Cecilia

Interview Transcription Cecilia, Age 15

How long have you been dancing?

13 years.

How has your experience progressed

Sometimes you feel like you're not progressing at all, but then, like when you look back on it, you realize how much you actually have. Like when you're progressing currently, you don't feel like you're growing at all, but then you look a year back and you figure out how much you've actually grown in the past year. So it's hard to see improvement as it's happening, but it is happening.

How does it make you feel now that you are more experienced?

More comfortable. It's comforting to know that you've grown a lot and you can, like, fit into a room with people who are just as good as or better than you.

Does that intimidate you if you walk into the room and somebody is better than you?

I actually get excited because you can learn from them rather than feeling bad about yourself.

What does it feel like to you when you walk out on stage?

Like a breath of fresh air.

What is your favorite dance and how do you feel when you're in it?

Probably any hip hop dance because I feel like that's like my best style. And it's really fun to do. And it's something that you don't have to worry about your technique and like to focus so much on it. You just get to dance.

When you're in the middle of the dance, what is going through your mind?

Oh, so much like you have to, like, count all the music and, like, try to remember everything. But then, what’s the word I'm looking for? Like, the excitement of being on stage, kind of just, like, makes your mind go blank. So you try to stay focused and have fun at the same time.

What do you do when your mind goes blank? To pull yourself back?

Just like really listen to the music and like, don't look out in the crowd.

How often do you practice?

A lot. Counting weekends, like six days a week. Sometimes I dance on Friday, but it's basically every day of the week.

How is practice different than when you're actually on stage in a performance?

It's harder in practice than is on stage because practice is more conditioning and it's harder on your body and you're kind of training to perform and but performing you to make it look easy when it's really not easy.

What advice would you give to somebody who is a dancer just starting out?

To not give up, even know how hard it is and to not be hard on your body and to take breaks. And that it's okay to not have good days every day. And it's okay not to do 80 billion turns or to jump as high as the sky. As long as you love it, that's all that matters.

What was your favorite part of this whole experience?

How confident it made me feel. It's kind of like a different kind of confidence. Like you, getting in front of a camera is hard, but like, I don’t know it was like an experience I always wanted to have a photoshoot and it was liberating, and it was like everything I thought it was going to be.

Anything else that you want to say?

To just not give up on yourself. No matter how much you feel like you should. Because I know that I've thought about giving up, but then your love for it kind of takes over. So to just not let one bad day ruin what you love to do.