MOSES LAKE – Maximiliano Robert House has aspirations – and all of them involve having fun.

“I like to stay young and I party all night,” Max said.

Area residents may know Max as the young, redheaded dancer who very nearly took over the stage at Spring Fest during Vanilla Ice’s May 28 performance during the annual Spring Festival. The 9-year-old third grader in Heather Wilson’s – an instructor he describes as “a very nice teacher” – class at Peninsula Elementary School said he just likes having fun. His energy was caught by the crowd at the concert and smiles abounded as Max was encouraged to step up to the front of the stage and began dancing for all he was worth, something Max said he was excited about.

“(The best part of the show was) probably getting on stage and Vanilla Ice putting me in the front,” he said.

Granted, Max admitted that he was excited and had sort of snuck on stage between the barriers, though Ice had invited several residents up and nobody objected to his presence on stage.

Max loves dancing and was familiar with Ice’s music because his aunt Sofie DeLaRosa and mom, Roberta House had introduced him to it, he said. His favorite music is R&B, he said. He wasn’t sure what heavy metal was and looked puzzled when asked how he felt about Metallica.

“Who,” he asked.

He has strong opinions about Taylor Swift though.

“I do not like Taylor Swift when she’s depressed,” Max said. “If I go to one of her concerts and she started singing (a sad song), I will leave. I’m not kidding.”

Family also taught him a few of the dance moves he put to good use on the stage as a serendipitous backup dancer for Vanilla Ice. He credited his sister, 13-year-old Isabella House, and aunts DeLaRosa and Rosalinda Marquez with teaching him some of his steps.

Family is important to Max, but he also adores a recording artist, Stefani Montiel, he met at a quinceanera, he said.

The pair hit it off and Montiel and Max quickly got attached to one another, Roberta said. When the San Antonia, Texas-based singer comes to the area, they spend as much time together as they can.

Dance and music aren’t the only things on Max’s plate though. He’s also active in Taekwondo, school activities and theater.

In Taekwondo, Max has worked his way up and has a blue belt with a white stripe and he’s hoping to get his black belt soon. He enjoys doing the self-defense forms and would like to compete, but hasn’t been able to yet.

In the long run, he said he’d like to switch from Taekwondo to a dance class, but needs the school he wants to attend to have a position open up for a boy.

As the school year ends, Max isn’t thinking forward to fourth grade too much. He’s more concerned with water parks, riding motorcycles on the sand dunes, concerts, parties, slip-n-slides and the usual activities a 9-year-old might gravitate toward. He may also read a few mystery books or the occasional manga. One of his favorite reads is a manga he couldn’t remember the title of, but it involves a girl with telekinetic powers who is known as a stone keeper who goes up against an elf king, he said.

When school starts back up though, he’s likely to prioritize recess, lunch, math and science, based on preferences he stated during an interview with the Columbia Basin Herald.

Max likes living in Moses Lake and said he enjoys the size of the town with the people and enough space between houses.

“(Moses Lake is) a crunched up town, but not too crunched up,” he said.

Max has aspirations to move into entertainment and travel the world, he said, though he might just come back and buy a couple of mansions in Moses Lake one day. One for himself and another for his mom and aunts.

“I’m gonna be a movie star, and I’m gonna hit the world,” Max said.

R. Hans Miller is a U.S. Army veteran and father in addition to being the editor of the Columbia Basin Herald. He may be reached via email at [email protected].