Where do you dance?

I dance at Academy of the Arts. My mom owns it, and I spend a lot of my time there.

What types of dance do you do?

I do tap, ballet, jazz, hip hop, modern, and I’m on a competition team. Modern is my favorite though.

How long have you been dancing?

I started when I was two, so that would be about 13 years.

Do you compete?

Yes, and I have been competing since I was three, so that would be about twelve years.

Have you won any competitions?

I haven’t won any with a solo, but you don’t really win a competition. Everyone gets an award, and then there are overalls for highest score in each category, and my teams have won a few times for that.

At what level do you compete?

It depends on which dance I’m doing, because it is your level or how many hours you dance every week. So, for solos it would be based off level, and for groups it’s based off average number of hours of the people on the team. Most of my dances right now are in the intermediate category, which is the middle category. My younger sister’s in a duet, and she is in the advanced category because her and her partner are amazing.

How often do you dance (how much per week)?

On Monday, four hours, on Tuesday is two hours, Wednesday is five hours, Thursday is three and a half hours, and on Fridays I don’t actually have any classes, but if my mom lets me I go down and work on my own. So over all that’s about fourteen and a half hours a week, and sometimes on Saturdays we have extra practice. So up to twenty hours a week.

What got you into dancing?

My mom opened the studio, so she got me into it. I started with combo classes, which are a mix of tap and ballet, and moved up into tap and ballet, then jazz, then modern, hip hop, and tumbling all at the same time. Then I realized that I’m not very good at tumbling so I stopped doing tumbling.

Why would you be interested in pursuing dance as a career?

Because it’s fun, and it’s all I’ve ever done. I’ve never done any other sports, like soccer or basketball or anything.

Does anyone else in your family dance? Is it a hereditary thing?

My mom dances, and teaches dance. My sister dances, my cousin’s kids dance, and one of my cousins teaches dance in Nebraska. My other cousins dance as well. It’s a big family thing.