Interview With Regan Norton

We recently decided to expand out interviews to include individual dancers in addition to the dance studios/schools we have been interviewing.  Our first such interview was with Regan Norton who has her own blog The Dance Tumblr Blog.  Regan describes herself as an 18-year old with a passion for dance as well as photography.  Whatever she is doing, she loves to work hard.  She says she is a determined, independent person, and loves to help others around her. She defines herself as a very creative, original and artistic person who loves to explore new things.  Regan plans to use dance throughout the rest of her life and hopes to inspire others with what she does.

Regan started dancing late (age 12) while most dancers start pretty young at age 3 or 4.

So many dancers have messaged her on her blog, asking for advice on how to stay motivated, how to get a dancer’s body or asking if they should continue with dancing. Many get discouraged if another dancer is skinnier, more fit, has better legs, feet, etc. Regan says it is easy to become discouraged at times because a lot of dancers are judged for their body type, or they are around other talented dancers that may be more flexible, have better technique, and so on. Regan advises that no matter what, there are always ways to improve with dance! You don’t have to have a perfect body or beautiful feet to be talented. She also advises that you should never give up just because someone may be more talented than you.

Regan believes a dancer should take as much ballet as they can. She stated that ballet has helped her so much with her technique, and she wouldn’t be where she is today without it! She suggests a dancer should really listen to what their teacher has to say and then apply their comments.

When we asked Regan what she has always wanted to do, she separated her thoughts between dance related and non-dance related desires.  As far as dance related desires, she has so many hopes that it is hard for her to pick just one.  She has always wanted to travel to New York and take some dance classes there. Since she has never been to New York City and has only taken dance classes in Arizona, she thinks it would be a great experience and give her a different perspective.

As far as non-dance related goals, she has always wanted to travel to Paris! She has never traveled outside of the United States and feels that Paris would be the perfect place to travel, particularly since she feels it is so beautiful there.

Regan has had two favorite moments in her dance career.  The first moment happened during her junior year of high school. She decided to choreograph her own solo to compete independently. She choreographed it in her bedroom and practiced in a tiny dance room at a rec center that they rented out. It was too difficult to get a time at her studio where she was able to practice, so she was limited on where and how often she could practice. Eventually she finished her solo and practiced as much as she could and wherever she could (in her bedroom, garage, etc.). At the first competition that she went to that year, Spotlight in 2012, she won first overall while performing her self-choreographed solo. Other dancers that she knew and competed against had solo practice for an hour once or twice a week, and had a teacher choreograph for them. She was proud of the fact that she had cut her own music, choreographed her dance and figured out her costume all on her own.  On top of that she ended up placing better than she had hoped.

The second happiest moment took place more recently, when she was featured in the June/July issue of Dance Spirit Magazine. She had entered her more recent solo, “The Meadow,” in the Dance Spirit cover model search contest. Although she wasn’t one of the top three girls they picked, the magazine contacted her and said that they wanted to feature her anyway. Regan said that it’s a tiny little article with some facts about her as well as a picture of her from her solo, but she couldn’t have been more excited! Dance Spirit is her favorite magazine and she hopes to work for them some day.

Regan is still working on her goals both short and long term.  She will be attending University of Arizona in the fall, and will be majoring in photography. Luckily, University of Arizona has a great dance program, so she might try to take some of their ballet classes, and might audition to be in their program for her sophomore year of college. Her goals would include trying to teach dance and choreograph at a local studio, and to continue with her blog.

She is not entirely sure yet where she hopes dance will take her but she does have a few things she would like to accomplish with dance. She really wants to continue to teach and choreograph well as major in photography. She has always wanted to model for a dance costume company or to take up dance photography, since she loves photography as well. One of her dreams would be to work for Dance Spirit Magazine, or any dance related magazine. She thinks that would be amazing! You can intern for Dance Spirit your junior or senior year in college in New York City, so she may look into that in a few years. She thinks it would also be really cool to design or make dancewear, dance costumes, or leotards. She believes it would be treat to workfor a company that makes custom dancewear or create her own business designing and selling custom leotards or custom dance costumes.

She also plans on continuing with her blog. Right now she has over 11,000 followers, and hopes to continue helping and inspiring other dancers from around the world.

None of her plans are set in stone, but she is hoping to explore new options with dance throughout these next few years in college.