Stephanie shares her world championship experience

Stephanie Maistry is a 22-year-old who grew up watching her older brothers dance and being extremely drawn to what they could do. She is also creative in every aspect of her life; from the way she dresses to how she views things.

She wrote:

I enjoy forms of expression and learning about new things because like my mom says, ‘I steal with my eyes’, meaning I draw inspiration from everything around me, from what I know and what I can learn. When it comes to my dancing, I’m a freestyler whose style is very old-school but groovy.

To be selected for the world championship was a huge honour. I felt extremely humbled but excited. The experience was truly remarkable and eye-opening. Seeing what the dance scene is like across the globe and seeing that there is something that unites us regardless of where we are from, was heartwarming. Seeing their skill and drive is inspiring and motivating.

Dance is everything to me. It’s all I’ve wanted to do since I was a little girl. It is how I process things in my life be they positive or negative. I use it to push me to reach new levels and inspiration comes from everywhere I draw from a lot of different things and try to find ways to incorporate it into my dancing.

For where I am currently my prep wasn’t just dance training but physical and mental training. I have been training every day for the past two years and with that doing both dance and physical training, my mental training I have been trying to do at least every second day, a lot of prayer and meditation, and learning how to process and deal with my emotions was also really important. That was my greatest battle.

My advice to dancers is that some days will be harder than others; it’s okay to have low days, but don’t let that stop you. Keep pushing. Keep reaching for the goals you have for you and don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t because if you set your mind to it and you believe in yourself. You can.

Related Article: Local dancers represent SA in Poland