Dancer | My Story

I discovered my passion for dance in the magnet program at Hollywood Performing Arts High School under the mentorship of Keny Long. The moment I saw the advanced dancers in their production my 9th grade year, I knew I wanted to dance. I dedicated my time to multiple dance classes while excelling in my academics and succeeded in having my senior year dedicated to double ballet and modern dance classes. After graduating I was an apprentice for Winfred R. Harris’ Between Lines dance company. Afterwards, I was accepted to the Summer intensive at Alvin Ailey where I continued to study ballet and modern and was further introduced to new styles like barre a terre, tap, and horton. I continued my training with more intensives with dance companies like Complexions in NY, LA Contemporary Dance Company, Szalt, Ate9, Millennium Dance Complex, Edge Performing Arts Center, and Pierce and Valley Community Colleges, where I enrolled as a full time student. During my time at Pierce, I was majoring in Business but decided to switch it to dance. After completing my academics I decided to enroll in a 12 week certificated dance immersive program with a total of 228 hours and 18 units of different styles at the Edge. This prepared me for the UC’s and CSU’s dance auditions for my transfer. I was accepted to my top choices: the University of California, Santa Barbara, and Irvine. The decision was not easy but after researching both schools and speaking with alumni, I decided on UC Irvine. During my academic path at UCI, I was further educated in the different styles of ballet, modern—Horton, Dunham, Limon, Cunningham, Bartenieff, Laban Movement Analysis—African, Jazz, as well as the history of Jazz, and the importance of improvisation, along with music. My attendance also gave me the opportunity to work with multiple artists.