connects with people and really helps them grow and be the best person they can possibly be,” explains senior Zoe Rodriguez. “She definitely did that for me.”
Partida says she and her students share a special bond that comes from what she teaches – how to use dance as an outlet for emotions they can’t quite put into words.
“It’s all about expressing whatever you are feeling.”
And right now, she has a lot of feelings. But thanks to her students, one of them is gratitude.