Dance
Written by Joanne Park
I’ve been dancing since I was six years old. I remember it as always being a part of my life, but I only started taking it very seriously in middle school. Dance is a discipline that I rarely see represented at Uhill, so I wonder if people underestimate, or overestimate, how time-consuming it can be. There are a variety of styles in dance, and I personally practice ballet, contemporary, jazz, tap, and hip hop. Of course, there are subgenres within those, but they are too many to be listed.
I dance for 9-11 hours, 6-7 days per week, and outside of dance classes one is expected to rehearse choreography, stretch, and maintain technique acquired in the last class. During the weekends I teach younger students, which in turn teaches me how to create choreography and determine what is best for another dancer. On weekdays I have classes of my own to take and struggle through, while I also have to simultaneously try to precariously balance homework and sleep on top of that. Seeing as I usually come home from classes at around 10 in the evening, I usually pass out -after showering- and rush through my homework in the mornings or lunch. I was told numerous times before the school year to either give up the AP exams or my competitive dance team, but I was sure that I would manage both... I still stand by that. Academic challenge is essential for improvement, and dance has become an irreplaceable part of my life. It is the aspect that sits between work and play, while most other activities like reading –purely fun– and math –purely work– sit snug in their respective categories. Dance is also a niche of mine in this academically driven school, and is a part of how I identify within it, even if the standard for dance is rather low here.
Admittedly, as much as I love performing and the art of dance, I dread parts of the lifestyle. Technique classes such as ballet can be tedious and difficult – although it is definitely the best glute and posture exercise to exist. On another note, as a person of colour, I see little representation, and in a class of twenty white girls I can’t help but notice that I am the odd one out. It may not seem significant at first, but seeing an increase in diversity of dancers in media has made it a more welcoming medium to aspiring artists. There is a huge pressure to look and act a certain way. Still, the stereotype of a graceful/tall/lean/white dancer remains an expectation for many, and certain dance institutions are often still biased towards them.
I hope that anyone with a curiosity for dance won’t harbour any hesitation towards trying it for fun, because it is an ever-growing art. There are new styles developing all the time, and media is becoming very accepting of that, although I might not extend that statement to whatever “Fortnite” is doing...
Shameless Plug: The dance club has meetings every Friday at lunch, where the dance studio is open to those who want to rehearse or create their own dances!
I’ve been dancing since I was six years old. I remember it as always being a part of my life, but I only started taking it very seriously in middle school. Dance is a discipline that I rarely see represented at Uhill, so I wonder if people underestimate, or overestimate, how time-consuming it can be. There are a variety of styles in dance, and I personally practice ballet, contemporary, jazz, tap, and hip hop. Of course, there are subgenres within those, but they are too many to be listed.
I dance for 9-11 hours, 6-7 days per week, and outside of dance classes one is expected to rehearse choreography, stretch, and maintain technique acquired in the last class. During the weekends I teach younger students, which in turn teaches me how to create choreography and determine what is best for another dancer. On weekdays I have classes of my own to take and struggle through, while I also have to simultaneously try to precariously balance homework and sleep on top of that. Seeing as I usually come home from classes at around 10 in the evening, I usually pass out -after showering- and rush through my homework in the mornings or lunch. I was told numerous times before the school year to either give up the AP exams or my competitive dance team, but I was sure that I would manage both... I still stand by that. Academic challenge is essential for improvement, and dance has become an irreplaceable part of my life. It is the aspect that sits between work and play, while most other activities like reading –purely fun– and math –purely work– sit snug in their respective categories. Dance is also a niche of mine in this academically driven school, and is a part of how I identify within it, even if the standard for dance is rather low here.
Admittedly, as much as I love performing and the art of dance, I dread parts of the lifestyle. Technique classes such as ballet can be tedious and difficult – although it is definitely the best glute and posture exercise to exist. On another note, as a person of colour, I see little representation, and in a class of twenty white girls I can’t help but notice that I am the odd one out. It may not seem significant at first, but seeing an increase in diversity of dancers in media has made it a more welcoming medium to aspiring artists. There is a huge pressure to look and act a certain way. Still, the stereotype of a graceful/tall/lean/white dancer remains an expectation for many, and certain dance institutions are often still biased towards them.
I hope that anyone with a curiosity for dance won’t harbour any hesitation towards trying it for fun, because it is an ever-growing art. There are new styles developing all the time, and media is becoming very accepting of that, although I might not extend that statement to whatever “Fortnite” is doing...
Shameless Plug: The dance club has meetings every Friday at lunch, where the dance studio is open to those who want to rehearse or create their own dances!