About Me
Who am I?
Me
My name is Elena Cano. I am 17 years old and will be graduating with the class of 2022 from South Mountain High School. I have been a part of the South Mountain High School dance program for four years. I've been dancing for 13 years and have done many forms of dance including swing, ariel silk, tap, waltz, hip hop, jazz, ballet, cheerleading, and musical theater. I love to dance. It is another way to express myself, and creating movement has become second nature when listening to music. Hard work, dedication, and passion have led me here and have made my success.
My Way Here
The first piece I performed was in a little blue dress. I loved it and I knew I wanted to continue to dance. I stayed with my first teacher, Melissa Stokka, at her Sundance Studios company, but she also worked at a middle school teaching dance as well. She asked me to attend the middle school were she taught so I could further my dancing knowledge and experiences. It was a hard choice to move schools from all of my friends and family that went to the elementary school, but that school did not have a dance program.
The Height
Starting at the new middle school, I was only taking one dance class. It later evolved to having a dance class in the morning, afternoon, after school, and at the Sundance Studio. In the mornings I would be taking step, and we would prepare dances for parades. The afternoon classes were just the regular classes with my friends. After school, I would go to spirit line. We would prepare cheers and dances for basketball games and our district competition which was near the end of the school year. The district competitions was one of my first competitions, and I was a flyer. I was with a new group of people and was very excited. And we won! While I was with the cheer team, we won two times, and it was the most fun and exhilarating thing. I am so thankful for my teacher, Ms. Stokka. Her experiences in the cheer field like the Suns basketball cheer team helped us win, and she taught us tricks for the competitions that led us to victory. During the studio classes I would take competition classes where we prepared for competitions, a general class, and lastly a gymnastics class. These competitions were exciting because I also had solo and group performances that included ariel silk. Going to the competitions was like a field trip because it took the whole day. One of the coolest things I have done is perform solo at my eighth-grade promotion.
Now
My high school journey has been a ride. Seeing some of the same people in my dance class was comforting and exciting. I did not know what I was going into, but I was excited to dance and see where I could go from middle school. My creativity has grown so much and my knowledge in performing arts has grown. The program has taught me how to interact with people, how to teach material, and has prepared me for what is to come next in my career.