The lights are low and the air is silent. You can hear your heartbeat pulsing in your chest. Everyone is breathless, anticipating the moment when the music plays and you spring into action. Countless hours of sweat, frustration, and pain have gone into this performance. You have one shot at this, only three minutes to show everyone what you’ve got. You better make the most of every second.

Behind that smile and precise movements, there is a whole story. Lindsey Hair, Bingham High School’s Dance Company team captain, said, “There is always an emotion behind every dance we perform.” No dance is created without a meaning. Whether it is student choreographed or made by their coach, every routine connects the dancers to the audience emotionally. (Cheer quote) That’s why dancing is so popular and so enjoyable to watch.

Dancing is a lifestyle for these artists. “I can’t imagine living without it,” said Erika Frandsen, a Bingham High Ballroom member, “I’d kind of go crazy.”

Dancing has social benefits that creates its own little world in the arts. Every move is executed with trust in their fellow teammates. “It’s hard to learn to be totally in tune with your partner,” Frandsen said, “but that’s what makes ballroom so unique.” Kiyan Coskey agrees when she recounts her experience of joining Color Guard. “My team is like my family,” she said. “We are there for each other through everything.” Making a connection with their peers like this is part of what draws people into dance.

However, dance still has its own unique struggles. It can cause serious injuries and chronic pain in dancers. Because they are exerting their body so much, performers are more susceptible to impairment. Hair describes herself as “beat up” from recurring stress fractures and shin splints and permanent nerve damage. Yet, through all that, she continues and is expected to keep dancing as best she can.

Bingham High Minerette Mary Timmer says that in drill, “No matter how good you are if you’re not unified, it doesn’t matter.” Teamwork is crucial to being a good performer. Learning to understand others around you is a skill that dancers hone precisely. Dancers must learn to be physically and emotionally resilient.

Every spin and every lift you see in a routine has been practiced mercilessly. Every arm placement and high kick has been well thought out. Dance is not just a form of exercise or a way of “moving pretty”. For dancers, it is the purest art form. It is a way of expressing themselves without words and finding peace and understanding.