Hi! I'm Shania, and I'm also a dancer, but before you ask, no, I am not a ballerina, lol. Ironically though, I was classically trained in Ballet from the age of 3 to the age of 18, and I hated every second of it.

I don’t blame my Mom for putting me in Ballet classes because she ultimately helped me find my love for dance, but for 15 years, I was stuck in a place where I felt as though I did not belong. It was a local Christian Ballet company that performed twice a year; one performance being a “fun”, watered down, Jazz and Tap show, and the other being either the Nutcracker or a story from the Bible. Sometimes, the owner would decide to perform random movies, like Narnia, which included me being forced to play a baby bear, but I desperately try to exclude that from my memories…

Now, don’t get me wrong, I loved learning and reenacting scenes from the Bible, and I can always get down on watching an Atlanta Ballet rendition of the Nutcracker, but me and performing Ballet do not go hand in hand. Although people say Ballet is the foundation of all styles, due to its strict technique, which is true, it is never wrong to explore outside of what you think are your artistic boundaries. So, throughout those years, I made it a goal to find my style of dance; one that I could actually enjoy and flourish in.

I auditioned for and attended many summer intensives (basically dance camps), such as the Governor’s Honors Program, Alvin Ailey, Kennesaw State, and many others where I found my love for Modern Contemporary. My teachers discouraged me in so many ways in attempts at convincing me to stay at where they thought I was comfortable, claiming that I could never get enough out of styles like modern and hip-hop, and that I would always fail at being a well-rounded dancer due to my specific training. Yet, their discouragement became my fuel for further perfecting my technique, and led me to where I am now.

After being accepted at the University of Georgia, I immediately claimed my minor as Dance, filled every remaining class in my schedule with dance courses, and began to perform in most of our Dance Department shows (hence my picture). Additionally, I plan to participate in internships and more intensives this summer to build my Dance portfolio in hopes of becoming a commercial dancer. And although Ballet still has a bitter spot in my heart, my teachers were unfortunately right about it being a foundation, so I do kinda take it every semester, haha.