Where are you in dance right now?
BY EMMALY WIEDERHOLT
Where are you in dance right now? I posed this question to twelve high-school dancers last year. My intention is to ask them each year for as long as they respond, hopefully chronicling their growth through the practice of dance. Only eight of the original twelve high-schoolers responded to my survey this year. Nevertheless, I will continue this project until the last dancer stops responding.
Below are four of the dancers’ responses. On Monday I posted the other four. I hope these dancers continue to respond to my survey in the future, as I’m curious to find out where dance will take them.
Laurel King, 17
This past year I trained in the professional training division at The Rock School for Dance Education. Currently I am in Oklahoma City for the 3 week intensive at Oklahoma City Ballet Company. Also, I am going to the three week summer intensive at the Nashville Ballet Company where I will be in the professional training division in the fall.
From 2013:
Currently I am a dancer at The Rock School for Dance Education and it will be my second year attending the program in the fall. I love to dance more than anything and it has been my passion since I was four years old. I have attended four summer intensives and I am looking forward to furthering my education and training here in Philly!
Alexandra Lance, 18
This past year has been quite the journey as I prepare for the next step in my dancing career. I have been everywhere from Arizona, Florida, and Oklahoma auditioning for college dance programs and sent in DVD auditions to even more universities. I received multiple letters of rejection that made me question the path I was taking. It wasn’t until I auditioned at Florida State University when I truly knew I was making the right decision. Their program was exactly what I was looking for as it focuses on multiple disciplines and allows for choreographic development of their students. The university was also beautiful and exactly what I was looking for in the traditional college experience. This fall I will be attending Florida State University and pursuing a BFA in dance. I also plan to double major in marketing. I am not going to any intensives this summer but plan on working on my technique at my local studio before leaving in the fall.
From 2013:
Currently I am in a pre-professional dance company outside of Houston called Kingwood Dance Theatre. I am preparing to start applying for colleges and audition for dance programs. I feel that this past year I have experience significant growth in my dancing- especially in my upper body. Attending the San Francisco Conservatory of Dance summer program has pushed my dancing to another level and given me an even larger opportunity for growth! I feel this growth and maturity will help guide me in the right direction in choosing the college dance program that is best for me. I still have so far to go before I am ready for the professional dance world but I hope the steps I am taking right now lead me in that direction. I’m not going to lie- I ask myself everyday if I am good enough to get into any college dance programs, but I will work hard for these next couple months and see where life takes me.
Sydney May, 16
Dance is my passion, and has been for as long as I can remember, and I can’t see a time where it won’t be. I hope to be a professional one day, and am currently at a performing arts high school where I am pursuing a career. I hope to grow as much as I can every single day and know to be patient with myself as growing is a process, not a destination.
From 2013:
Dance is my everything right now. I go to Booker T. Washington HSPVA for dance, and I hope that I will be able to have the wonderful opportunity of making it my career. I dream of dancing professionally, and I will do whatever it takes to make the dreams come true! 🙂 Dance is my passion and has been for a long, long time and I never want to know what life is like without it.
Erin Yen, 18
As of right now, I have just finished a Giordano jazz summer workshop, and in a couple of weeks I will be attending the San Francisco Conservatory of Dance. This fall I will be entering college at Ohio State University as a BFA dance major. My interest in dance as a performing art, as well as a lifestyle choice, continues to drive my work in the field, and I am excited to be moving on to a new chapter in my study of dance.
From 2013:
I just got home from the San Francisco Conservatory of Dance and will venture to Cornish College of the Arts’ summer intensive this coming Saturday. Dance is a large part of my life right now as I experiment with what my interests are, and how those interests may play out in the future. This coming school year I will be a senior in high school, so I need to consider possible plans for after high school and how dance can fit into them. After training with SFCD, I feel as if I approach dance with a different perspective and have gained a more effective work ethic. I plan to bring this more refined attitude towards dance and dance training to my studies over the next year. I know that I have a lot to learn as far as dance is concerned, but I am willing to get as much as I can out of each lesson because I’d like dance to be a part of my life for a long time. That is where I stand with dance right now.