Dancer in a Nutshell
Emma’s a dancer and for two to three hours a day, four days a week, this noise and chaos is her world. Frequently there are times when rehearsals and performances require that she be there several hours every day of the week.
Emma is tall and lithe with long blond hair, the perfect images of a ballerina. She is now 13 and in 8th grade and has been dancing for 10 years. She has performed in at least 14 productions, often in multiple roles. A couple of years ago, she played a lead as Rose Red in the Dance Center’s production of Snow White, Rose Red. This past holiday season she danced the lead as Clara in the Nutcracker in a Nutshell.
She has had many, many roles, but hose were her favorites. She says that everything about dancing as Rose Red was happy and fun. As for Clara, that is a very special role that every little girl in dance dreams of dancing.
Dancing runs in the Mills family. Her 8 year old sister Claire along wit her younger brother Ansel and her older brother Isaac often make appearances in the same productions. As the most serious dancer in the family, sometimes it’s a lot to keep track of.
Emma is home-schooled. Every day she gets up, eats breakfast and then starts on homework and video lectures and a few days of the week, Emma has piano and violin lessons. She says that home-schooling is nice because you have a lot more free time, but there is a lack of social outlet. The free time allows Emma time for reading or dancing or just being outdoors. When she has time and motivation, she also really enjoys photography. She says that one of her favorite things to do is dress her little sister up and take her outside to pose for photographs.
Most of Emma’s friends are also dancers. They have spent years together learning, rehearsing and performing. There is a unique bond build around eating dinner in the hallways of the Emerson, costume malfunctions, mastering tricky step combinations, and admiring new toe shoes. It is a unique community where friends encourage and support each other even as they are auditioning against and competing with each other.
When she was asked why she dances 2-3 hours every day, she says “I just love it! I enjoy moving and I enjoy friends. I’ve been doing it (dancing) for so long that it’s a habit – it would be really hard to stop.” She loves any move or step with a jump.
Her favorite part of dance would be the energy found back stage at a performance. “Before, backstage there is all of this really nervous excited energy, Yay! This is going to be so fun, it’s like the best thing ever! And then backstage after the show, everyone is exhausted but hyper.” She also loves the thrill of first stepping out on stage and seeing everyone in the audience.
This season, in addition to her regular classes, she will dance in the Dance Center’s Dance Ensemble. She is contemplating participating in the Yellowstone Ballet’s upcoming production of Cinderella. This winter she auditioned for a few select ballet camps and was chosen to attend the Contemporary Ballet Intensive with the Joffrey Ballet, held in San Francisco. Emma is very excited for the opportunity to study under one of her idols, camp director Josie Walsh and to get to watch and hopefully meet her all time favorite dancer, 16 year-old Juliet Doherty of the San Francisco Ballet School.
Right now, Emma is attempting to learn French and would like to visit France. Someday she hopes to have her own dance company and would like to choreograph for the best dancers. There is a song from her brothers’ video game Battlefield Bad Company 3 that she would love to choreograph and dance to.
While dance is a huge part of Emma’s life, her perfect day would be spent outside with friends, in the sunshine with perhaps a swim in the creek. There would be no schedules or obligations, and she would be taking pictures of her friends dancing on the green grass. If they happened to end the day free dancing in the studio, then that would be OK too!
