When Opportunity knocked … Daryll Borges answered.
The Vegas entertainer performed as a drummer and vocalist for 24 years before he joined Opportunity Village as its music mentor and eventual supervisor of the organization’s Boyd Gaming Fine & Performing Arts Program. “I started here when this whole art program was in its infancy,” says Borges. “When I was hired, it was put on me that we wanted to be able to have our individuals express themselves on stage. And I basically said, ‘This is Las Vegas; we need to have a Las Vegas-style show.’”
Borges spent eight years working with Opportunity Village’s disabled students, including the Elvis tribute group OV Elvi, with dance mentor Kristina Robinson until 2018. Then he began to oversee the arts program led by a staff of professional artists, dancers and musicians who’ve become mentors themselves. We recently caught up with Borges to learn more about his involvement and passion for music at OV.
You were performing in the Las Vegas tribute band Bee Gees Gold and The Australian Bee Gees Show while you were mentoring at Opportunity Village. How was that?
OV was very kind. It’s a big organization, but they still have that small organization mentality where everyone’s a human being and we all have other interests. They were great about giving me a chance to take a couple days off if I needed to go travel because Bee Gees Gold traveled all over the place — South America, Canada, New York, all over.
The cool thing about that is when you work at a place like this, and you do what you’re doing, it doesn’t matter if you’re away. If you love what you do, you’re always an advocate for it. I would take the opportunity to walk out in the audience, and if there was somebody out there with a disability, and if I recognized it, I would go straight up to them and just start singing to them. It brought a little bit of OV with me on the road. Somebody would say, “You seem pretty comfortable with doing that. We’re not used to having people so comfortable,” and then I would tell them where I worked. It was a chance for me to spread the news, advocate a little bit. From that, we actually have an individual that works here at OV now who saw me perform.
Were you aware of Opportunity Village before you began working there?
The only thing I was aware of was their thrift store. It was one of the best thrift stores in town, so I would always shop there. I always remember walking in and going, ‘Wow, they employ people with disabilities, that’s kind of cool.’ A couple of friends had told me about the Magical Forest, but I never went to it. A friend of mine, who danced at the [Rio’s] Voodoo Lounge, came in to apply for the dance mentor position at OV. And in that, the person interviewing her said, ‘We’re looking for somebody to teach some music. If you know anybody, let me know.’ So she immediately texted me and said, ‘Opportunity Village is looking for a music instructor.’ And I’m like, the thrift store? (laughs). I told my friend, I’ve just been a performer, I’ve barely taught any lessons to anybody, let alone people with disabilities. Her advice was, ‘D, what else you got going on? You’re struggling for gigs, you lost your gig at the Voodoo Lounge. Give it a shot.’
What was it like, transitioning from a performer to a mentor?
It was scary to begin with. I didn’t know what I was getting into. This also came at a period of my life where, being an entertainer, you have to always think about the self. Because basically you own your own business. You’re really absorbed in your own product. And I knew there was a part of me that didn’t want to be there. I wanted to figure out a way to serve others. On top of that, a couple years earlier, I’d gotten sober … and I knew this was a chance to get out of my head and start working with other people, and seeing what I could do.
I adopted a ‘say yes to everything’ attitude. My first day at work is embedded in my head. I remember walking into our workspace, and everybody in there jumped up and ran at me to give me a hug. I was like, where am I? (laughs). This is the Disneyland of work! This is unbelievable, completely opposite of what I had been doing for many years before.
The bands at OV have done a lot of performances over the years. What’s been your favorite?
The one that jumps right out to me is performing for Carlos Santana. We had, gosh, I think it was 27 people. It was a hybrid of staff and individuals that we serve. I put this band together and pretty much wrote out a medley of Carlos Santana tunes. We had a bunch of people on percussion, we had singers and then we had a staff member who was the guitar player—that guy was in the hot seat; I felt so bad for him (laughs). The drummer we had was an individual that we serve. He was a great drummer, but the guy had a lot of self-doubt. There were a couple of times I had to take him aside and say, ‘You’re the engine ... and you can do this.’ It was a lot of speaking to him as a drummer, sitting with him one-on-one and just getting him through the rough spots. Come the day of the performance, the guy just nailed it. The look on his face afterwards, the look on everybody’s face ... sorry, I get a little emotional sometimes.
It’s totally okay.
The smile on his face, it spoke volumes. His confidence levels shot through the roof. There’s been many times like this, where we’ve had different individuals and you just see the change happen. That is by far the best part of the job.
Opportunity Village is 70 years old this year. It’s an amazing feat, considering how often Vegas sees things come and go. How does it feel to be part of such a big and impactful thing?
It’s an amazing feeling, because 13 of those 70 years that I’ve been here, I’ve already seen a lot of changes. We have multiple campuses around town, we’re serving as many people as we can. But now, we have residences. There’s Betty’s Village next door to this campus. We have people that are living independently.
I think what I really dig is that OV has always been entertainment-based. It’s always had a relationship with the entertainers here in town and the entertainers have supported it. I love that OV is so ingrained in this community. This wasn’t my original community until 1998 when I moved here, but it’s home now.I love being a part of something that has that legacy and it’s a big legacy. OV pretty much in Nevada is the organization that sets the standard, whether it’s in our programs or government advocacy. They’re always progressing and pushing forward for the people we serve.
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