Meredith Miller 16 ~ Darryl Sneed Memorial Scholarship

When I was four years old, my mom took me to my first dance class. I immediately fell in love with dancing and knew that it was what I wanted to do. After Kindergarten, I was not satisfied with the amount of dance classes I was attending. At the studio I was enrolled at, I was only allowed to take two classes a week at my age. I was so frustrated because I just wanted more! I wanted to dance all the time, all day every day. Since then, I have never stopped dancing. It's what I love, and what I will always love to do.

I participated in competition dance from when I was 10 years old until I was 15 years old. I recently broke away from the dance competition world because I realized that I was not growing as a dancer. I received strong training during the early part of my dance training. I trained heavily in jazz, contemporary, and tap and scored very well with my solos at many competitions. I specifically fell in love with contemporary dance. I love the free-ness and creativity of movement in contemporary dance. When I was 15, I received the title of Miss Crowdpleasers at Crowd Pleasers Dance Competition. Although these awards were very rewarding, I realized that there was more to experience in the dance world. Many of my instructors told me that I needed stronger ballet technique. Lots of people don't realize that ballet is the backbone of all styles of dance. I realized that I wanted to be exposed to stronger training in classical ballet in order to continue to grow in my contemporary technique.

Although I had received ballet training in my younger years of dancing, I had never been exposed to true classical ballet. To focus on this foundation, I auditioned for the Joffrey Ballet summer intensive in New York City. I got accepted into the intensive and attended Joffrey's two week intensive. I was amazed at the training I received. I couldn't believe that I had never experienced that high quality of training in the beautiful art of ballet. I was so thankful for the opportunity to be able to train in such a beautiful city with such amazing instructors. When I got home from Joffrey's intensive, I realized that the public high school I was attending at the time was not where I wanted to be. I wanted to incorporate dance into my daily routine during my school day. I began researching performing arts schools in the area where I lived. I eventually came across a school called Fort Worth Academy of Fine Arts. I was fascinated at the idea of merging my love for dance with my academic studies. I submitted an application and received the opportunity to audition at the school. After I auditioned, I knew FWAFA was where I wanted to be. I waited anxiously for the letter that would be either my rejection, or my acceptance to the school. On the day the letter came, I was ecstatic to read that I had been accepted into the school! My dance career would grow significantly after I started attending FWAFA. Shorty after I learned that I had been accepted, the director of the school's dance department emailed me asking if I would like to audition for the school's Academy Dance Company. I accepted her invitation with huge enthusiasm and became a member of the Fort Worth Academy of Fine Arts Academy Dance Company.

After becoming a member of FWAFA’s High School Dance Company, I was selected by my instructor and peers to choreograph a piece for members of the company. The dancers would be performing my choreography in FWAFA’s annual Dance Company Concert. I was the only tenth grader who’s choreography was selected. The rest of the choreographers chosen were upperclassmen. In addition to training in modern, ballet, and jazz technique at my school for three hours a day, I also train in strict classical ballet outside of school. The ballet studio that I train at outside of my school dance classes is Ballet Center of Fort Worth. The owners of the studio are married couple, Chung Lin and Enrica Tseng. Both are former principal ballet dancers of Texas Ballet Theatre. As well as receiving excellent ballet technique for the backbone of my dancing career, I attend multiple classes at various studios and attend many dance conventions and master classes.

I hope to continue training in classical ballet for the rest of my high school years and to continue learning many different styles of contemporary and jazz from attending classes. I also hope to continue choreographing for my school and hopefully for other organizations as well. One of my goals is to become an intern for a dance convention that goes on tour throughout the country. This would allow me to travel to different cities with brilliant dance teachers and other dancers to expand my artistic boundaries. Training during the summer is very important to me. I like to go to intensives that help me grow in my dancing so that I can return home and apply what I learn to my dancing at home. Dancing is my passion and I have such a deep love for the art. I would be honored to receive a scholarship that would assist me in reaching my goals as a dancer.

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My goals for Dallas Black Dance Theatre’s summer intensive were to experience new styles, improve my versatility as a dancer, and gain stamina and strength.