Q&A: Queen of the Dance

Trenna McKinley has been dancing since she was 8 years old. McKinley, an eighth grader, will be transitioning into high school next year and said she will be performing with the Portales High School dance team. McKinley attends the Spotswood Wilson School of Dance as a student in addition to volunteering there as a teacher to younger dance students. When she grows up, McKinley hopes to be a solo performer in a dance company.

Jillian Holbert: Portales News-Tribune

Trenna McKinley demonstrates how to do an arabesque at the Spotswood Wilson School of Dance. McKinley will be performing with Portales High School dance team next year as a freshman and hopes to one day be a professional dancer.

What are you most excited about in joining the high school dance team?

I get to learn more hip-hop than I used to and plus I get to meet dancers from school that I didn't know of. For example, I didn't know that some of my friends were dancers and they auditioned for it and some of them got in.

What's your favorite dance style?

I think it's either ballet or modern ballet. Modern or contemporary ballet shows a little more feeling than regular ballet and it has more flow to it. It's more dramatic. It just depends on what the song it is you do. Classical ballet is more technical.

What is one of the harder genres of dance for you?

The hardest genre that I dance to now is probably contemporary because it has more flips and stuff. I'm not really good at those and it has more turns, more flexibility added to it.

What do you like about going to dance school?

It's a happy place. It's so much fun. It's like I can't stay away from it. I look forward to it every day and dancing, it pretty much just makes you happy because exercise actually gives you emotion to make you happy and gives you energy.

What is the relationship between dancing and music?

With music, you can actually feel something, a little more something than without it. It adds a little more to the actual dance and you, as a dancer, show more emotion when you dance with it. I get home, I dance without music. It's all just practicing and everything and when I'm at the studio with the music, I actually dance.

What are some of the other genres of dance you study?

I also do jazz. It's pretty fun. It's not as strict as ballet. It's more for today. In contemporary, it's flowing. In jazz, it's more out there. I still don't know much about hip-hop, but it's kind of like jazz. My teacher said that jazz and hip-hop are more like cousins. You dance to rap music more in hip-hop than you do in jazz and the costumes you wear differ.

How have you grown as a dancer over the years?

I looked back at one of my videos from my very first recital and my goodness, there were so many flaws, but now I can actually know exactly what I'm doing. Back then, my arms weren't straight, my legs weren't straight, I wasn't in first position back then. Now we don't have to watch the teacher, but back then I had to. Now it's easier to memorize. Back then, it wasn't.