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SBU | Life

Why I Dance

Ella Ayers Student Contributor, St. Bonaventure University
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at SBU chapter and does not reflect the views of Her Campus.

Two minutes before the show starts. My heart is racing and I’m pacing back and forth in the wing because I’m so nervous yet so excited at the same time. I can hear the murmur of the packed Quick Center audience, knowing my friends and family are out there somewhere waiting to see what we all have been working so hard on for the last three months. Although the adrenaline has kicked in, its bittersweet knowing that after two nights it’ll be over and then I’ll have to wait a couple months to start dancing again. 

I’ve been dancing for as long as I can remember. I started off as a little ballerina, then moved onto tap and jazz, and then finding my love for lyrical. I started dancing when I was four years old, it began as something my mom signed me up for fun but then it turned into something way bigger than that. My love for dance grew very quickly, and I couldn’t wait for my studios spring recital every year. Whether it was doing a jazz routine in a funky hot pink costume or doing the annual “daddy-daughter” dance, I loved every second of it.

Dance has always been an outlet for me to express myself. A way I can leave everything outside the studio and focus on what I’m there to do. So, when my love for dance started to dwindle freshman year of high school, it was very upsetting. 

At that time, I was also playing lacrosse and my schedule started to get busier, so I was missing a lot of dance practices, and I was quickly beginning to fall behind. I could feel the pressure of focusing on school and lacrosse while also trying to make it to as many dance practices as I could. So, one day I came home very upset and told my parents I wanted to quit dance. 

I started focusing more on school and lacrosse, which unfortunately after college I didn’t continue playing lacrosse (so that didn’t get me anywhere). Fast forward to the end of freshman year of college. My friend and I decided to go to the SBU Dance Teams Spring rendition of Mamma Mia. I absolutely loved it. I immediately texted a girl I knew on the team to find out how to join. 

I then found myself in Butler Basement the next semester for their fall tryouts. It’s safe to say that joining the Dance Team was one of the best decisions I have ever made. 

Dance Team has become a second family to me. Over the last two years I’ve watched the team grow, and I have been able to experience my teammates grow into amazing, talented people. I have met some of my best friends through dance, and that I am forever grateful for. 

I am so thankful that I can do what I love multiple times a week and am able to share that with the people who are most important to me. SBU Dance Team will forever have a special place in my heart. 

Ella Ayers

SBU '26

Ella Ayers is a new Her Campus at SBU chapter member, from Corning, New York. She plans on writing about her friends, her experience being on the SBU Dance Team, and some of her favorite books. Ella is looking forward to getting to know her fellow Her Campus sisters. She can't wait to strengthen her creative writing, while having a deeper understanding of her fellow chapter members through their writing.

Ella can be described as a junior at St.Bonaventure and she is currently a Psychology major in the 4+2 Occupational Therapy Master's Program. After completing graduate school at St.Bonaventure, she hopes to pursue a career in OT working with children ages birth to 3 years.

When Ella has free time she enjoys reading fantasy and romance books, watching her favorite movies like "Twilight" and "Mamma Mia", and going on fun adventures with her best friends. Outside of her studies, you can find her spending most of her week with her SBU Dance Team family.