If you look down an empty Costco aisle, there is a good chance you will find 12-year-old Catherine, pirouetting and doing the splits.

“I think twice about taking her to stores with wide open spaces,” Catherine’s mom, Cyndi, said with a smile.

While Catherine would describe herself as shy, her mom says dance brings out a different side of her personality.

“It’s like her alter-ego ballet personality,” Cyndi said. “There’s Catherine, and then there is this ballet/dance girl!”

Catherine started to dance when she was two-years-old, but took two years off when she was nine, to do USA Swimming. She couldn’t do dance and swim, and the dance studio she attended was fading out. Because Catherine is both a teachable perfectionist, and hard worker by nature, she became very good at swimming. But she grew tired of looking at the bottom of the pool.

“Swimming was great, but it stopped being fun for her,” Cyndi said. “And I could see that a little light went out inside her.”

Last year, Catherine decided dance was where she wanted to be, and dove head first back into classes. Again, because Catherine is both a hard worker and a teachable perfectionist, she quickly gained back the ground that she had lost in dance during her swimming break. She is currently in eight different classes, spending a total of six hours a week in dance class. 

“One thing about Catherine is she hones in on her craft; she will immerse herself in dance and watch Youtube videos on how to do turns,” Cyndi said. “She eats, sleeps, and drinks dance and she loves it.”

Catherine’s internal spark is back, and when she isn’t at Bloom, she is dancing or stretching anywhere she can. The kitchen counter acts as her home ballet bar.

Miss Ali, one of Catherine’s current teachers, met Catherine during a Summer Intensive Camp, and she stood out to her immediately.

“She has a natural talent, as well as a strong work ethic,” Miss Ali said. “Catherine is also very passionate in her movement, and that is a valuable quality that you can’t teach!”

“Dance is really good for me because I like to really dedicate myself, and dance is one thing I feel like you have to do that for,” Catherine said.

“It’s not the competition of dance that I like, it’s the challenge of bettering myself.”

At Bloom, one of our very favorite things is helping to provide an opportunity for students like Catherine to grow--to better themselves. When one does the hard work it takes to hone their natural talent and passion, he or she ignites their internal spark, which allows the creativity, confidence, and courage inside of their own heart to come out, to bless and inspire the world around them.