Every wednesday I help with a tap class level 2 which averages from six to nine year olds. Helping with the class really makes you realize how much of a role model you are to the younger dancers. Yesterday we were working on a step and Kaitlyn said “I just realized I used to watch the olders girls do tap and now I’m one of them”. This statement really got me thinking because although she is only in the second level of tap the level under her still watches and looks up to them even though there still technically on the younger spectrum of the dance community in the studio. ]
Kaitlyn saying that really got me thinking about my evolution as a dancer and how i stared from the bottom and worked my way up. .I was the ”baby” of the group for very long time and now I’m one of the oldest. When I was eight I was asked to be in the dance company at Visions Performing Arts Studio. I was put the younger company. Since I was at the youngest age you can join company I had to wait eight years before I could move up. I was in the younger company at Visions until 2010. In 2010 I was asked to join the jr stars at Off broadway performing arts studio. There was quite a few people in the company however there was only two people in jr stars.I was 11 when I switched studios and was still the baby in the company and many of my classes. For the most part the same group of people who danced at Visions was in the company at off broadway so many of the older girls became my role models. When eight of the older girls graduated that's when I realized I was now the role model that the younger kids look up to My dance journey started when I was five. The first dance class I ever took was jazznastics but I didn't like it very much so after one semester I switched into tap. A few years later I started doing jazz and then eventually started ballet. I discovered I really had a thing for tap. I have been doing tap ever since I started and have experienced some cool opportunities. The first opportunity I was able to experience was a difficult tap piece called “breakout” which at age eight is a very difficult piece but I was able to dance with the older high school girls and even though I was about two feet shorter and not up to there level I kept up pretty well. This was a very big moment for me because it was the first piece I did with my role models. I thought about this when Kaitlyn said now I’m one of them because I was dancing with people who were way older then me and way more experienced. However the journey didn't stop there because last year I was asked to perform at the Wheatland Music Festival. This was a big deal because every year some of the best tap dancers of mid Michigan perform there. Being asked to be in it made me feel like I finally made it to the top even though I was the youngest one in it. Kaitlyn really opened my eyes to how far I have come and also made me realize you can be a role model at any age.
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1/13/2016 11:44:44 pm
I just realized I used to watch the olders girls do tap and now I’m one of them”. This statement really got me thinking because although she is only in the second level of tap the level under her still watches and looks up to them even though there still technically on the younger spectrum of the dance community in the studio.
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AuthorI'm Lenae and I'm full of life. Archives
February 2016
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