FARGO — A few years back, on the first day of dance class at Gasper’s School of Dance and Performing Arts in Fargo, middle-schooler Alejandro MullerDahlberg was up for a challenge.

“The first thing I said to him was ‘I’ll give you $1 if you can touch that beam on the top of the ceiling,’” dance instructor Patrick Kasper said. “He jumped and hit it easily and perfectly. That’s an example of how Hondo works. He’s hard-working and a nice guy who can uplift others around him.”

That nice, hardworking middle-schooler in Fargo is now 26 and dancing on New York City’s Broadway in the cast of “&Juliet,” a pop-powered musical that reimagines Shakespeare’s Juliet by giving her a new life after Romeo’s death.

Alejandro MullerDahlberg’s journey to Broadway began in the unlikeliest of places: his mother’s Montessori school in Moorhead. Terrijann MullerDahlberg wanted her students — Alejandro included — to perform in school musicals.

“She always took those very seriously and ensured we were taking them seriously,” MullerDahlberg recalled.

While the intention was to introduce children to the arts, young Alejandro was less than thrilled.

“I hated it at the time. I never wanted to do it,” he said.

It wasn’t until years later that he realized how formative those early experiences were. Along with the school musicals, he said a foundational influence was Steve Stine, a music teacher at the school.

“Steve was amazing. Everything I know musically now, when I’m reading sheet music, came from him. It’s crazy to think it started in elementary school,” MullerDahlberg said.

Alejandro is the oldest of triplets, followed by brothers Fabian and Giovanni. The boys first took dance classes at Gasper’s as 4-year-olds and Kasper said they stood out.

“Hondo wore green, Fabian red, and Giovanni blue to tell them apart or show their identities. It was fun,” Kasper said.

But the love of dance didn’t stick with the boys.

“I complained so much,” MullerDahlberg said. “I thought ballet was for girls, so my mom let me quit.”

The triplets turned to gymnastics, but at 14, Alejandro found his way back to dance after watching TV.

“That’s when the Nickelodeon TV shows like “Victorious” and “iCarly” were popular. I had this dream of becoming an actor on one of those shows. I found out that a lot of those actors got their start doing musical theater on Broadway,” he said.

That revelation prompted him to get up the courage to audition for a Gooseberry Park Player’s Production of “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying” in the summer of 2012.

He had no formal training for the audition, but he found inspiration in another dancer.

“I just picked the guy I thought was the best dancer in the room, stood right behind him and copied him the whole time,” he laughed. “I got an ensemble part, which changed my life.”

That summer marked the beginning of a deep love for dance.

By the fall 2012, Alejandro’s focus shifted entirely to dance, where he worked with Kasper and studio owner Matt Gasper on the school’s competitive team and in special events like

2015’s “Legacy: The Eddie Gasper Dance Tribute,”

honoring Matt’s father, Eddie, a one-time Broadway dancer and choreographer.

Kasper said MullerDahlberg is carrying on Gasper’s legacy by striving to improve.

“He was always the kid in the studio after class, still working on tricks and still working on dances,” he said.

“Every night, I’d stay up late stretching and working on my jumps in the basement, knocking things over,” MullerDahlberg recalled.

His talent and determination eventually earned him an academic and dance scholarship to the University of Arizona.

After graduating with a BFA in dance in 2020, at the height of COVID, MullerDahlberg discovered the world of ‘real’ hip hop and street dancing and studied the discipline.

He moved to Los Angeles, where he lived with his brother and sister, worked at a boba tea shop and made connections with choreographers. He booked his first major gig: a seven-month contract as a dancer on a cruise ship, performing ballroom, Latin, jazz and contemporary styles.

“It was an amazing opportunity, especially during the tail end of the pandemic when so many people weren’t working,” he said.

Despite the stability, life on the ship felt isolating. “The shows weren’t my favorite,” he said. “There’s a saying in the industry that sometimes you have to find a way to love the job you’re doing. But it was a great time to focus on my physical training and nutrition.”

After the contract ended in 2022, MullerDahlberg spent months networking and taking classes. He appeared as a backup dancer on “America’s Got Talent,” and performed in regional theater productions culminating in an audition for “&Juliet” on Broadway.

When his agent called to say he got the “&Juliet” part, MullerDahlberg was shocked.

“I was driving to the gym. I almost crashed the car!” he said, “Broadway always felt like it was for special people. I didn’t think I could sing well enough even to consider it.”

However, his dance instructors back home in Fargo saw it coming.

“We were all super excited but not surprised. Not many people work as hard as Hondo,” Kasper said.

Putting in the work on the dance floor and honing his vocal technique paid off when he signed a one-year contract with the musical as a swing, covering multiple male ensemble tracks.

Being a swing comes with unique challenges. “Some weeks, I don’t perform for 17 days. Other weeks, I’m on every day, sometimes covering multiple tracks in a single show,” he said.

Despite the unpredictability, he thrives on the excitement. “It’s really cool to work in an environment where I can do hip hop, sing and act.”

Kasper shared that he’s been fortunate to have MullerDahlberg occasionally return to Fargo to teach classes at Gasper’s — the very place where, as a 4-year-old, MullerDahlberg once thought dance was just for girls, and as a middle schooler, earned a dollar from his teacher for leaping high enough to touch the ceiling.

What advice does he have for students who might want to follow in his footsteps? Relax and don’t put so much pressure on yourself.

“A lot of people think they have to be ready to go right out of high school or college. That’s not the case. I didn’t feel like I was truly good until I was 24, after my cruise ship contract,” he said. “You understand that it’s a long, long, long journey. It’s going to be good; it’s going to be bad. You’re going to love it; you’re going to hate it. But as long as you never stop learning and training, you’ll grow.”

For now, the hip-hop dancer from Fargo is having a blast on Broadway.

“It always feels like I’m living to the max when I’m working on a production or workshopping a dance section,” MullerDahlberg said. “I never feel more alive than when I’m working to tell a story with my body.”