She’s a junior at Mehlville. She has been dancing almost her whole life. At three years old her dad put her in dance “just because”, but she is more than happy he did. She has been involved with the sport for 13 years now and joined the Pantherettes three years ago. Not only has she been an amazing teammate, but she showed her talent by receiving the All American distinction at the Universal Dance Association Camp the Pantherettes attend annually. Let’s hear what Grace Dix has to say about the difference in dance from the studio to the Pantherettes dance floor.
“It’s a new side of dance, a sharper side, with new opinions from different coaches rather than the ones from my studio I’ve known my whole life,” Dix said.
Dix has also been incredibly grateful to be on the Pantherettes too. When asked about her biggest inspiration she mentioned her coach Miranda Widmann, who has been there all three years. And when asked about a teammate she said Arika Thomas who is very high energy and always gets her in a good mood. Dix has gone through a lot with this team including her branching out socially and learning from Pantherettes as she approaches college.
But this year Dix, and the team, have had a challenging season. After losing strong senior dancers, their coach Miranda becoming a new mom, and their national dance competition in Orlando being a whole month earlier the team has been going through a lot of changes.
“I feel like we’ve had a lot of doubt this season, but we are definitely closer as a team too,” Dix says. “We’ve lost a month of practice because of it and it’s been pretty stressful.”
But even though the girls are going through this tough time they have bonded even more, becoming closer than before. Dix stated that her teammates and coaches have made the dance environment so likable that she looks forward to going to it everyday. Dix has also mentioned how she felt about their dances with full confidence that they feel good to her. She is excited about the competition at the National Dance Association taking place at the end of February in Orlando, Florida.
Finally, with this being Dix’s junior year, she only has one year left. After talking to her about her team, the challenges, and the impact it’s had on her, it was time to talk about her future. Dix talks about her biggest impact from Pantherettes.
“It’s been very eye opening, especially in wanting to continue my dance career,” Dix shares. “It’s also been really hard, very challenging, a lot harder than any dance has ever been.”
When asked why it was harder she said, “Harder because of requirements and getting things learned faster than in the studio.”
But after all of the challenges and rough times Dix is more than happy to continue with the team for her senior year. She says she is excited to do her last everything, competitions, dances, all of it. But most of all she is ready to be leader for the team next year and doing the best she can for it too. Good luck Grace.
