Misty Danielle Copeland was born on September 10, 1982 in Kansas City, Missouri. Even though she was born in Kansas City, she was raised in San Pedro, California. Misty was very late in starting ballet studies, but it didn’t stop her. Usually, ballerinas start studying when they are three or four, but Misty was thirteen when she took her first ballet class. When she unlocked the magical world of ballet, Misty was coping with the fact she was living in a shabby motel room with her five siblings and fighting for a place to sleep on the floor.…
Melba Pattillo Beals is one of the Little Rock Nine Kids who had written a story about what happened during integration. She had to find her strengths when she was chosen to integrate into Central High School. She had found out how to find her strengths from different sources, such as her family, her religion, her friends and other African-American leaders. She had many times in her life at Central High School to find a strength on her own. Such as when the white girls in the girls bathroom through fireballs at Melba and trapped her in a stall.…
Bilateral club feet causes the feet to point down and in towards each other which makes it impossible to walk. When I was six days old the doctors put me in casts to help move my feet into a normal position. My parents would bring me to the doctor every week to have them recast me and stretch out my achilles tendon The process was very painful, my mother said that I would scream and cry every time they stretched my feet. Even though it…
Over the next few years, I would run to class, frazzled and panting, hair half up, to spend the entirety of it staring at the clock, waiting to get home in time for dinner. The school moved people up to the next level every year, so I had no motive to get better at Ballet. Don't get me wrong, I loved how controlled and structured ballet could be. How it takes extremely complex movements and makes them look simple and elegant. I just hated the environment I had to be in to do it.…
Dance as a profession is very hard on our bodies both physically and mentally. Personally, this is something that I ask myself every day, but I know that deep down inside that dance is what I live for. Twyla Tharp realized that if you create art and love dance, you’d best believe in yourself with no ulterior motives. It took her seven minute dance on stage to give Tharp the development backbone she needed to continue in the dance career. Martha Graham once said that it takes ten years to become a dancer.…
A heart, like a magnet, with return home, on the opposite sides of the world or not. Sometimes it takes a great journey to appreciate the little things in life. It took a trip away from home for me to realize this. This past summer, I spent 5 weeks of my sunny days in Kansas City, Missouri for a ballet intensive. This trip helped me realize the importance of family and comfort.…
When I was younger and there was music playing, I would be dancing like there was no tomorrow. Being a freshman in high school, joining the break dance team was probably one of the best decisions I made. I spent four years on the team, and I don’t regret any minute of it. From performing in pep rallies, going to competition, and just bonding with the team, I’ve made memories that will last a life time. The main down fall on joining the break dance team was how expensive it was since every year we went to two different competitions.…
Good day parents, In order to continue to work on strengthening the physical ability of the gymnasts in the Academy, we would like to introduce a new program "Exercises on Pointe". The feet of the gymnasts plays a tremendous role in the execution of movements: balance, pirouettes, leaps- requires strong feet. Work on pointe helps gymnasts properly set the feet, strengthen their balance and toes, helps to develop an elastic, strong arch, and overall builds proper alignments of the body during execution. These classes are recommended for students 9+ years old.…
People are shaped by their surroundings. These influences come in the form of anything from elementary school teachers to religious awakenings, from mission trips to news articles. For me, these influences come in the form of dance, God, and opportunity. Unexpectedly, dance has made a major impact on who I am. Though I started at age three, I've been dancing at a Vaganova-style ballet academy for seven years.…
I was somewhat devastated when my grades started to go down and I had to quit gymnastics. A lot changed for me after that. I tried other sports, but nothing excited me like gymnastics. The transition was long but eventually I was able to find another…
During the Spring Break of 2015, I had a two hour dance camp Monday through Thursday on top of my regular classes. On Monday Carly challenged me to dance 50 hours that week; I laughed. However, I wanted to accept her challenge as much as I could so I set a goal to practice 24 hours that week. Each day I worked on a specific dance. These consisted of the Reel, Light Jig, Slip Jig, Single Jig, Treble Jig, Hornpipe, and a set dance.…
In dance, you learn quickly that without pure dedication and drive you will never be successful. While talent can come naturally, skill and technique only come with hard work. I spent countless hours in dance studios growing up, working tirelessly to hone these skills and perfect technique. A lifetime of dance taught me what it means to have discipline and dedication to a craft, values which I have also seen reflected in my clinical experiences. Medicine is a practice which calls for just as much discipline, dedication, and drive.…
From my last year of study, there has not been much that has changed from my perception of ballet. So far, I noticed that I made progress in improving my technique as well as having a clearer focus while learning the combinations in class. I want to improve in whatever way possible to make sure that I can keep on top of my technique, especially since I look forward to striving forward through this semester as a continuation of last semester. On the first day back of the new semester, I already knew that I wanted to break some of the bad habits that I had and wanted to find any way possible to make the goals a primary focus. Even though I have my strengths and weaknesses, I want to further myself this semester to grow as a dancer by breaking some old habits that are holding me back.…
Change, though scary, is inevitable, and it often leads us to a place better than one we could have possibly imagined for ourselves. For far too long in my life, I forced myself to stay dormant, because even though I didn’t like where I was, I felt that moving on meant failure. Since I was four years old, I was a freestyle ice skater, which means I would do jumps and spins. I loved skating- the feeling of flying while doing a jump, or performing in front of a panel of judges felt exhilarating. That is until one fateful day when I was ten years old.…
Discipline, balance, and commitment. These three concepts are the most valuable factors a dancer must present in order to perform to their best ability. Teachings that not only develop a dancer into a skilled entertainer, but also help form a well taught human being. As a child, I was never a prima ballerina and my love for dance didn't begin at an early age.…