Wharton junior no stranger to being in spotlight at Penn

Over the last month, the disappearance of David Dantzler-Wolfe has captured the attention of the Penn community. Missing person posters have dotted the campus with pictures of the Wharton junior. But who is the person behind the snapshot? Who is the student in the spotlight? It turns out that Dantzler-Wolfe is a performer by nature. The spotlight is normally where he appears at his best -- in a positive context, in an uplifting way. * Dantzler-Wolfe's godmother, Patricia Griffin, said he has always thrived on stage. According to Griffin, Dantzler-Wolfe started playing the violin at age three. She remembers duets with his brother John at church gatherings and community events. At Penn, Dantzler-Wolfe joined Chord on Blues, a student a cappella group, during his freshman year. College senior Ronjon Bhattacharya remembers Dantzler-Wolfe's audition well. According to Bhattacharya, the Chords had finished their four-hour auditions in a Hill College House lounge when Dantzler-Wolfe walked into the room. The members were sprawled out on the floor, disheveled and exhausted. "In comes David, and the guy's tiny," Bhattacharya said. "He looks like he's thirteen. I was wondering if he was even a Penn student." The Chords agreed to listen to Dantzler-Wolfe, despite his late arrival and their fatigue. They rearranged themselves in a semicircle -- twelve sets of eyes staring him down. But Dantzler-Wolfe was not fazed. "He starts jamming, he starts dancing," Bhattacharya remembered. "He was totally at ease, even though he didn't know any of us.... We were just totally blown away." That's how many describe Dantzler-Wolfe -- a performer who is totally comfortable on stage. Creative, talented and exciting to watch. According to several of the Chords, Dantzler-Wolfe arranged much of their music. They say he was about to be elected musical director when he disappeared. However, Dantzler-Wolfe is also known for his ability to freestyle, surprising the audience and even his own group. During a mixer with Yofi!, Penn's Israeli dance troupe, Dantzler-Wolfe performed a solo in his signature piece, U2's "Mysterious Ways." The two groups had crowded around a small dining room table, and Dantzler-Wolfe sat among them. But as the Chords neared the end of the piece, Dantzler-Wolfe stood up and belted out lyrics from a different U2 song. "You've got stuck in a moment, and you can't get out of it," he sang. Then Dantzler-Wolfe sat down, as if nothing had happened. The Chords say that is a typical Dantzler-Wolfe move. He lets himself go -- singing, dancing and rapping. "On stage he just did whatever the heck he wanted to do," Bhattacharya said. "He is so creative and so musically talented that he totally got away with it." Chords member and College senior Tommy Lee said that audiences love Dantzler-Wolfe's spontaneity. They respond to his energy. "He really tried to reach out on stage," he said. "He had a great presence." * But now the Chords will begin a new semester without Dantzler-Wolfe. They say they will miss his voice, his expertise and his enthusiasm. "He contributed a lot to our group," said Yee-Shin Huang, president of the Chords. "We're all very sad." But, of course, those close to Dantzler-Wolfe will miss more than his stage persona and his musical arrangements. "We are all terribly worried about David," Harnwell College House Dean Suhnne Ahn said. "Our hearts ache for his entire family." For Dantzler-Wolfe's friends and relatives, life is the stage now. And until they find him, they are all stuck in a moment and they just can't get out of it.

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