“There’S A Place I Must Get To. It’S Not A Place You Can

I’ve always dreamt of dancing in New York City and this summer I earned the opportunity to live out that dream. After auditioning and waiting months for a result, I was accepted into the Rockette’s Summer Intensive. The program was, in brief, intense. I went into the intensive not knowing anyone, first time in New York, and all while the stress looming over my head that I was performing with strangers the challenging choreography that was just thrown at me in seven days. The first few

The next day was my first rehearsal. I was so anxious about meeting the people who would be part of my court. I am not an extroverted person, so the thought that I had to socialize with people who I did not know made me really nervous. I was also really anxious because it was the day that I was going to give the announcement of what they were going be wearing. The girls would be wearing long silver dresses and the guys would be wearing tuxes with pink accents. When I gave them this information Moises said, “Silver?!” and let me say that it was not really encouraging.

This semester in dance class I have had a wonderful time and learned a lot of things. We’ve had some great times in dance this semester, like when we were doing our show, “How the Grinch Stole the Nutcracker”, I had a lot of fun. I did many things well but, there was a lot I could work on,too. I remember that in our ‘Ice Skaters’ dance, we would do a Jazz split and I was really good at that! Also,we would do a “tabletop stand-up” thing and I was also really good at that, that part was really fun. In our “Samba” dance we had to make up some poses to do at the beginning, and make sure we remembered to use levels, I was pretty good at doing that! Even though there were many good things I did, there were also many things I wish to work on. I really

Our coaches had told us since the beginning that the months and months we would spend preparing for one particular day would all be worth it in the end. Taking place at New Castle Fieldhouse in early March 2015, I competed in the IHSDTA Dance team competition with my fellow teammates and members of the NHS dance team. We walked into the vast, expansive Fieldhouse knowing that it was the largest High School Fieldhouse in the Nation. The anticipation in the air was electric and full of excited chatter of girls who had been preparing for months for this one day… actually for these two minutes.

During my high school experience, I have truly embraced the arts, specifically performing arts. Tri-School Theatre (an extra-curricular, educational theatre program) has been a great opportunity where I have been able to appreciate my talents while learning about theatre with other students. Being an active leader in this program, I constantly collaborate with students for rehearsals and events; after my junior year of high school, I was nominated to be an assistant director for a children’s production, Aladdin Jr. Having much enthusiasm for the arts and promoting theatre at school, I was thrilled with this opportunity. Theatre has strengthened my self-confidence,

Growing up, my family has moved around frequently. With each place I’ve lived have come new opportunities and challenges. After my parents divorced, I moved to Savannah with hopes of attending Savannah Arts Academy, one of the only performing arts schools in the state. After a rigorous audition process, I was

Sophomore Mayra Gomez has mostly AP classes and she is in Dance Production. How does she do it all? Well, Mayra has found that during the dances she is not in or during breaks, she can do her homework. Gomez says she gives one hundred percent in every dance otherwise the dance looks sloppy and weak. Did you know that she choreographs dances in her free time? She does and she plans to audition those pieces so that they can be in dance concerts held by Grace Davis High School. Mayra says that being in Dance Production is very stressful, but at the same time it is fun because you and the members of Dance Production become one family who share embarrassing moments; they share tears and smiles. Although Dance Production looks well-put and organized,

As I walked into the intermediate room at Monsters of Hip-Hop, the nerves inside of me built up like a hot air balloon. I was stretching in jealousy of other girls and boys as they showed their amazing talents. I start to worry if I mess up on the choreography, out of nowhere the choreographer Laura Edwards comes in. I look at my mom in fear,

With a great cast of people and wonderful, creative directors, the shows at this high school gain a lot of praise from others; students, teachers, friends, and family. No one really sees what goes on backstage, or what happens to prepare for the show, other than those involved in the production. As the choreographer for the school musical this year, there were many aspects of Lucky Stiff that I had to oversee. This included teaching students choreography, making sure they knew their places, and keeping everyone in line while pleasing the director, assistant director, and stage manager. The first month of preparations for the show was when all of this occurred. With the help of my co-choreographer, we taught various dances to the entire cast - thirty people total. Sometimes confusions and hindrances popped up, in that we had to come up with and teach choreography on the spot. At various points my co-choreographer and I were not always prepared, but being able to work as a team to teach everyone what they needed to learn was what mattered to the both of us. In fact, the two of us worked very well together, and we both received great acclaim for our work from those who had seen the musical. I truly enjoyed working with my co-choreographer; in preparation for the musical and what we had to teach we would bounce concepts off of each other, come up with many ideas

I am Shanna Woods, a dancer, mother, life and college student, dance instructor and aspiring choreographer. I have dance before I could walk. I decided I wanted to dance after watching a video of Dance Theatre of Harlem’s Giselle in the 5th grade. At that time, I didn’t know becoming a dancer was a possible career. It was just something we all did in the community; shaking our non-hips, doing the tootsie roll, and whatever we saw on the music videos. I remember making up dances for my friends and forcing my cousins to learn routines for family reunions and other gatherings. You can say, I was always a choreographer at heart. I began serious training at Middle School of the Arts in West Palm Beach, FL. I also studied chorus. I became a dance major at Dreyfoos School of the Arts also in West Palm Beach, FL. Through Dreyfoos I was exposed to Graham with Jan Goetz, contemporary modern with Gina Buntz, ballet with Jeff Satinoff, as well as guest artists like Ben Vereen and Reginald Yates. I also trained at Southern Dance Theatre in Boynton Beach where I studied ballet, jazz, and gained my love for Bob Fosse through Dancer’s Edge Dance Company.

teacher had us practice one final time before the performance and she saw how I had failed to master the piece.

Picture a casual day in the life of an ordinary girl: going to school in the mornings and performing her chores during the evenings. Now, reorient this to a day where she lacks of time to balance homework and sleep as pulling all-nighters is a quotidian activity where the exclusive task is to execute all her responsibilities. This vigorous alteration portrays how my life has changed in the preceding years. Antecedently, I was able to attend Orland Ballet's Summer Intensive. Challenging my daily living, I was chosen to dance with Ballet Concierto's professional dance company. Subsequent years later, I am able to face the challenges to come.

I attended the Young Choreographers Showcase on January 28 in Brackett Theatre at 8pm. I was very excited to attend because one of my friends was actually in the show as a dancer! However, this was not only about the dancers, the showcase featured student choreographers from the University of Oklahoma, allowing them to display their talents to create various types and genres of dancing. In order to make the show, choreographers had to submit their pieces via audition and were selected by a series of judges. The performance included several short numbers, each thoughtfully choreographed by University of Oklahoma students. The show was very fast paced and included various types of dance, mostly traditional, classic and contemporary. I thoroughly

My hands were shaking, my body was shaking, I was feeling very uneasy about the dance. I still felt I had not gotten enough practice. I performed the dance with a smaller group of people than the full group so that we could all be examined by the judges more carefully. Being examined more carefully was extremely stressful. The judges were able to see my every step. My heart started racing as the music started. There was no turning back now. Everything I worked for reflected on this moment. All my worries washed away as I took the first step. I was halfway done with the dance. The hardest part was coming up. Leap, turn, place my leg carefully so that I could land in the perfect way. Heart thumping, anxiety coming back. As I was in the air I moved my leg so that I could land perfectly and all of a sudden I fell. I messed up but had to continue. I felt so embarrassed but I was very proud of all the work I had put into memorizing it. The dance was over. I messed up one time but I kept reminding myself that everybody messes up sometimes. I was afraid of the results that I would receive on Sunday. I woke up to an email that I had gotten onto the JV dance team along with my friends. I was ecstatic and so were my friends. Ever since dance started I have gotten so much closer with the girls that I dance with and I would definetly recomend dance team to anyone who is interested in

My dance studio is where I have learned many life lessons that I would have never learned elsewhere. With the discipline and corrective criticism that all of my dance teachers have thrusted upon me over my past fifteen years of dance experience has shaped me into the dancer and the person I am today. However, with all the difficult practices and many long nights at