“Dancing ballet taught me to be disciplined, patient to achieve good results, work well in groups and balanced with my time.”

Becoming a professional dancer, or even just a great one, is certainly not an easy path and as elaborated by Diana Figueroa‘s words above, takes quite a lot of work and patience. They’ve given up summers to attend dance camps, weekends to attend dance competitions, the list is endless. But it’s a certain drive for excellence and love for the art that sustains these dancers here whose specialties range from ballet to hip hop, to Thai and contemporary dance. 

Take a look at their pages below to learn what they’re up to inside and outside the dance studio.

Diana Figueroa has always been drawn towards the arts leading her to study design and ballet. When she’s not busy with either of those she models and enjoys watching movies.

A professional dancer and choreographer from the South, Bryan O’Shea is also a fan of Asian pop music, royal heraldry (hence the shield as his bio pic), and blogging.

We love the magical photo this dance artist chose for her page. Emily Dobson‘s work as a contemporary dancer and teacher have taken her across the UK, Ireland and USA.

Wiz Kilo is a dancer, singer & teacher who created Camp Je Danse with Andrea Wheeler to encourage teen girls to dance while getting in shape and raising their confidence.

An ambitious young journalism student who has been involved in hip hop dance teams since a young age, Shirin Ahmadpour is also an actress and model.

From the Netherlands, Thijs Huizer is currently attending the SUNY Purchase Conservatory of Dance in NY. His other interests include photography and filmmaking.

A first artist with the English National Ballet, Madison Keesler was previously with the San Francisco Ballet. Always looking to expand her artistic skills, she recently took up guitar.

From Bangkok, Thailand, Poosanisa Tarapan is passionate about ‘Khon’ a type of traditional Southeast Asian dance.

Have an idea of which group of people we should feature next week? Tell us about it in our comment section below.

Credit for our header photo goes to artist, Judy Kay who has a special interest in dance and emotive themes.