Not ready to let go of dancing just yet, but simultaneously not wanting to compromise her academic goals, Sophia Sands (12) decided to continue her dance career at San Diego State (SDSU) by committing to the D-IA dance team. Going in as a Food and Nutrition major, SDSU gave Sands a direct track to a future career in physical therapy.
“I was deciding between UCSB and SDSU because they both had a good mix of what I wanted to do education-wise, and still let me implement dance in my future for the next four years,” Sands said. “The main reason I chose SDSU was because of how competitive the dance team was and how much of a good environment they maintain while still being up there with some of the best dance teams. I also chose it because it has a direct pathway into what major I want to do, versus UCSB, [where] I was going in as a Dance major. SDSU really just had what I wanted from the start.”
Despite having danced competitively for 13 years, Sands didn’t seriously consider dancing in college until senior year. Once she went to SDSU’s dance clinics, her goal began to solidify.
“I went to one of the last clinics, and I got invited [to audition] through that, and that was super exciting,” Sands said. “Then, the next weekend, we had a very long audition process, but it was definitely worth it. We started off with interviews in small groups where [we were asked] about our future goals.”
After the initial interviews and first impressions, Sands said the dancers participated in a series of auditions, testing not only their dance skills but their overall cardiovascular fitness.
“I felt the most confident in my skills test because I had been working with my teachers on the [skills] I wasn’t as confident in for the past week,” Sands said. “I was the most nervous about the fitness test because I heard it included like one mile of running, and as a dancer, you don’t run very much because you find other ways to exercise. But it ended up being fine. I was definitely tired after it, but it was kind of rewarding to see that I could do it.”
Following the skills and fitness test, the dancers went through a more formal audition, performing pom, hip hop, jazz, and game-day style routines.
Accepting her admissions offer, Sands said she was excited about the community that the dance team provides and being able to bring a large part of her identity into college with her.
“I wanted to have a piece of dance in my life as I go on to college, and I like the performance aspect and the engagement from the crowd,” Sands said. “I’m most excited for a new community because I’ve grown to love the one that I have at Westview so much, and it’s going to be so sad leaving them, but I’m so excited for a new group of people that I can bond with because dance is something that really connects you.”
