By Sabrina Mendoza
Katherine Theoharis arrives at her home on January 7 after a gruesome day at school and dance practice. She goes to her mailbox and becomes ecstatic at the sight of package.
“I was just really excited. When I went to get my mail, I saw a package from Columbia and assumed I got in and I did!” said Theoharis, Div. 370.
Theoharis, a senior at Lane, was accepted into the Dance Program at Columbia College Chicago for the fall of 2013. She plans on minoring in Dance to obtain her BA, Bachelor of Arts, at Columbia and later attending Colorado Springs for OTS (Officer Training School) since Columbia does not offer a major in criminal justice.
A dancer since the age of four, Theoharis began with Ballet, Contemporary, Tap, Jazz, and Hip-Hop dances. Later she moved onto African, Ballroom, and Latin. As a freshman, she made it to the ASPIRA club at Lane and has been with the club ever since. Recently, she and her dancing partner from last year, Alex Peer, were voted as the Class of 2013’s best dancers for the senior notables. After numerous years of dedication Theoharis admits to the difficulty of balancing her hobby with her education.
“It was extremely hard to do” Theoharis said. “Even now[…] it is hard to balance out with ASPIRA and other dance classes I take downtown. I had to stop dancing at my old dance studio because it was too much for me.”
Theoharis also suffered from a sprained ankle at the age of 13 during a role in The Nutcracker. During a rehearsal, she was dancing and, while attempting her first triple pirouette, fell. She simply got up and danced through the little pain she felt.
“I continued but it hurt. As a dancer you can’t just quit. You need to keep going and make it look like you aren’t in pain.” Theoharis said
A sprained ankle was not enough to keep her down though. After a month of rest and full recovery, she went right back into dancing. Despite the hardships, Theoharis has had her moments of glory.
“My favorite performances were International Days at Lane when I performed and Chicago International Salsa Congress every year,” Theoharis said.
The ASPIRA club at Lane performs at Congress where they compete against professional dancers. Theoharis pinpoints this as her moment of glory because the club advanced to the night show based on their performance in the afternoon show which is a difficult thing to do. The fierce competition motivated her to excel in dancing.
Dancing has made up a large portion of Theoharis’ life, present and future. It has defined who she is as a person.
“I love it, it’s my passion. It’s a form of expression for me. It was my first realization of passion, happiness, and contentment. It means the world to me.” Theoharis said. “I express my emotions through my dancing[…] I just express it through the choreography that I come up with.”
On her journey to make something out of dancing in college, Theoharis has her future set out for herself. She plans on opening a dance studio for people of all ages, people of both genders, and offering dance classes such as Latin, Tap, Jazz, Hip-Hop, and Zumba. She envisions her studio like Joffrey’s Ballet Studio in downtown Chicago. A spacious and beautiful studio for her to teach others not her talent but her life long passion.
