SAN ANTONIO — It’s pretty obvious that Antonio Padron loves to dance. 

“I mean, sometimes I like to compete and battle, but mostly it’s just… my true self," he said. "It’s just like, I’ll be voguing and dancing at a park by myself. Like, I just love to dance."

Padron's skills as a dancer earned him a spot on the HBO Max show "Legendary" where houses, which are vogue teams, compete in ballroom dance battles. His journey to a national spotlight began in the most “San Antonio” way possible: dancing at a quinceañera. 

“Even at the quinces, I would just straight up go in the middle and straight up start battling people. I didn’t really know how to dance, but I would just do it 'cause it was just fun,” he said.

Padron started to study ballroom in 2009, but he was a spectator because the scene in San Antonio was non-existent. However, things changed when he joined a crew in 2015 called House of Kenzo.

“I’m not going to say we were solely responsible for everything that happened in queer culture in Central Texas, but we were a crew that gave permission to a lot of gays to just come out and just be comfortable,” Padron said.

Padron explained how House of Kenzo hosted San Antonio’s first real ball, and then his solo performances created a lot of buzz. 

"Yeah, I had went up to a ball in Dallas and I walked a category and I won a category," he said. "That was a moment."

Antonio Padron sits at San Pedro Park, a space he would practice at during his free time. (Spectrum News 1)

It changed Padron's life because he developed a friendship with a dancer named Nemo, who offered Padron a spot to be in House of Luxe for "Legendary," where Houston rapper Meg Thee Stallion praised him. 

“One of the other judges, she gave me some criticism on my performance, but Megan was like ‘Nah, I thought he was the (expletive),’” Padron said.

House of Luxe was shorthanded due to an injury and they were eventually eliminated from the show. Right now, Padron is sidelined with an injury of his own, regardless of the boot his foot is in. He still DJs pushing the ball culture through. 

“I think it’s going to take about six weeks because right now I’m in a stage where the tendons are really tight and the muscle is lost, so I have to build that up,” Padron says. 

Padron noted he’s glad that at least, he got hurt doing something he loves the most: dancing. 

"When I dance, I reach a feeling and it’s just the best feeling in the world to me."