Sara Maria Jensen is a dancer. No question about it. To her, dancing is not just something to do after school; it is her life.


It is how she expresses herself without words in a form of art that she loves.
“It’s uplifting,” Jensen said. “I just couldn’t go without it. It’s my passion.”
Jensen first discovered that passion when she was nine from those around her, who not only provided encouragement and support, but also were the ones who got her started dancing.
“Well my family, one of my friends of my family, owns the studio, and told my grandma that I should try it, and I just stuck with it.” Jensen said.
For six years, Jensen has danced at the Patzius Performing Arts Center, five times per week, between two to four hours a day. In this time she practiced over and over, perfecting her different styles of dancing and preparing her different solos; although sometimes the many hours of hard work can catch up to her.
“Sometimes I wish it [dancing], wouldn’t constrict me so much, but never that I wasn’t a dancer,” Jensen said.
Her hard work has led her to dance at and win many competitions in and out of St. Louis, preparing solos and other artistic pieces for them.
“[Her greatest strength is] the ability to work hard. She is an amazing actress. When she plays a role, it is really convincing,” said Donna Patzius-Hill, who has been Jensen’s instructor for four and one half years.
Jensen’s success has not gone unnoticed, as she has been accepted into many prestigious dance programs across the country, such as the Kansas City Ballet, Ballet Chicago and Ballet West. Last summer Jensen also got the chance to go to the Boston Ballet Summer Program and in February will be competing in Chicago for the Youth American Grand Prix.
“[I advise her to] keep doing what she is doing,” Patzius-Hill said. “ [But] don’t be such a perfectionist.”
In the future Jensen plans to try and become a professional dancer, but knows that she still has much more work to do. Until then, she will continue to practice the art she loves.
“It’s a part of me now and I hope that it always will be,” Jensen said.