My Dance Life

“I dance because there’s no greater feeling in the world than moving to a piece of music and letting the rest of the world disappear.” -anonymous

I dance because it is a part of who I am. When I am sad I dance, when I am happy I dance, there hasn’t been a single day of my life that I haven’t danced in some way.

I started dancing at Studio Dance when I was 3 years old and have been in love with it ever since. When I was 7 or 8 I was a snowflake in the nutcracker ballet when it came to Cedar Rapids. I started competing at age 11, and did my first solo when I was thirteen years old. When I was thirteen I also made it on the Kennedy Varsity dance team as a freshmen, this was my biggest dance accomplishment so far.

My sophomore year I switched studios and went to The Dancers Edge to further my ballet training. The Dancers Edge has opened so many doors for me and has given me many great opportunities already in the year and a half that I have been there so far. The director of the Russian Ballet came to our studio and did master classes with us which was an amazing opportunity to further my technique. Jaimie Goodwin an amazing professional dancer and choreographer came and did master classes with us and I happened to be lucky enough to be in a dance piece choreographed by her so I got to dance and work with her for a week. I also got to do a solo private with her that was very helpful and one of the greatest experiences I’ve had. They also had Bryan Tanaka, Beyoncé’s choreographer come and I got to take a master class with him. This year we are having another professional guest hip hop choreographer come in to set two pieces for us.  For the great tap dancers at our studio they had Kaelyn Gray a professional tapper and choreographer come and set two pieces for them and also teach master classes.

                The dancers edge made me fall in love with dance all over again, It made me realize how far behind I am and how much work I have to do to get there. I also have learned more about my body and injury prevention.  Jaimie Goodwin and my ballet teacher Mrs. Carol where looking at my alignment and realized that my ribs are offset and a little twisted they think due to a minor case of scoliosis. This is so helpful to know as a dancer because I am now working on how to find my center of balance and counter balance the minor flaw in my body. It’s a stressful thing but will help tremendously in the long run.

                The dancer’s edge and Kennedy dance team made me realize that I don’t want to be done with dance after high school.  My dream is to be on University of Wisconsin Madison’s dance team, or on University of Iowa’s dance team. Both teams are some of the top in the nation so I have a lot of work to do but I think that dancer’s edge is putting me on the right track.

                Some people wonder why I dance so much or how it’s even any fun because I do it so often; but to me dance is the most relaxing, and stress relieving thing in the world. It saves me from pointless fighting because I dance it off. It gets out words you don’t know how to say, it puts you in a great mood and it helps you met friends that will last a life time. I hope that I can dance until the day I die.