Leslie Campos (Creator)
Being the creative founder of Live, Breathe, Dance I decided to share my own dance journey in the first person. Since I was little, I’ve always had an interest in dance. Dancing is huge in my family and is a big part of our culture and how we celebrate at family events. Growing up with three older sisters, I always admired what they were doing. Two of my sisters took dance in high school, a lot of the time, they had to babysit me and took me along to practices.
One of my sisters even did cheer-leading and this is when I met the person who inspired and awoke my love for dance, Nicole Lemoine AKA Mrs. G. Mrs. G was the first dance teacher I met and seeing her teach my sisters and watch her choreography come to life made me fall in love with the craft. I would love to go to my sister’s dance shows and they would even be recorded on DVD at the times.
I’d watch my favorite pieces over and over again to be amazed by the dancers and their movements. I ended up watching shows like So You Think You Can Dance religiously to watch the best dancers and choreographers perform the most spectacular works of art. I was always shy as a little kid and felt uncomfortable dancing in front of my family but I wanted to break that. I didn’t have the opportunity to take dance classes when I was younger but tried playing instruments to break my stage fright and grew a love for performing.
I would always dance in my room and learn techniques and choreography from videos but it wasn’t until high school that I started taking dance classes. I was able to take dance as an elective and was beyond blessed by having the Mrs. G as my dance teacher my sophomore year.
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This was the same year I joined the color guard of the marching band and it incorporated a lot of dancing and performing in front of dozens to hundreds of people for competitions. We even won nationals my first year and that was a big confidence buster and made me love performing in front of others.
We were also invited to media day and to perform for the pre-show for the Super Bowl XLVIII on February 2, 2014 at the MetLife Stadium. This was really big accomplishment for me.
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These experiences all made my passion for dance and eager to learn grow. I knew I wasn’t as trained or skilled as other dancers that have taken dance classes since they were younger.
However, that just motivated me to practice more and do more research. Having learned that some of the pioneers in dance didn’t start dancing until their late 30s inspired me even more. In my junior year, I took a leap of faith in myself and started to choreograph and ended up having a solo, duet, and group piece for the winter showcase. I never had so much fun than dancing on stage and bringing my choreography to life. Being able to sync my body and emotions with music on stage was liberating.
I continued making pieces after that for every showcase trying to improve as a choreographer and dancer. Senior year I decided to pay for my own dance classes at Joann's School of Dance in my hometown Elizabeth, N.J. Learning choreography and dancing with others helped me continue to grow as a dancer.
After I graduated and went off to college, I was depressed for a while because I was no longer able to have dance classes, color guard, or even run track as I did in high school.
These were all things that not only kept me active but happy. I gained so much weight and knew that enough was enough and had to pull myself together.
I started working out again, dancing again, and trying to get back to my old self if not better than before. It helped me want to achieve my dance goals even more than before.
In my junior year of college, I was fortunate enough to start my own dance club, the Pioneer Dancers. As much as I admired the dance team on campus, I knew I wasn’t as skilled as their dancers and didn’t have the time or money to invest in the team. This made me think of other students who might feel the same way. I wanted to start a club that was a creative safe space for students whether they had dance experience or not.
Through my time with the Pioneer Dancers, I have found myself again and started doing what I love, dance. I have watched members grow in technique, performance, and confidence with the club is more than I could’ve asked for. Starting this club was such an accomplishment for my college career. I have had such great success with events and guest workshops to share with the club members and the WPU community that have attended. It felt full circle when I had my forever dance mom Mrs. G come and teach workshops. She was my inspiration to start dancing again and ultimately why I founded the Pioneer Dancers.
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In between semesters, I have taken more dance classes in NYC at Broadway Dance Center to learn more and try new styles of dance. I want to continue dancing because it is something I love. Learning new styles help me break outside my comfort zone and have fun while doing so.
Dance is a creative, liberating and peaceful form of therapy for me and probably everyone who dances.
Teaching dance has made me appreciate all my past dance teachers and helped build confidence in my dancers.
I believe that anything is possible with practice, dedication and having someone to motivate you to never give up.
My goals are to continue learning choreography, gain my confidence back and take more dance classes.
I would love to eventually take some classes from some of my favorite choreographers and teachers in L.A. Being able to travel and still dance while pursuing a career in PR is ultimately the dream that I plan on making a reality. I want to share my passion and love for dance with others and hopefully inspire future dancers to emerge because dance is the one place that I believe is always welcoming and accepting of others.
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So many dancers believe that if they aren't perusing a career in dance that they have no purpose to continue with it. I hope that has changed over time and I don't plan on over letting go of dance. Working in a career in PR with performing arts would be the best of both worlds and the reason I chose to create this online magazine. I would love to teach with my own dance studio in the future and continue what I love to do— dance.
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