Junior Michelle Tsang reaches toward her pink ballet pointe shoes, stretching her calf muscles. She is surrounded by dancers similar in appearance, all in leotards and with their hair tightly spun into buns. They’re all waiting to do the thing they love most: dance.
Tsang has been dancing at Elite Ballet Theatre since she was five years old. The beginning of her love for dance started when she saw a video of Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen in tutus when she was younger.
Tsang actively participates in dancing at school as a member of both the TCHS Choreo and Song teams. While juggling practices for both teams alongside attending Elite Ballet Theatre, she tends to favor one a little more than the others.
“Ballet is my priority,” Tsang said. “I try to balance out all three, but when it comes down to it, I’m most dedicated to ballet.”
Tsang recently auditioned for the American Ballet Theatre on Jan. 20 for their summer programs found in New York, North Carolina, California, Texas and Alabama. She will attend the three week program in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, which will strengthen her techniques and include a performance at the Moody Music Concert Hall.
Besides auditioning for American Ballet Theatre, she participated in dance competitions such as Showstopper and American Dance Awards, both in the early months of last year.
She also recently performed in Youth America Grand Prix, a student ballet scholarship competition. She competed with Song in January at USA, a competition for Cheer, Song and Pep teams, and will also compete in Sharp International’s contest with Song.
After attending many competitions, Tsang has seen her performances and learned her weak points. She commits herself to trying her best to improve them, which isn’t hard since she is extremely passionate about dancing.
“I love the hard work that comes with dance,” Tsang said. “I love the accomplished feeling I get from the finished product and knowing that I’ve done the best I can.”
Dancing requires being flexible, and since it is a constant in her life, Tsang can perform a leg hold and a scorpion, which involves raising a leg above one’s head and grabbing it with one’s hand. Her leaps are straight across are one hundred and eighty degrees, but she wishes for them to be at two hundred degrees.
“My strongest skill in dancing is my flexibility,” Tsang said. “I really want to reach the flexibility level of a contortionist.”
To further her talent, Tsang often stretches with a chair to work on her oversplit. One of her goals includes increasing her limberness. Despite setting tasks for future improvement, Tsang is not looking at dancing or contortionism as anything serious.
“I’d like to see myself dancing as a job in the future,” Tsang said. “But, there’s a lot of competition out there so I’m leaning more towards dancing as a hobby.”