Cy Ranch Dancer Lands Audition in Europe

The art of dance and expression is old as time, but each new generation consistently puts a new spin and creative flair on the performance. One of the latest in the new generation of dancers is Cy Ranch’s own senior, Michelle Garcia, who has been putting a creative spin on dance for over a decade.

“There’s an athletic part to [dancing], and an artistic part,” Garcia said. “But the artistry, the heart, is the main part of it.”

Garcia’s hard work will pay off in two weeks, when she is traveling to the Netherlands to put her talent to the test and audition for the Netherlands Dance Theatre Company.

She has dedicated thousands of hours over the course of her life to dance, and hard work is practically ingrained in her psyche.

“I’m really, really proud of myself,” she said. “I’ve put a lot of hard work, especially this past year. I’ve improved so much and I’ve accomplished so much that I’m just really proud.”

Garcia has been dancing since she was two years old when her mother signed her up for a dance class.  Her long history with dance makes the art a very large and important aspect of her life.

Though dancing is difficult, Garcia says that finding a drive to do well is a large motivation.

“You have to find this push and put this drive to it,” she said. “It’s really, really hard. But whenever I dance, I can just let go of everything and forget about it and just put myself into it, so that’s why I like to do it.”

Garcia’s biggest competitor is her past self.

“Dancing is really competitive and you compare yourself to a lot of people,” she said. “So you have to forget about that. A lot of people can lose themselves because they get really competitive, but you have to keep saying to yourself, ‘Hey, this is me, and this is as good as I am going to get and this is what I’m going to look like, so I have to deal with it.’ You find who you really are.”

Garcia finds support in many places, most notably her parents, friends and her dance instructors, the latter to whom she owes her latest auditions.

“My parents are really supportive, and I’m lucky for that,” she said. “Also, my teachers—they have a lot of their things to do on their own, and [they’re] pretty much setting up my auditions for me. And my friends are really supportive, too. I don’t get to hang out with them as much, but they understand. They’re really supportive.”

Garcia says that the biggest enticement to dancing is seeing her continuous improvement over the many years.

“My favorite thing is seeing how I’m always improving,” she said. “I like to see my improvement throughout all the years that I’ve been dancing. It’s really cool to see that.”

Despite the things she loves about dance, Garcia says that drawbacks do exist.

“My least favorite thing is the classes you have to take every day,” she said. “The classes get repetitive and sometimes boring. You’ve just got to find something to make it fun.”

As for inspiration, Garcia looks to the very company for which she is soon auditioning.

“[For inspiration] I personally look to the Netherlands Dance Theatre Company,” she said. “It’s so inspirational, because that’s exactly what I want to do.”