When I say dance what comes to your mind? These days all everyone thinks of is those Tik Tok dances or dances and challenges made by

artists. Well dance is way more than that, dance is an art, sport, career, but most importantly it's a way of living. Dance comes in various styles and cultures but it's one of the ways it brings all of us together. I’m not experienced in all fields but these are styles I have been trained in ballet, tap, jazz, lyrical, contemporary, point, modern, character, musical theater, African, and a little bit of hip hop. I’ve been dancing since I was 3 years old (for ten years) so it's been a part of my life for as long as I can remember and will continue to be till my last breath.

I did my first professional play when I was 8 years old for Theater Raleigh, called “The Wolf” where I played a mouse, rabbit, and a school student. The following year I worked with the same company but we added another play that was based on the Shakespeare “A Midsummer Night's Dream” and there I played the role of a fairy named Mustard seed. I’ve done competitions from when i was 4 until i was 8 years old, but nothing matches the feeling when you finally experience performing in front of thousands of people not for a trophy but just to share your gift. From that experience it made me really realize that this is what i really love to do and want to continue to do. I then continued on with different plays such as Aladdin, Moscow Russian nutcracker, A Christmas Carol, and have worked with the Carolina Ballet in the Nutcracker and Sleepy Hollow. Working with the Carolina Ballet is a humongous deal that requires a lot of dedication. People always told me that for my first year I would get a rookie kid role such as a mouse or a soldier….but jokes on them because I was roled as a Party Girl & A Gingerbread.

Working around professionals 24/7 is a little suffocating but it teaches you that one, you never know whose watching and two, that you should always give 110% in anything you do. Another big part of dancing in Theaters, i´ve performed at a lot such as the Carolina Theatre, Magnolia Theater, Kennedy Theatre, Duke energy center Theater,UNC auditorium, and most importantly DPAC!!!! I performed there only three times with Carolina Ballet but I performed there for a whole week during A Christmas Carol. A Christmas Carol was my first professional Musical so it was a totally new experience. I was mainly a dancer because i CAN NOT sing, but i still received amazing roles such as a Chimney Sweep, Marlette, and Vegas Dancer. I was the youngest but that didn’t mean anything since

made wonderful relationships with all of them. Spending hours on hours rehearsing requires a lot of sacrifice, time, hard work, and pushing yourself to the limit, but to me its all worth it when you go up on stage with lights, cameras and props surrounding you and most importantly the PEOPLE!!! Interacting with the crowd and seeing their reactions to the performances are priceless especially when you get to sign autographs and know more about them and their love for the show. All of my performances are ballet based but Aladdin was my first pay where I performed in pointe shoes, pointe shoes are paper mashayed ballets shoes that make up a box for the dancer to stand up on their toes. Pointe shoes require preparation tho, such as toe pads, toe spacers, and if you get blisters or calluses then you’ll need toe tape too.

Pointe Shoes are slippery on stage so i was sooo nervous and scared but it brings a different feeling and emotion out of you, it’s a whole new experience. Dance is always about sharing, receiving, and thriving off of Art. It’s a way of life that’s full of evolution, movement,communication, learning, teaching, and most importantly passion. All of these experiences have brought me to where I am today and prepared for the future, dance is my passion and way of living. It's my past, present, and future...that’s what dance is to me.

Article by Kameron Draper

^{My dance team is Royal Legacy Dance Company. My Coach's name is Armani, and she used to dance in college. She always wanted her own dance team. This dance team started in 2014. I started dancing on the team in 2018. When you first start your gonna think it's hard, but you have to stay and try harder and get better. When I first started I didn't know how to dance, or flip, now I'm a beast. First she put me on stand battle, then I was junior drill master, now I’m company captain, which is captain of new girls and minis. Minis consist of girls 8 years old or younger. When you are on Royal Legacy you travel. We have been to Memphis, Augusta, Atlanta, and a lot of other places. I love my dance team and the people on it. We don’t just dance, we have fun as a big happy family.}

^{Article by Sharell Caviness}

We hear it all the time. If you work hard in school, you will live a successful life. For some kids though, this kind of learning isn't working for them. First of all the “Modern” education system we are currently working in was made 183 years ago in 1837 during the industrial revolution when people transitioned to machines to help make products to mass produce. Leaders in the system admit that at the time this system was made, it was for the sole intent to train people to work in a factory. Also, we are forced to be taught some subjects that don't relate at all to our desired career path in life, or life at all. For example, I myself dream to be a computer software engineer. Now I don't think that I need to learn symbols on Asante culture in order to design and make things like motherboards and Arduinos.

Although SOME teachers don't do this, it's important to note that most of the time all we do is follow instructions. For math the formulas they provide are unnecessary, or inefficient. Also some students are rewarded for doing exactly what they are told to do. These are industrial revolutionary values that are not suited for most jobs today, plus how far can you get in the world by just following instructions? The world right now values creativity, communication, and collaboration with others, but with the system that is present now children won't be able to further strengthen those skills.

There is also lack of control/autonomy because when working no one else is just going to create your schedule regarding what to do and when to do it, plus the dangerous message the system is giving is that they are not in charge of their own lives and that they have to do whatever is laid out for them instead of taking charge and making the most of it, that's the reason children don't like school because they are always told what to do,

Also learning in school is inauthentic because most of the time material is gone the next day and it relies too much on memory. In fact we are only tested on memory, making it an unhealthy way of learning, kids spending hours on tuition classes and studying useless facts that they will forget soon, and there seems to be no indicator which solves the students question on “what am I good at?”, and “what do i want to do?”, and to which people who are very talented, and, or, famous have failed in school, Albert Einstein was expelled for being rebellious, John Lennon was described hopeless, Winston Churchill had a “C” average, and Steven Spielberg failed 6th grade. Overall the system is guaranteed outdated, and ineffective.

Article by Joseph Galdamez-Guerra