Meet Ruby| Binford Dance Company Feature | Year Five
The Binford Dance Company was established in 2016. It is an audition-based student dance company from Binford Middle School, an arts integrated school located in Richmond, VA. Company members study Ballet, Modern, Jazz, Improvisation, and Composition within the Binford dance program. The company has performed throughout the community including: The 2019 Superintendent’s State of the Schools Address, Generation Dream, Richmond Public Schools Fine Arts Festival, Strawberry Street Festival, Appomattox Regional Governor’s School for the Arts and Technology, Petersburg Home for Ladies, and Cedarfield Retirement Community. The company also had the opportunity to perform in the music videos “Have It All” and “Love Is Still The Answer” by Jason Mraz. The Binford Dance Company inspires students to find their own voice through performance and choreography while learning valuable skills in the rehearsal process including collaboration, respect, and confidence.
This year the company dancers chose a word and in studio executed their word through movement, costume and set color and design.
MEET RUBY
BUBBLY
Hello! I’m Ruby, and this is my dance journey :) I started dancing when I was 4 and did ballet and tap. As a child, I never really appreciated dance and what I would learn from it, but as I got older I admired dance every second of the way. Later in my life, I did new styles like Jazz, Modern, and Hip-Hop. Hip-Hop was always my favorite and I guess it just made me feel safe, like I could be myself. You could call Hip-Hop my comfort dance. I was never afraid to be myself and add my personality to the dance, which made me really enjoy the moments I was able to take and actively participate in Hip-Hop!!!
Dance has always been my favorite way to express myself. You can pretty much do anything in dance and it looks good! Plus, it is a way for me to feel more confident and overall more encouraged. I believe that is also something Dance Company has helped me develop. I feel like now, after being a part of a Dance Company for my second year, I've not only learned so much about dance, but also about myself.
For the Dance Company photoshoot this year, I chose the word “Bubbly.” Bubbly is my all time favorite way to describe myself in one word!!! I feel that I do have a bubbly personality, but in order to see it, you have to take off this more calm and quiet layer of me… Does that make any sense? I also feel like when I’m dancing I feel energetic and cheerful, which is quite similar to the word bubbly :) All I can say is, without dance and The Binford Dance Company in my life, I don’t know where I’d be…
