At some point in nearly every little girl’s life she has aspired to be a ballerina. She has twirled her fastest in a pink tutu and adorned herself in her mother’s brightest blush. Ciara Dianne Jones is a junior majoring in Drama with a concentration in Dance who has been dancing for 14 years. At 5 years old, she began dancing at Artistry In Motion in Detroit, MI. When the company closed, she moved to The Zone Dance Center in Southfield, MI.
Ciara has not only dreamed of becoming a ballerina, but has matured to become a tutor to little girls. In her leisure time, she teaches beginning ballet technique to girls ages 3-4 and 7-12. Techniques range from warming up at the barre to how to point and pile. Jones says if she could offer advice to a little girl who aspires to be a dancer, it would be to “not think, just do.” She adds, “I let my thoughts and words of others take over my mind, which would then stifle my movement. Being stuck in my head didn’t allow me to grow.” Ciara says that as she got older, she realized that none of those thoughts mattered. “It’s about how the movement makes me feel and how much feeling I can put in the movement, it’s not about the dancers next to me, or pleasing the teacher, it’s all about how I feel in this moment in time, and how my body can communicate that to the best of my ability.”
She credits her will to dance and empower young Black girls the opportunity to dance because her mother. Her mother always put her in dance classes with Black teachers and Black students to show her that girls like her could be dancers. The aspiring choreographer says, “When I was in class, there were girls who looked like me—representation of seeing some like you shows you that you too can become who you admire.”
Most people can agree that dancers have a special ability, as they are able to move in ways others can’t. Ciara says, “When I’m dancing I feel super-human. The way I can fly, bend, manipulate time and space, is a power that I have and I feel inside when I dance.” She adds, “…I just want to keep on exploring how far I can go and what this body can do.” Jones believes that constant discovery of self, body and mind when she dances will teach her control and understands that there will be moments when the spirit takes over.”
Ciara’s favorite part about being a dancer is the communication that goes on in a room with no words being spoken but everyone understands exactly what is going on. She enjoys the concentration and how when she enters a studio the worries and fears of the outside world disappears. Sharing her gift with an audience to make them forget their worries and fears of the outside world is another favorite of hers.
Ciara plans to build a dance empire call Dancing in Dark Skin that supports dancers of color everywhere. Dancing in Dark Skin is a website that promotes the new work of black dancers and choreographers. The online resource also hopes to provide dance scholarships to girls aspiring to be a dancer.