Featured Article:
Going through doors opened by dance
by Lisa Easley with foreword by Martha Madison
It is a joy for the teachers at Dance Arts to watch our students grow through the art form of dance; however, it is equally delightful to watch the pride on the faces of their parents. This being said it seemed fitting to turn our pages in SOKY Happenings over to Caroline's Mom, Lisa. –Martha Madison
My daughter, Caroline Easley began dancing at the young age of two. She has trained in ballet, pointe, contemporary, jazz, ballroom, modern and musical theater to just name a few. I would say that musical theater is probably one of her favorite forms of dance.
In 2013, Caroline was accepted into Warren County School's Gifted and Talented SUMMIT for performing arts. She currently is a member of Pre-Professional SOKY Dance Ensemble where she trains at Dance Arts 14 or more hours a week.
Dancing has opened up many doors for Caroline. She has had the opportunity to train with several extremely talented choreographers this past year. She trained with Dusty Button, a classical ballerina from Boston Ballet, and Matthew Prescott with The Institute for American Musical Theater in New York.
Another door that dance has opened for Caroline is modeling. Erin Denny, photographer and owner of The Studio on Main in Franklin, Ky., was looking for a dancer to build her portfolio and asked Caroline if she could do modeling for dance. Caroline is now a Student Ambassador for Erin at her studio.
Caroline has found that as a model, the hours can be very long standing under hot lights and wearing tons of makeup as well as standing for long periods of time. I can honestly say that modeling has been easier for her because she is a dancer. As a dancer, she has experienced starting her day at 6 a.m. and dancing all day until way past midnight with very few breaks and grabbing food when she can. Because of modeling, she has experienced the same long hours with starting her day at 6 a.m., not crawling into bed until 3 a.m. and getting right back up the next morning at 6 a.m. to do it all again!
All this hard work and dedication has been rewarded; in January 2017, she earned a $32,000 scholarship to The Institute for American Musical Theater in New York. By going through this door that was opened by dance, there is no telling what the future holds for Caroline.
