Banging on the drums and clicking on the sides, sophomore Elijah Ray Cruz has been drumming for the Lohan School of Shaolin for three years—continuously building his love for the instrument as the years go by. Now, Cruz performs for casinos across the valley owned by Caesars Entertainment or the Station Casinos.

“My first performance doing lion dancing was dancing alongside my brother,” Cruz said. “I was around ten at the time, and I didn’t really know what I was doing, but as soon as I heard those drums, I knew [that] that’s what I wanted to do.”

After starting his journey in lion dancing at nine years old, Cruz strayed from his brother and started down his path: drumming.

“When I first picked up sticks and started playing for the first time, it just felt right—something inside of me just clicked,” Cruz said. “I could feel the drum, and I felt I already knew the beats from lion dancing. My hands were just moving on their own.”

Once he began drumming for the lion dancers, Cruz discovered a talent that wouldn’t stop growing.

“It always felt a little weird drumming for casinos at a young age,” Cruz said. “I was the youngest drummer out of the group, and everyone else had been playing for years, but they said I was a natural drummer. I started doing drumline in 7th grade, about a year after I had initially started drumming. It taught me essential things like tempo, but my time drumming for lion dancers taught me a lot.”

After learning these new skills, Cruz applied them to his drumming and improved drastically.

“The first casino I did by myself was M Resort about two years ago,” Cruz said. “I was able to show my full potential and drummed for almost all of it by myself.”

While drumming, Cruz also noted that being in sync with the lion is important.

“It’s important to keep in mind what the lion is doing because the drum is supposed to be the heart of the lion,” Cruz said. “When we drum, we hardly even look down, and we mostly look at the lion and what it’s doing.”

Cruz takes his job as a drummer seriously and ensures that everyone he drums for has a reliable beat.

“I want the people I’m drumming for to feel safe and they can move on beat,” Cruz said. “I want to continue drumming so that my friends and family can all lion dance knowing that they have a drummer and friend they can rely on.”