Dancing dream; DeRosa leaps into success

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CAITLYN ALLEN, News Editor

     Junior Millianna DeRosa has a dream of becoming a professional dancer that began when she was just four years old. 

     Before DeRosa started to dance, her parents put her into gymnastics classes. DeRosa said she “did not like gymnastics at all but my parents wanted me to do it.” She stopped doing gymnastics when she was four years old, and started dance instead.

     DeRosa says her parents put her in dance because “it was right down the street and they could see how much I liked dancing from my gymnastics class.” When DeRosa started dance at this young age, she fell in love right away and she claims “it has changed my life ever since.” 

     The junior dances at The Dance Conservatory of Maryland in Joppa, Maryland. According to DeRosa she gets home from school around 3 o’clock and has to be at dance by 3:30pm. She then dances typically from 4:30 to 9:00pm every night. 

      She adds “At practice, I usually have a break that ranges from 15 minutes to an hour where I have time to do most of my homework, but if I do not have time to finish it I have to when I get home so I am up late most nights.” 

     The dancer has not faced any major challenges in her dance career so far, but she says she faces little challenges every day such as “handling schoolwork, injuries, or frustration.” According to the dancer, she tries to overcome these challenges by “managing my time as best as I can so I have time for school, friends and family, and  to just relax but also I try not to worry about the little things I can’t control like how much homework I have.” 

     As for successes, she has become the lead role in multiple plays and recitals in her career. According to DeRosa, “this is the best feeling ever. It shows you that hard work really does play off and it makes you feel like you did something right for yourself but also by your instructor.” 

     DeRosa’s dream is to become a professional dancer when she is older, but she claims this “isn’t a possibility at the moment because typically dancers at my age are already involved with a professional company.” But the junior does have a backup dream to become a “professional dance instructor.” 

     DeRosa claims her biggest inspiration is her dance teacher, Shana Vanderkolk. “She is very well rounded, a very good teacher, and she has been dancing for a very long time, so she is a very good role model.” 

     DeRosa has learned a lot of things from dance, not just with the leaps and turns, but she claims she has also “found her true self” when she is dancing. The dancer says, “I have learned to believe and trust myself no matter what.” Aside from finding her true self, she has also learned life lessons that she uses in her everyday life such as “nothing comes easy and you have to work for what you want to accomplish.”