06/11/2026
SENIOR SPOTLIGHT—JASMINE
1) ‎How old were you when you started to dance and what are your first dance memories?
I started dancing when I was three years old. I remember going to parent watch nights with my parents to watch my older sibling's class. What brings me joy about those memories is that I would always have the urge to go on the floor with my sibling and do the dance moves that the older girls were doing, but I was always scared to. There were a few times where either a parent or older girl would encourage me to join them, and eventually I did. Little me always had a great time crashing the older girls' class once I brought myself to do it! Another great memory I have was sitting around the tv at recital with my classmates, watching the other girls dance, and talking about how cool they were.
2) What is your favorite dance memory from over the years?
It's really hard to choose a favorite, but one I cherish is when me and only one other girl in my class performed one of our recital dances at a park together. We were around 8 years old I think, and we were both freaking out because it was only the two of us doing the dance when there were supposed to be like twelve of us. We altered the choreography together to make it work and hyped each other up before we danced. We were pretty proud of ourselves and everyone really liked it. I like this memory because we were able to look past our fear and motivate each other at a pretty young age.
3) What skills or lessons have you learned from being in dance?
I'm very glad I learned how to count music and do a bunch of tricks. However, other than those things, I learned far more. I learned that I won't get what I want if I don't work hard enough for it. You really need discipline in order to accomplish things, and you can't give up regardless of how much you may want to. Motivation helps push you to get things done, but it comes and goes, and being in dance taught me how to keep going when it's not there. When we wanted to learn new tricks, my teachers always encouraged us to keep working for it, even when we got tired. Also, I learned to not compare myself to others, but rather myself. My teachers always encouraged us to not focus on how our classmates were dancing, and rather focus on being a better dancer than we were the last class. Everyone has their own journey and achieves their goals at their own pace. You have to do the things that support your journey, not someone else’s, and it doesn’t matter how long it takes you to get to your goal. It only matters that you get there eventually. Lastly, I grew up very shy and scared to talk to people. When I became a teacher’s assistant here, It put me out of my comfort zone and helped me become more confident in casual conversation, group settings, and eventually professional events.
4) What is your favorite recital dance ever?
This one is also a really hard pick, but I think it's "Baby I'm a Star" by Prince. It was a jazz dance my class did when I was in 8th grade, and it was choreographed by Miss Michelle. The choreography was challenging, and Miss Michelle had us drill the dance to make sure all of our moves were as sharp and together as possible. Learning, cleaning, and performing that dance was exhausting, but it turned out very well, and I was so happy she pushed us as hard as she did.
