Student Talent Profile: Dancers Kayla and Carey

danceAlthough many girls take dance classes during their preschool and elementary years, few have the patience or passion to stick with it beyond childhood. Two Wake Christian Academy seniors, Kayla Lavan and Carey Barnette, have danced since pre-K and are enjoying success in dance competitions and envisioning ways to work dance into their adult lives.

Kayla, a student at Wake Christian since her eighth grade year, started dancing at the ripe old age of three, remembering, “My mom put me in classes and I loved it.”

However, Kayla says dance was “simply an after-school activity” until “I joined the competition clogging team, Feet on Fire, at Christy’s DancExplosion in eighth grade” and was “putting so much time and effort into perfecting dances and improving my own ability.”

She focuses on clogging but also takes classes in “tap, ballet, jazz, hip-hop, and pointe.”

“I’m at dance for about fifteen hours a week,” she adds.

Regarding the memories that have made the many hours a week worth it, Kayla says, “My proudest moment was probably at the last competition of the season last year. Every dance I competed in (about 8 dances) got first in its category and first overall. At that same competition, [my team] also had the highest score of the entire day.”

But she’s not only proud of her and her team’s wins but also their conduct at the competitions. She recounts that at that same competition “we won the sportsmanship award. Last year alone my team received about four sportsmanship awards; my dance teacher is most proud of this award.”

Having a good attitude toward her competitors is just one of the many lessons Kayla has learned from dance. She explains, “I have learned perseverance. When I get cut from a dance, it inspires me to work harder.”

Carey too has grown in strength, skill, and character through her dance experience. A Wake Christian attendee since kindergarten, Carey remembers, “I was in preschool and was given a flyer for a dance studio and I came home and said to my mom, ‘Mom, I’m going to be a dancer.’ When I was around seven or eight, I joined a team and started to do competitions and that’s when I truly realized how much I loved dance.”

Her initial passion for dancing has translated into her being on a myriad of teams, and Carey says, “Now I compete in many competitions with Center Stage School of Performing Arts where I am on the senior clogging, senior tap, senior jazz, and elite jazz teams. We compete in regional and national competitions … I am also a part of the IamBlackIrish Contemporary Hip Hop dance company.”

Like Kayla, she takes classes in a wide assortment of styles, such as “ballet, tap, jazz, lyrical, modern, contemporary, and clogging.”

Carey’s proudest moment “was when we were at the competition Showstopper and I was doing my solo. I forgot what I was doing and had to improv for about fifteen seconds and still ended up placing first overall in the jazz category and first overall in the senior solo competition.”

Her ability to be flexible and deal with a potential mistake is exactly what she feels dance has taught her. Carey states, “I’ve learned that the most important thing is just to have fun.”

She also wants to set a good example for the younger dancers as a teaching assistant, a position she has held for four years. Carey knowingly says, “The little girls are always looking up to you, and when you do things for them, they really appreciate it.”

Additionally, she has loved developing relationships with her teammates, concluding, “I’ve also learned that team members are like family, and they are people you can be yourself around and not be judged. They all want to help and push you to be the best you can be.”

Carey, who plans on attending the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and Kayla, who plans on attending North Carolina Wesleyan College, see dance not only as a hobby but as something that will stay with them for life and both have plans to dance in college and beyond.

Kayla states, “I hope to continue to dance in college and maybe teach dance one day,” while Carey says, “I plan to stay with IamBlackIrish in college and possibly major or minor in dance. I also want to be able to teach dance when I am older.”

Carey and Kayla work hard at their art form and are sure to represent Wake Christian well as they continue to build on their skills and share their love of dance with others.

 

 

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