by Landon Dyksterhouse
Daily Lobo
His nickname is Dancer.
Everywhere he goes, he carries a CD player, portable speakers and a stash of electronica.
It started one morning when he was dancing before history class with his headphones on at Dane Smith Hall. He said fellow students started watching him as he began to let himself go.
Joshua Arellano had a revelation. He said he realized people around him needed to hear what he was dancing to.
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Arellano started carrying some Memorex speakers and a CD player to school so other people could listen too.
"The speakers were pretty bulky and took C batteries," he said. "It was a pain in the ass to carry more than anything else. I got a lot of reactions from that, and I found something here at UNM by spreading the music."
In 1999, Arellano used to dance in front of Taco Cabana. He would get off work from Walgreen's at midnight and park his car in front of the restaurant, turn up his music and dance until four in the morning. After a while, the area became too hostile for Arellano to dance at night.
Arellano, a business major, said he uses electronica music to go about the day with a positive attitude. He gets smiles and gestures from people. Some even mock him.
"I think it's crazy," said 19-year-old sophomore Darren Thompson. "It looks like he is dancing for attention, but he's a good dancer. I think it is a good way to spread the music."
Arellano stressed that electronica music - played at raves and often associated with drugs - is not negative, despite how some media depict it.
"This music is a positive outlet and not just a drug music," Arellano said. "I personally have never done any drugs. This is a sober person who dances during the day."
Despite being a drug-free and law-abiding citizen, Arellano has gotten in trouble for playing his music too loud.
One evening Arellano was driving on Montgomery Boulevard dancing with his glow sticks and his music turned up loud. A cop pulled him over twice that night and cited him for violating the noise ordinance.
Arellano turned the negative situation into a positive one.
"I went to community service," Arellano said, "I loved it. I was the only one in community service who worked hard. I was having a good time taking advantage of the situation. The more positive you are in a situation, the better the outcome is."
Arellano also said people have to live in harmony with one another.
"One of my favorite quotes is, 'Who are you when the lights go out?'" Arellano said. "When people go to a rave where the lights are out, there are no cultural differences, there are no religions, and there are no races. You can have a group of complete strangers who connect on a human level."
