Letter from Ruby Castillo
La Academia Pre-professional Student and Nuestro Futuro Scholarship Awardee

June 30, 2020

Hola!

My name is Ruby Castillo and I have been dancing at Ballet Hispánico for 4 years. Each year, I feel that I am not only improving on my dancing, but I am also growing as a person. Throughout the years, I have come to look at my fellow students and instructors as friends, motivators and inspirations. This has helped me to keep improving.

I have been working with Ms. Kiri Avelar on new choreography for the special virtual fundraiser. I was very excited to be chosen to perform for this special event because I would not only be developing a new dance with Ms. Kiri, but it would all have to be done through virtual meetings. This is the first time that I am doing anything like this. It was a bit challenging at first, but as we progressed I became more confident. My mother has also been a huge help for this performance. We have had to record the dance over and over again in different locations throughout our apartment. Since my mother is also the camera person, she figured out some artistic ways to record the dance so Ms. Kiri would be able to have more footage when she edits and puts the whole performance together.

It has been a great experience working one-on-one with Ms. Kiri, who is a great instructor and choreographer. I have worked with Ms. Kiri before so I was comfortable with the way she teaches, the only problem was it was hard having to learn new choreography through online and not in person. It was also difficult to do all the moves that she described. Overall, it was fun learning in a new way.

Being a part of the School of Dance community has helped me in many ways. With hard work and learning new dances, I have become more confident in my abilities which pushes me to keep progressing. Before I started performing I was really shy. I wanted to keep away from having to talk and stand in front of a crowd. I was always told I had stage fright. As I started dancing, I grew more comfortable with the stage and performing, although I still get nervous performing in front of a crowd. Through this experience, I improved on getting rid of my stage fright. 

Ruby Castillo

Nuestro Futuro Scholarship Student Letter 2


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