The same little girl every year sits in the middle of the front row, just watching. Her eyes light up as she sees the dancers move across the stage in the bright lights. That same little girl now sits in the middle row, waiting. She gets up, walks into the middle of the court, and waits for the music to blare through the speakers. After many years of watching, it is finally her turn.

Ashley Taylor, a sophomore at Rocklin High, has been dancing for eight years. Her dad, Mr. Steve Taylor, is a physical education teacher, and as a teacher at Rocklin, he was always able to get tickets to the dance shows for Ashley at little cost. This sparked her interest in becoming a Rocklin High dancer at a young age.

Ever since seeing her first dance show, Ashley attended the Summer Kids Camp run by the Rocklin Dance team. She always looked up to the high schoolers as amazing dancers and thrived on their positivity and encouragement.

“When I was younger, during RHS Kids Camp I fangirled over all the dance team members and strived to be like them one day!”

“Rocklin High creates athletes who are hard working individuals who all support each other in their paths to success,” says sophomore Serene Tarazi, a current JV dancer.

Last year, the JV dance team had 4 freshman, including Ashley, and 7 sophomores. Ashley was among the tallest and was always in the middle of the kick-line for football routines, enabling her to play a prominent role on the team.

Ashley added, “My favorite performance of all of last year was homecoming rally because the music was really catchy and overall a fun performance.”

The 2014 dance show Ashley performed in was themed Cinematic. Choreography was added to music from television shows and movies for Dance 2, Dance 2 Partners, Dance 3, and Dance 4 classes.

“From the time we first learned the dances to the date of opening night, it took around four months of difficult and hard-working preparation that was well paid off in the end,” Ashley said. “Highlights were definitely the amazing friendships made during the show, along with the memories I will never forget, and of course the performing.”

So finally, after many years, Ashley was able to dance on the team and perform her first show.

“After performing I felt rewarded for being apart of the show alongside the talented dancers.”

Serene, after hearing that Ashley has wanted to be in the show since she was little, commented, “Her story was actually motivational in realizing you never know what children are watching, so always thrive to be the most supportive and hard-working dancer you can be to inspire them, as previous dancers did to Ashley.”