Dancer Spotlight: Evan: 2019 “Mouse Queen”

My name is Evan, I’m a fourteen-years-old sophomore at Carmel High School, originally from Long Beach, California. In sixth grade we left home and moved to Carmel, this was incredibly hard considering I didn’t know any of the other kids or the campus. I felt like an outsider looking in until I came to The Dance Center. Everyone was welcoming and kind and I wanted to spend as much time there as I could; however, I was struggling to focus in school and keep up with my classes and as a result, had to lighten my time at the studio, where I had begun to make important and lasting friendships.

Thankfully, come eighth grade with determination and support, I was able to develop the habits needed to help me succeed in my classes and incorporate more dance back in my life. With Nutcracker auditions approaching last year I knew I wanted to overcome my struggles with self-confidence and learn to stand out instead of hiding in the back and fearing I would be noticed. To do this I started working harder and getting more comfortable with my movement which led me to feeling much better about myself and landed me with my first lead role, Soldier Doll!

Growing this confident mindset and seeing the results through my dance gave me the motivation to continuously better myself throughout this entire year which has prepared me to now have the lead role of Mouse Queen! I am so grateful to MPBT for the opportunity to play this part, and to all of the teachers who have helped me along the way to being here. This Nutcracker season is going to be amazing.