Dancers are resilient athletes as well as artists. It takes much passion to become a dancer. They spend countless hours following a strict regime of conditioning and practicing, just as other athletes do. However, their strenuous effort is shown through their graceful entertainment.

Senior Lauren Janek posseses this deep passion for dance, as exemplified by her performance in the annual holiday ballet, “The Nutcracker.” Throughout early November, Lauren played two roles in “The Nutcracker” production, presented by Midwest Ballet Academy. She was both the Mouse King and a Russian Doll. Although the performances only occurred in November, the dancers prepared months prior to the final shows.

In fact, Lauren has been dancing for fifteen years. From the age of three, Lauren has been involved in ballet. She began modern dance at the age of seven. With both her dance lessons and Nutcracker practices, Lauren spent on average six hours dancing each night. “It was hard trying to get a good balance with both school and dance,” Lauren explained, “but the forty hours a week were worth it, because I was doing what I love.”

Although there were 25 members in the performance, Lauren found herself creating close relationships with the five other senior girls. Some of her favorite memories with them were the times when they sat in the dressing room singing and dancing together. On November 18th, the last Nutcracker performance, all of the dancers left each other treat bags and notes in the dressing room. Lauren will never forget the senior girls’ last show, because it was their last Nutcracker to ever be performed together.

However, it will not be Lauren Janek’s last dance production. From all of Lauren’s hard work, she will receive a Midwest Ballet Theatre Scholarship for college and hopes to continue dance throughout her college career. However, she does not want to go into a career of dance because she never wants “her passion to seem like a chore.” Lauren’s next dance performance will be in the spring for “Peter Pan.”