From participating in musical productions to dancing with the Rockingham Ballet Theatre, freshman Maya Pope keeps herself fairly busy. For the past 12 years of her life, she has participated in dance constantly and never once considered quitting.

“I’ve been dancing almost 12 years. I don’t really know why I started, but my parents kind of just put me in ballet. Dance is really hard. I feel like my whole day always kind of revolves around it. I have to do extra stretching and do conditioning exercises and then I’m going to dance class, so I definitely have to devote a lot of time to it,” Pope said.

The amount of work she has put into dancing, while profuse, has only strengthened her love for this artform.

“I also do musical and One Act. Usually when those things are also happening, I can get very overwhelmed, but it is still what I love to do,” Pope said.

She dedicates hours of her time working in different areas of dance and perfecting her talents.

“I do ballet, character and contemporary. I usually have practice every day for a couple of hours. We work on technique and pointe and then have another class focused on another principle of ballet,” Pope said.

Of all of the performances Pope has participated in, she favors The Nutcracker over all else.

“We do the nutcracker every year, and it’s really fun because, even though we do it the same way every year, you have different roles and there are different people in it. It’s always kind of a nice tradition to come back to. Previously, I’ve been Snow Queen, different ensemble characters and I’ve also been different candy canes and other types of things from the Land of Sweets,” Pope said.

While physically intense and time-consuming, Pope sees dance as more of something that she creates and wants to bring with her into the future.

“I don’t consider dance a sport; I think it’s more of an art form. If you take the artistry out of it, it’s really nothing. So I think it’s much more of an art form than a sport. I hope to become a professional ballet dancer,” Pope said.