She’s shaking, yet excited and ready to go, repeating the dance in her head over and over. She walks through the curtain and out on to the stage thinking, “This is it. This is what I’ve been preparing for. This is my time to shine.” The music starts, she’s blocking out everything else, she goes into her own little world and dances as if no one is watching.

Maggie Jasper, 17, has been dancing 15 hours a week since the age of four at The Underground @ CAC Dance Studio.

Maggie’s dancing affects more than just her. Her family spends a crazy amount of money each cause all of their time revolves around it.

“I wish I could have more time for friends and I could have a job but I can’t,” Maggie says. “I just don’t have time for it, so sometimes I get burnt out.”

Although Maggie spends most of her time dancing, it might not always be that way. If Maggie gets a scholarship for college, then she will continue dancing, but if she doesn’t then she will most likely stop dancing.

“It’s a passion, not a career for me,” Maggie says.

Maggie described the feeling as a rush. It’s exciting for her to perform for people.“I live for the reactions of people, like right after you perform and you do really good,” Maggie says.

“It makes me happy.”

Maggie loves to perform for people, but it also makes her nervous especially, when she’s out there doing a solo. The day of a competition, she listens to the music she will dance to on her iPod, and goes over the dances in her head.

Maggie won Top Gun in hip hop over the summer, and her team placed first at Nationals which was a big deal for her.

Her dance team couldn’t have won Nationals without their coach. Kelly Hewitt, a 10 year dance coach, who has been coaching Maggie for three years. Hewitt is very proud to be her coach. “Maggie is always energetic, she’s a hard worker, she cares about everyone on the team, and she’s usually the class clown so to speak,” says Kelly. “She brightens my day.”

Maggie and her coach have a very trusting relationship, but when Maggie slacks off or becomes worn out, Kelly motivates her and makes sure she gets back on track.

Kelly isn’t the only one who motivates her. Her mom, Alice Jasper, is also a motivation. She is proud of Maggie and she enjoys watching her dance. Alice would be elated if Maggie received a scholarship for it.

“I’m happy Maggie is dancing because it gives her a lot of confidence to get up on stage, and she has learned a lot from mated, the faces she makes, and she’s really into it. You can tell she loves what she’s doing.”

Dancing means so much to Maggie, even though it can be tough at times. According to Kelly, if Maggie chooses to have a future in dance, she will be very successful.

“It’s fun. I’ve made lifelong friends, it’s taught me to grow as a person and it’s good for school dances because I actually know what I’m doing,” says Maggie. “I couldn’t imagine life without it.”

By Allie Lukefahr