I have been a dancer for as long as I can remember. In second grade, once I moved to the US after living in South Africa, I joined a dance studio and started to dance competitively. I was a competitive dancer at this studio for all 7 years I spent in the US, and spent most of my weekly afternoons and evenings at the studio. I became best friends with the girls there, and will always to cherish the friendships made at that studio. Moving and leaving behind such a big part of my life in order to pursue a different sport in Germany, was initially challenging for me. However, I knew that it was time to take a leap of faith and try something different. I will forever and always admire the sport of dance, and all of the underrated, hard-work that dancers put in backstage.
Tuesday After-School Dance
From the start of the 2017 school year, until the following winter break, my friend Laura and I led an after-school dance class of about 30 students. We met on a weekly basis for an hour and a half, to prepare for a dance show we organized that occurred on December 12th. The show's theme was "Dancing Through the Decades", and had a total of 16 numbers that represented various dance styles from as far back as the 1700s, to current day. We ran two, day long, weekend rehearsals in preparation for the hour long show. We had to send out emails and print out schedules to give to the dancers entailing what hair and make-up needed to be done with what dances, we also gathered all of the dancers' emergency contact information incase anything unexpected occurred during the rehearsals, and had to work with the budgets given if any costumes needed to be purchased. Setting up a concise schedule for rehearsals was key to manage which of the 30 dancers needed to be where at what time. We also needed to coordinate with the tech crew to ensure that all music and lights were just as we planned. Fully being in charge of that many students, on top of organizing and running the dance show took a lot of work and energy to ensure a smooth operation. I learned a lot about collaboration, and the power that concise planning and organization has when it comes to putting on an event like this. The night of the show ran extremely smooth and ended up being a success.