Today on our student spotlight we are featuring a young lady who is a mere 10 years old! Taylor Tran studies at Nuevo School of Contemporary Dance and lives in Placentia, CA with her family…

1.  Can you tell readers how you became involved with dance?

I started dancing about 5 years ago when I was about 5 years old.  My older sister was always at the studio dancing, so I hung out there watching the other kids.  I started with the combo class of ballet and tap.  I was very shy and attached to my mom so I didn’t want more classes.  I must have done okay because I was the only one from my class asked to move up to join the competitive team.  I’m glad I did because that was so much fun and I made a lot of friends!

2.  What do you find you like best about dance class?

What I love best about dance class is ballet!!!!!

I look forward to Mr. Francisco’s ballet classes and it is my favorite style. I like doing my own hair in a bun and I keep it up even for hip hop and my other classes.  I like learning new moves and positions and try to get better.  Ballet and my leaps/turns class are the most fun!

I want my mom to home-school me so I can have more ballet classes.  She says no!

3.  What is the hardest part about dance for you?

The hardest part about dance for me is my stage presence.  I have a hard time remembering that I need to smile and keep smiling.  I keep getting graded down because of this.  My teacher is the funniest when he draws a smile on paper and puts it up to his mouth to remind me.

I also know I have a long way to go before I can project my feelings and give emotion for the song.  It is awkward to me and I hope I will be able to some day soon.

4.  What advice would you give to other dancers?

I would tell other dancers who are shy, like me, to keep on dancing.  I would like to tell other kids to work hard in the classroom, listen to your teacher’s corrections, and to go to ballet class!

5.  How has dance changed your life?

Dance has changed my life because every day after school I look forward to it.  I want to go see my dance friends, listen to cool music, and compete or perform with my company.  If I wasn’t dancing my mom would probably make me go play tennis, piano, archery, fencing, skating or gymnastics.  If I didn’t have dance, I would probably spend all my time watching TV or playing on my iPad.

It makes me happy when I can dance every day!