Baldwin City, is a very small town with a population of around 5,000 people, it is no wonder someone might want to escape it for a while, especially to a city with a population of over 8.4 million people. That’s exactly what BHS sophomore Amelia Murray, and two homeschooled dancers Emma Niehoff and Rachel Lewis did. Over the summer of 2015, these three girls went all the way to New York City to dance at Joffrey Ballet School.

They stayed in an apartment, and had four and a half hours of dance Monday through Friday. This adds up to about twenty-five and a half hours of dance each week, for a total of over one hundred and twelve hours of dance for the entire five weeks.

“It was a lot of work,” Lewis said. “ But I really love dance so it was 100% worth it.”

With the classes came all of the teachers.

“We had a kind of cycle when it came to our teachers,” Murray stated. “We would have a different teacher for each day.”

“I thought it was really cool that there was so much variety,” Murray added. “Many of the teachers were foreign and had different teaching styles, so the overall experience was just great.”

When asked whether or not they felt that they had improved, Niehoff replied, “Yes, I didn’t notice it at first but at the end I was like, oh I’m so much better, it was a slow improvement.”

Murray also felt as if she had saying, “I improved a lot on balance, picking up combinations, as well as just confidence, I definitely believe in myself a lot more.”

For someone who loves to dance, this seems like a lot of fun.

“I really enjoyed it,” Niehoff stated. “I would definitely do it again, it was just a great experience.”

Murray felt the same way.

“I went there so I could become a better and more serious dancer,” Murray said. “If I would be able to go again next year, I wouldn’t hesitate to start saving up again.”

It is important for students to go out and experience the world, and that is exactly what these three girls did this summer.