Elin Escobar-Forsberg ‘23 is able to walk into ballet and greet life-long friends. “I have met some of my best friends through ballet, both through our daily classes, as well as through Junior Company, a group where we perform ballet pieces,” Escobar-Forsberg said.
For dancers at East, their studio had created a great environment for them outside of school.

“My favorite thing about dance is getting to see my friends from other schools and dancing with them,” Eva Clay ‘24 said. “I have become so close with them.”
For many, it is something they have been doing for a majority of their life.

“I started when I was in kindergarten,” Clay said.

She then quit during second and third grade, but went back in fourth and has been there ever since.

Some, such as Escobar-Forsberg, have also tried other sports, “Currently I only dance,” Escobar-Forsberg said. “When I was younger I did gymnastics, swimming, tennis, fencing, and rock climbing.”

Clay has also tried other sports before.

“I tried lacrosse in third grade,” she said.

Ultimately, they both decided to stick with dance and have continued to do so ever since.

Not only is it a lifetime sport, but it is also extremely rewarding and difficult.

“Ballet can become fairly rigorous, especially the schedule,” Escobar-Forsberg said. “We take classes six days a week for about three hours, often followed by at least two to three hours of rehearsals.”

There are very unique aspects of dance as well. Escobar-Forsberg says that one of most important things is the mental aspect dance requires.

“During our classes we have to focus on learning and remembering lengthy and complicated combinations while performing physically exhausting exercises,’’ Escobar-Forsberg said.

Including all of that, they also must attempt to make the process look easy and graceful.

“I feel like ballet is a difficult art and people don’t think that because our job as dancers is to make the things we do look easy but it takes lots of hard work and practice,” Clay said.

Furthermore, according to Clay, certain types of dance provide necessary skills for other styles.

“Ballet pushes me to work my very best and helps me build skills towards other styles of dance,” Clay said.

As the curtains lift once again, dancers are able to be back on stage.

Dance can also provide many with a unique community of people they could not find otherwise.

It is both a challenging and creative outlet that pushes people to do their best.