Most students take ballet or hip hop when they are kids. This student has spent seven years ballroom dancing.

Sasha Kek, freshman, started ballroom dancing in second grade when her mom signed them up for classes without any prior dance experience.

“The first time that I went there I really enjoyed it and my mom forced my brother and I to kind of become a couple and dance together, but over time I learned to enjoy it more,” Kek said. “At first it was really difficult because normally in ballroom the partner is supposed to be the boss and the girl is suppose to follow. I kind of always wanted to rise up and be the most important.”

In order to rise up and continue on in ballroom dancing, Kek has been taking classes four days a week, and traveling to Chicago, Indiana, and Ohio to compete every three months since fourth grade.

“I am most excited for the performance area because winning is always fun, but you don’t always win,” Kek said. “Judging is more complicated because judges aren’t necessarily professionals in ballroom, so they don’t look at your technique, they mostly look at how you come dressed in competitions, how your makeup is, what your hair looks like, and if you perform for the audience and they like you. They don’t really know how to actually dance.”

Despite not always winning, Kek’s close friend, Kelsie Schaeffer, freshman, sees the dedication Kek has for her passion of ballroom dancing.

“I definitely have seen that it has changed her,” Schaeffer said, who has been friends with Kek since fourth grade. “She knows a lot about dance, and she has an athletic figure. She’s definitely dedicated.”

While ballroom dancing may just be a hobby the siblings right now, Kek said she hopes to continue on with it in her future.

“I think I may want to be a ballroom teacher. If not I want to urge others to take ballroom,” Kek said. “It’s a fun experience and it’s really unlike any other type of dancing that you do like hip hop or ballet. It’s kind of more of a unique aspect of dance.”