Lights beam onto the stage, focusing on the elegant leaps and graceful spins of dancers.

Sophomore, Alaithia Rooke has been dancing for 6 years. Originally, she did theater when she lived in Georgia and got into dance when she moved to Colorado, where she found a studio owned by the daughter of her old theater teacher.

“I don’t have to kick a ball around, it doesn’t require being fast, but it’s really hard and the technique has to be spot on,” Rooke said.

Rooke does classical ballet, contemporary dance, and musical theater and enjoys the variety of available dances.

“There are so many versions (of dance), you don’t have to stick to just one,” Rooke said.

Rooke also has some interesting and exceptional skills that she’s learned from dance.

“I’m kind of the jumper at my studio…I, also, stood in for a lot of dudes so I can hold up a lot of the other girls,” Rooke said. 

Rooke exceeds in some areas of her field and has gained some special skills from dance. She also surprises people with her “nervous habit” of dancing in place or doing “padebures” and “go(ing) up on her toes and…walk(ing) around”. 

Although dance comes with some automatic difficulties, as any sport or hobby does, Rooke faces some of her own struggles (such as the foot injury she got three year ago), which she has overcome.

“Three years ago I overextended my arch and I landed wrong. We didn’t get it looked at for two years, but we’re going to be working on that a lot this year,” Rooke said.

 “I can’t do a lot of things on one side and, technically, I shouldn’t even be allowed to jump or be on point, but I am.… I can’t turn on one side, and that’s kind of big and I can’t put all my weight on it,” Rooke said.“Usually, I just modify the dance or don’t do it full out, in practice, and on show day I just kill my foot.”

However, Rooke finds ways to overcome her injury and dance as best she can.

Although She describes her injury as a “detriment,” she has pushed through the pain for the past three years.

“It’s really awesome but, also, it’s a lot of work and technique will kill you,” Rooke said. “You need to go in with the mindset of ‘I’m probably not going to do this right and that’s okay because after a couple of years I still won’t be wonderful but I’ll get there.’”