Kiera Reese – Dancer of the Week

We received so many amazing responses to our efforts to find our dancer of the month that we quickly realized that we had no choice but to highlight our awesome customers more often than once a month.  Accordingly, let me introduce you to our first Dancer of the Week, Kiera Reese.

Kiera Reese is a 10-year old who has dedicated her life to dance. Kiera takes dance lessons at The Place For Dance in Wintersville, Ohio. She recognizes how important it is that her parents are very supportive of her dreams of becoming a professional dancer and loves them for that support.  Keira is very thankful for her dad and mom.

Kiera gives 100% in everything she does from her school grades which are very important to her number one passion, “Dancing.” Her favorite quote, which she believes best describes her, is “You have to love dancing to stick to it. It gives you nothing back, no manuscripts to store away, no painting to show on the walls, no poems to be printed and sold, nothing but a fleeting moment when you feel alive.” (Merce Cunningham).

Keira says it’s not about what place she receives when she competes. It is about how dancing makes Keira feel inside – amazing and grateful that she has the opportunity to do something that she is passionate about. When she is dancing, she is in a whole different world. For the most part, Keira is a very positive person. If she comes into a negative situation, she uses it to turn it into a positive by practicing her dancing or involving herself in one of her other interests –  stretching, writing, or reading. She decided to believe in herself rather than think about what others think of her. She has learned believing in herself is one of the most important gifts that she can give herself.

Although Keira believes it is important to take lessons in all types of dancing, her two favorite styles are Lyrical and Contemporary. She is very independent for a 10-year old. She may be dedicated to her dancing but she does have other interests, too. She loves hair bows, reading, writing stories, fashion design such as sketching outfits and interior design. At this time, she does not know how to sew, but her “Granny” gave her a sewing machine for Christmas last year and Keira is looking forward to learning how to use it.  She wants to learn to sew so that she can someday design her own dancewear and costumes and help with the making of those dance costumes.

Keira’s dad taught her the word “can’t” isn’t in her vocabulary and that she should always say that she will try her best. And from there on she should try not to say she can’t but that she will or she will try.  Keira loves that her dad comes to watch her at all her dance competitions.

Apparently,  Keira is a wonderful big sister and a great role model for her younger sister, Audrina, who is six years old.  Audrina always tells Keira that she wants to be just like Keira.  Keira tells Audrina that hard work is the key to achieving her goals.  Keira writes down her goals every year. If she has achieved that goal, she crosses it off her list. But, if she doesn’t reach a goal, she might be sad for a second but then keeps working to achieve goal. Keira also believes it is very important to be able to stick up for yourself. If you don’t want to do something one of your friends, or anyone for the matter, wants you to do, it is ok to say “no”.

She started taking gymnastic lessons at the age of two and then at the age of five she asked her parents to allow her to take dance lessons. After taking four years of recreational dance and she then asked her parents to let her try competitive dancing.  This is her third year of competitive dancing.

Keira says determining her happiest moment in dance is very hard because she has so many special moments when dancing. If she really has to choose, she says she would pick her “bow in arrow” (her leg goes behind her head) and her “straight leg scorpion.” She loves to be in musicals and was thrilled when she was twice chosen for the lead roles.

According to Keira, her experience when buying from Bailar Dancewear was great. Her dance team bought briefs to use for their contortion dance for competitions.

One of her goals for this year is to become better with each competition. Also, she hopes to win scholarships to help further my dance career; to be asked to be an assistant for a dance convention; to model dance wear or costumes for dance; to win a title for her dancing; and to be the next breakout dance artist. ”  She has a couple of things she is looking forward to with relation to her dancing.  First of all, she hopes to go to New York City and see some Broadway shows.  Also, she hopes to go to Joffrey Ballet School of Dance or Broadway Dance Center in New York City for summer camp.

Keira’s long term goals are actually multi-faceted.  She has many long term goals or hopes.  She hopes that someday her dancing will take her into the world of professional dancing and from there she would like to go into the world of interior design. She would also like to explore the idea of modeling and acting, possibly someday living in New York City or Los Angeles.  Her goal is to make people happy either with how she has decorated their home for them or with her dancing performances.  She would like to see people be impressed with how her dancing makes her feel and translate that into making them happy.  Additionally, she would love to have some of her short stories published into books.

Before becoming a professional dancer, she will obviously need more training.  She would like to go to a performing arts school or be home schooled so that she has more time for training in the studio. She is planning on going to college and hopes to be on their dance team.

Although Keira dedicates herself to her dancing, there are obviously other facets of her life that make her happy.  Ultimately, she hopes to be able to spread that happiness to others.

Please post a comment if you have had any experience with Kiera Reese.