Charlotte Gong can be easily spotted from far away with her pair of rocker chic distressed jeans, and with her voluminous supply of dark chestnut hair. You’ll catch her walking down the halls with her friends, laughing at a joke or two with a cheery smile. It’s hard to miss her sculpted and toned body, which can be attributed to her extensive dance history. Dance occupies most of her life, so when she isn’t dancing at Spectrum Dance Theatre, she’ll be winding down by watching a few of her favorite go-tos, like the Office, or Parks and Rec. And during the winter, she’ll be snuggling up to her Havanese dog, sipping on a cup of warm chai tea or hot chocolate. However, on the days when she does have dance after school, she will usually have time …show more content…
After a couple of years, she decided to mix things up by attending different studios including Cornish, Island Youth Ballet, and more, before realizing how much she longed for the dance education at Spectrum, so she returned to her original dance studio and seems much more satisfied. “Dance offers so many opportunities,” Charlotte explains to me as she looks off to the distance, “it provides not only a challenge physically and mentally, but also an opportunity to express your personality”, and that’s exceptionally important for teenage girls who sometimes struggle with finding a way to open up to outsiders. This hasn’t proven to be a potential problem to Charlotte, however, since she admits to becoming a much more confident person after these years of dance experience. As for what Charlotte wishes to pursue later in life as a career, she’s still exploring all the new opportunities she has, and for now, it remains a
As a youth, I engaged in many forms of dance expression. I studied tap, jazz, and ballet for fifteen years. During these formative years, I choose to forgo many youth experiences so that I could participate in advance dance programs. The hard work paid off when I received a college scholarship to a performing arts
I have been dancing since the age of two. When asked about my career aspirations, there is no hesitation before saying “I want to be a dancer.” Being a dancer means putting all other distractions aside, and focusing on my craft. Currently, I dedicate over forty hours a week to dance, which is a schedule that requires sacrifice. When I am dancing, the rest of the world fades away, slipping out of my mind with relaxed importance. For that moment in time, I am completely free, wholly focused on my goals, letting me know dance is what I’m meant to do. With this realization comes a responsibility to myself and the work I have put into improving my craft thus far, and I know I must seek out the best opportunities for growth and continued learning.
From kindergarten until high school, I was a member of the Jean Wolfmeyer School of Dance. Up to 5 days per week, I would be at the dance studio taking classes, rehearsing for shows, and helping out in the less advanced classes. Regardless of skill level, Jean never hesitated to speak the brutally honest truth about students’ performances and she never settled for anything less than perfection. Jean would often preach that she is only the instruction manual and she cannot make us good dancers, we had to do that for ourselves. However, it was not her critique or teaching alone that motivated dancers to perform well, it was her relentless work ethic and commitment to her studio. As a 70 year-old women, Jean held classes as much as 7 days per
It’s a year later and Leah loves ballet. She’s even trying to get some dance classes at her school. All of her football friends took some classes of ballet and loved it as much as Leah so now they’re in ballet too! Leah overall learned how the knowledge that her mom had versus her ignorance that knowledge is always going to win over
Of all the values that dancing instilled within me, I believe I learned the greatest lesson when I forfeited my first love. In my mind, I rationalized that school’s importance outweighed my devotion to dance. In my eighth grade year, my studio encouraged me to join their dance company, while my school implemented an academic plan for me that met my educational needs, which included placing me in ninth grade honors courses. Faced with the truth of the difficulty of balancing schoolwork with a demanding practice schedule, I reluctantly withdrew from my dance
“I remember going there to my sister’s classes every day and I was like ‘I want to dance to mom! I really want to dance’ and I always liked to dance so she finally got me in it. I was like ‘I like this!’ and I’ve been there ever since” she said.
I had just moved to Washington state and I auditioned for the local dance studio’s competition team for fun. I had no idea how talented they were. And I was just an untrained recreational dancer…Not surprisingly, I didn’t earn a coveted spot on the team it the first time I auditioned. That didn’t stop me from training seriously and auditioning for the team each year until I made it. And here I stand, now starting on my sixth year on the team and as one of the last people from my original team who decided not to quit when they started high school. Dance isn’t just twirling around in pretty pink tutus. What the general population doesn’t picture when they think of dance is the tremendous amount of strenuous work and the blood and sweat and tears that goes into every performance and competition. Certain dancers can’t handle it and quit when they realize they don’t have the passion. My passion keeps me living and breathing and most importantly, dancing, when times get
At college level and as a student at Laney Community College in Oakland, she minored in Dance and simultaneously, for 3 years, held the position of Administrative Assistant to the Dean of the Music/Dance Department. Joan also studied West African, Modern and Jazz dance during her time at the Laney Community College.
Jaspreana Tobias, a young girl born in the vibrant city of New Orleans, Louisiana, was a child who had grew up around music and rhythm and soul. Born to a family where the last person who was not from New Orleans was born two generations ahead of her, one could assume the rhythm was in her blood. Since she was little and could feel the music, the young Louisianan danced and did so with passion. Though her family loves music and all its counterparts, Jaspreana is the only dancer in the Tobias family tree. In high school, Jaspreana, a determined dancer, tried out for her school’s dance team. Unfortunately she did not make the cut. As any young woman would be, she was disappointed in herself; heart-broken actually. In her mind, she had a great chance at making the team, due to her skillful footwork and elegant grace as a dancer. In her own words, the result of her not making the team was “devastating” as it shook her confidence to the core. On that day, Jaspreana swore she would never try out for another dance team ever again. After months and months of sulking and great disappointment, her love and passion for the art of dancing returned. Not only had it returned, it returned with a new fire which burned deep in her soul. Dancing was her passion and being a professional dancer had been her dream since she could ever even two step to the sound of a simple beat. Jaspreana practiced and practiced. She would dance and think about dancing from the break of dawn until dusk. Finally
Tiana Woods is an ambitious second-year undergraduate student studying Political Science and Dance. She is currently attending Columbia University as a Kluge Scholar. Tiana started her learning journey in the East Orange School System at the Little Ones Preschool. Her Preschool teachers cultivated in her a passion for reading. Ever since then she has loved to tell stories through different art forms. Dance being her favorite platform through which to do so. For Tiana, there is something magical about being able to instantly connect with people of different backgrounds through movement. That's the beauty behind artistry in dance—movement can be interpreted in so many different ways, by so many different people. But it will always inspire. Tiana
In addition to dancing, Ali likes to hang out with her family and friends outside of school. Daily, Ali works hard to transition balance family, dance and
The spring chilliness of the air arose in the wind, creating coldness in Brianna’s spine. The buds on the trees were late as ever and was not absolved from their responsibility to sprout from their long break throughout the slow days of winter. The clouds in the sky were mostly grey, but the spirit of the sun was not dead, for it was shining its bright yellow color full of heat. Brianna was holding her bag in her hand for dance, which was her favorite sport most of all. It was the sport with her most talent in, it was the sport that was the most enjoyable out of all, and it was the sport she wanted to carry out maybe as life goes on. Her love and passion has always driven her to continue with the sport of dance and that was the most cherishing reason for her to continue competing and being involved in the sport and pastime. As Brianna’s mom called out that it was about time to go to the dance studio for dance practice, Brianna had quickly hopped in the car and with her mother joining her, they both started away to the dance studio, which was the place Brianna could get her mind off things including the stress of homework from school, or other things that kept racing on her mind. The only thing that would not vanish from Brianna’s mind was
Imagine with me, a ballerina who dances in classical ballets with a professional company, and then “retires” to start a ballet school and mentor young dancers in order to give them training in the arts. She and her students are actively involved in serving children in inner cities and poor areas in America, as well as mission trips and providing children in impoverished nations the opportunity to experience dance themselves. This is my dream as a dancer; to not only experience the gift of dance with a professional ballet company, but to give others the chance to experience that gift for themselves. I have been training with Affirmation Ballet Performing Arts for seven years, and dance has grown into more than just a hobby that I enjoy. Dance is one of my most important passions and a way that I worship my Creator. This beautiful art form has become a dream that I hope to pursue for the rest of my life.
A series of set of movements to music, either alone or with a partner. That is the definition of dancing. Dancing is a way to express one's feeling and to get active.
The first reason why teachers should integrate dance into education is that dance increases students’ attention and reaches students of different learning types. One study was done to determine whether lessons that incorporate movement were effective at generating student’s situational interest. They compared the outcomes of movement and non movement lessons in second and third grade reading and math classes. The teachers provided one week of lessons that included movement and one week of lessons that did not. Students were asked to use their bodies to illustrate specific concepts they were taught. At the end of the study, the teachers rated students’ interest levels, and they found that students were more excited by and engaged in the lessons that integrated movement than those that did not. Surprisingly, they also found that the dancing did not hinder the amount of content learned during the lesson (Lindt and Miller). Dance could be a