Duet in discipline: Coeur d'Alene's decorated dancer-Guardsman

By ELENA JOHNSON

For Coeur Voice

Staff Sgt. Andrew Enriquez hopes you won’t roll your eyes at this.

Joking that his gratitude for the National Guard could sound like “propaganda,” the 30-year-old staff sergeant says, “I just want to express my affection for my career and the opportunities I’ve had.”

Those opportunities encompass nearly 12 years of national and international travel, fluency in Chinese, meeting his now-wife, Tuesday – and becoming Coeur d’Alene’s own Bing Crosby, marching and leaping across a stage.

From pas-de-deux to Private

Although he happily plans to stay in the Guard until retirement, the military wasn’t his first career choice.

Not long after his first social and Latin class at North Idaho College, Enriquez was accepted as an apprentice corps-de-ballet member at the Anaheim Ballet.

Despite his love and talent for the art, he suffered frequent injuries and began looking for an alternative.

“I was thinking, ‘where can I apply this discipline from dance?’” he said.

Noting the changes he saw in his brother, a former marine, he considered the military. His family suggested the reserves, noting it may be easier to start part-time for someone with a more “sensitive personality.”

But that’s not to say a dancer can’t handle military life. In fact, as the staff sergeant recalled of basic training,

“It wasn’t as difficult as I thought,” citing dance as a key factor of his preparedness.

“I remember thinking [in basic training], I could replace everyone in this platoon with dancers and their execution would be flawless.” - Staff Sgt. Andrew Enriquez, Army National Guard

Classical dance typically involves rigorous strength training and drills, expected to be performed ad nauseum. It’s perhaps no surprise Enriquez felt well prepared for the Army.

Despite occasional teasing for the ways ballet has “not so subtly” influenced his calisthenics, he is grateful for what dance has taught him.

“If there’s one big lesson I’ve learned from dance…it’s that initiative and resilience are important. Initiative gets you started. Resiliency helps you stay in the game.”

The U.S. Army Soldier Show (birthplace of God Bless America)

The name “U.S. Army National Guard” likely doesn’t conjure up images of ballet shoes and tights, but Enriquez continues a long tradition of soldier-dancers.

The tradition started in World War I with Sgt. Irving Berlin. A seasoned performer and songwriter before the draft, Berlin created “Yip! Yip! Yaphank!” - a sort of variety act to boost morale and raise funds for the boys in Camp Upton.

Berlin and his co-stars performed light-hearted songs with war themes in uniform, not unlike the characters of the film “White Christmas” – and yes, they really did march into the crowds for the finale.

The show, including classics like “Oh, How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning” was so popular it was revived on tour for Broadway to boost morale in the next World War. Renamed “This Is the Army,” the show finally debuted “God Bless America,” which had been cut from the original for being too depressing, said Enriquez.

New versions of the Soldier Show, as it is often referred to, continued with the likes of Ronald Reagan – and Andrew Enriquez.

Enriquez has performed in two iterations – the 2010 U.S. Army Soldier Show (Version 27.0) and the 2015 “We Serve,” dedicated as a tribute to Vietnam veterans.

Despite the cast earning Unit of the Year honors from Salute Magazine, We Serve marked the end of the show. For now, funds have been allocated to other programs such as the Army Olympians to spread messages of morale and resilience.

New beginnings

While 2015 marked the end of an era for the show, that wasn’t quite true for Enriquez. In 2016 he moved back to Idaho, where he met his wife, Tuesday Graff, a soldier in the same National Guard unit in Boise who hails from Garwood. He says their shared experience of occasionally “embracing the suck” helped them to get to know each other and fall in love.

He also continued to dance with Ballet Coeur d’Alene (until director Cici Klein retired in 2012) and the Virginia Ballet Company and tries his hand at acting and directing, when he isn’t actively serving.

He was also able to dance again for the National Guard Birthday Gala this December, a poignant piece of his own design in commemoration of Pearl Harbor.

After working as a North Idaho recruiter in 2017, Enriquez returned to his skills as a Chinese language linguist – another opportunity he credits to the National Guard and Department of Defense Language Institute. Though unknown to either of them until much later, Tuesday was also there studying Korean at the same time.

Now a cryptologic linguist in Virginia, Enriquez uses signals equipment to identify and translate foreign language communications for national security. According to the official Goarmy.com, linguists play a crucial role as the nation’s defense largely depends on information gained from foreign communications.

Cryptologic linguists also carry the army’s second-heaviest load of batteries and equipment, said Enriquez, so that resilience and strength training from dance is still coming in handy.

But despite all that dance has done for him, it’s his gratitude for the service Enriquez is most excited to share.

“The (armed) service has really taken me places I never could have anticipated.”

So far, he has visited much of the continental U.S. and Hawaii, as well as more than seven countries, including Taiwan, Korea, China, Italy and France.

“I’m not sure I would have ever left the continental U.S. without the National Guard,” Enriquez said.

He has had his performance poster hanging in the Pentagon, met multiple Chiefs of Staff, received a Challenge Coin from National Guard General Joseph Lengyel for his Pearl Harbor remembrance piece , and even met actor Bill Murray.

His continuing dance career and appreciation for discipline, resilience and initiative have continued to be both supported and supportable during his service.

“I feel incredibly lucky to have had the chance while serving to use the skills I’ve built and to tell these stories of resilience … I’m so glad I was given the opportunity.”

Although Enriquez is now working in Virginia, it’s likely Coeur d’Alene hasn’t seen the last of him. Making time for this Coeur Voice interview between his back-to-back performances of the Virginia Ballet Company’s “Nutcracker,” chances are good this career soldier will be around again soon to spread the word on dance, resilience and the National Guard.