Delilah Warren has been working towards her performing arts degree to pursue a childhood passion: dance.
杏吧专区淚杏吧专区檝e been dancing since I was like 5, so it杏吧专区檚 always been a good pastime for me. I didn杏吧专区檛 really take it seriously until middle school, and since then I杏吧专区檝e been saying that I wanted to be a dancer for a career,杏吧专区 she said.
杏吧专区淚 do have bad days where my body is hurting and I don杏吧专区檛 want to go to class, but I still want to do this for the rest of my life for as long as I can, so just realizing that, honestly, it doesn杏吧专区檛 really feel like I杏吧专区檓 going to school.杏吧专区
Delilah has found that the 杏吧专区杏吧专区檚 size and the teachers杏吧专区 dedication have benefited her learning experiences tremendously.
杏吧专区淏ecause of the size of our program, everything is more intimate and our instructors really do know us and where we want to go," she said. "They really do care about us, break things down to make us better, and they杏吧专区檙e really open to helping us."
杏吧专区淓veryone is there to help you become a better dancer at the end of the day 杏吧专区 that杏吧专区檚 all we want.杏吧专区
Improving as a Dancer
Intro to Dance (DANC 101) class helped her build muscle and endurance, and Dance Composition I (DANC 251) helped introduce her to the technicalities of movement.
杏吧专区淚t杏吧专区檚 building you up to choreography. You start with composition, and it teaches you how to create movement to create a phrase. We杏吧专区檙e taking pictures of things and you think about what movement it杏吧专区檚 going to be, and you put that movement into your body. So, if someone was like, wiping the table in the picture, the wipe motion is what you want to put into your body and into a body part. We work on that.杏吧专区
Delilah learned a lot about the casting and audition process after being cast in a production her sophomore year.
杏吧专区淎ll the choreographers are sitting up front and they have their notebooks and they杏吧专区檙e writing down who they like and who they want to be in their piece. The whole process takes about three hours, depending on how many choreographers they have,杏吧专区 she said. 杏吧专区淪ometimes they want to freestyle, or sometimes it杏吧专区檚 not even about dancing and they want you to do some type of technique.杏吧专区
The production was a key piece in her development as a dancer as it also taught her a great deal about the more technical aspects of dancing.
杏吧专区淪ince it was my first time actually being cast in something, it was definitely a good experience,杏吧专区 she said. 杏吧专区淚n the piece I was in, I was the daughter, so figuring out how to act like a daughter, lessen my movement so they could tell the difference between mother and daughter, and also figuring out how to dance with people.
杏吧专区淵ou can do so good by yourself, being a solo artist, but dancing with someone else and your bodies touching, it杏吧专区檚 different from when you杏吧专区檙e by yourself 杏吧专区 working with other people in that sense, and working with the choreographer, who is very open to making changes and your suggestions and things like that.杏吧专区
Preparing for a Career in Dance
One of Delilah杏吧专区檚 many goals as a dancer is to become famous 杏吧专区 but not exactly how you杏吧专区檇 think.
杏吧专区淚 want to be 杏吧专区榝amous,杏吧专区 but not super famous. Be known for my craft: that杏吧专区檚 really the ultimate goal. It is kind of hard to be known as a dancer or a choreographer, but to be known, like 杏吧专区極h, that杏吧专区檚 Delilah, she did x, y, and z, she杏吧专区檚 an amazing choreographer.杏吧专区櫺影勺ㄇ鴿
In fact, the 杏吧专区 is already helping Delilah progress toward her goal.
杏吧专区淲e just had our audition for our show this semester, so I杏吧专区檓 excited to see if I get cast in someone杏吧专区檚 piece. They杏吧专区檙e talking about selling tickets this semester but then also putting in on YouTube so we can get our names out there and everything,杏吧专区 she said. 杏吧专区淭hey杏吧专区檙e trying to make us more known and get more exposure.杏吧专区
Along with being known for her craft, Delilah has other goals laid out for herself.
杏吧专区淚杏吧专区檝e been saying since I was 10, I want to be a background dancer for Beyonc茅. I do want to go on tour with artists as their background dancers,杏吧专区 she said.
杏吧专区淎nd dancers, their career isn杏吧专区檛 as long as other careers because of the wear and tear on their body. So when I杏吧专区檓 30-35ish I want to open my own dance studio and, at that point, it gets well known and big so I can maybe make it like a chain in different areas of the state, the country. That杏吧专区檚 really like, the biggest goal I have, is to have a chain of dance studios.杏吧专区
As Delilah progresses, she杏吧专区檚 found that while dance is a rewarding path, it is also a challenging one.
杏吧专区淚t杏吧专区檚 hard to get out of your comfort zone with things, try different techniques, try different ways to do certain things. When you look at other people and they杏吧专区檙e doing things you can杏吧专区檛, it can be discouraging, but you have to remember that everyone is at a different pace and on a different journey and remind yourself that you杏吧专区檒l be there eventually.杏吧专区
Growing as a Professional
Delilah杏吧专区檚 business on campus isn杏吧专区檛 restricted to dance. She was also on lead staff for as the marketing and campus recruitment chair.
Her leadership role has also helped her improve other aspects of her life as a student.
杏吧专区淏eing on SOUL camp lead staff, that definitely improved my leadership skills, time management, organization, things like that. It taught me how to also run an organization,杏吧专区 she said.
For me, first being a SOUL camp mentor a year ago and then becoming lead staff, I can see my development as a leader, and I can see that in other people as well. It杏吧专区檚 a leader-building organization. Once you go through the office, you杏吧专区檙e definitely a better person.杏吧专区
One of the most important things about the curriculum for Delilah is her growth.
"I'm here, doing this, and it杏吧专区檚 something I enjoy and I want to get better as a dancer, so I杏吧专区檓 really excited to see how I develop over the next two years, three years, and see who I become as a dancer.杏吧专区
