Competitive dance builds confidence, teaches life lessons
Try spending anywhere from 12 to 40 hours a week perfecting nearly 1000 steps that will only matter for around three minutes. Everything must be precise and must exactly match what teammates are doing. Each movement must convey emotion and strength. There also must be teamwork because without it the hours of work all go to waste. Additionally, the routine will be critically judged against several others on criteria including spacing, eye contact, and energy. This is the life of a competitive dancer.
Alex Haag ,’20, performs at the Velocity Dance Convention where she is judged on her energy, spacing, and eye contact.
The many genres of competitive dance range from ballet to hip hop. Junior Lexi Bajusz stated, “My favorite genre of dance is definitely tap. There are many different styles of tap, but I [prefer] … Hoofer tap, which is very rhythmic and fast.” Another popular style of dance is contemporary, “a type of dance where you try to tell a story through your dance,” explained Jamie Holkovic, a senior.
Competitive dance, like any sport, teaches the students countless lessons that can be applied both in the studio and in the real world. Alex Haag ,’20, admitted ,“Doing what I do for so long has forced me to realize that working hard and staying out of my head is what is most important. Not judging my appearance, but striving to be better is the point.” Another sophomore, Maria Poppenhouse, declared, “Dance has taught me to have confidence in my personality and to not judge people by what they can do… but instead by who they are.”
Many Walsh Jesuit dancers such as junior Jamie Holkovic and senior Tori Ritzel have danced for anywhere from 10 to 14 years and have decided on their favorite part of competitive dance. Jamie remarked, “I love competitive dance because it gives me a place to express myself through an art form I love. I enjoy the competitive aspect because it allows me to critique my dancing to make myself a better dancer overall.”
WJ junior Jamie Holkovic takes to the air during her performance at the Celebrity Dance Competition.
Alex added that she loves dancing with her duet partner, junior Claire Westphal, and also commented, “I love being on stage and being able to demonstrate all the hard work I have put into my craft for so long. It allows me to feel positive emotions that I am never able to experience on a regular daily basis.”
