Is the perfection worth the pain?
As they walk into the studio to start their three-hour-long practice, OVS sophomore Harley Wachter and freshman Riley
Young brace themselves for their once comfortable space to become intoxicating, yet overbearing.
Both girls have been dancing since they were young – Harley started at age 5, Riley at age 2. Their family members were the reason they started.
“My mom put me in dance classes at two years old, almost three, because she wanted to see me in a tutu,” Riley said. “She didn’t actually expect for me to like it, but I did.”
They dance at the Starlight Dance Academy in Ojai, and have been dancing there since the start of their careers, as well as their ten-year friendship.
“I love dancing because you don’t have to talk, you can just express yourself and it’s really fun to do,” says Harley.
The two girls dedicate two hours, five days a week to putting forth the excellence that is expected of them.
Harley and Riley dance competitively with their studio and work on multiple different dance styles.
“We dance in Orange County and LA, and usually have five competitions a season that go throughout January to May,” Riley says. “We compete in group routines, duets, and solos.”
Riley and Harley continue to have a love for dance even though dancing morphed into something new.
“You just stare at yourself in the mirror constantly,” Riley says. “You notice a lot of things about yourself that most people wouldn’t.”
The constant criticism and strain put on these girls by the amount of time spent perfecting themselves twisted the relationship they have with dance.
“I think dance is worse for your mental health because you’re constantly comparing yourself to others,” says Harley. “Another reason… is because it’s so mentally draining.”
Riley acknowledges that dance does take a toll on their mental health. The studio is the place where they find themselves most expressive and claustrophobic at the same time. The girls find themselves trapped in an endless cycle of forced faultlessness.
It is clear that the relationship both girls share with dance and the studio is a mix between love and hate. The physical and mental strain is worth the praise that comes with beauty and grace.
“Why wouldn’t I dance, it’s the only thing I’ve ever known,” Harley says.