Growing up, Arielle Aguilar would always do some form of dancing. “Around third grade I started doing Hawaiian dances, Polynesian dances, basically those types of dances,” she said.

“The reason I had started dancing was because my friend had actually recommended me to dance with her, and since she was my best friend I gave it a try,” Aguilar said.

People don’t always stick with what they had once loved, but Aguilar expresses her thoughts through dance and continues to stick with it. “I hope to branch out to other dance styles besides Hawaiian,” she said. “I would really like to try other things like Hip Hop or Contemporary. Maybe I would teach kids how to dance in the future, but it’s only a thought and I just really want to continue dancing in any shape or form.”

Aguilar feels that dancing has affected her life in a positive way. “I feel that I’m able to express myself in a different way because I have always been an artistic person,” she said. “I used to draw and paint, but now that I switched to dancing I feel like I can express my emotions better.”

Everything has its ups and downs, however, and despite her appreciation for the art of dance, Aguilar has had some hard times, too. “I think there are some hard parts about dancing because there are times where I want to express myself, but I get stuck with the same moves over and over and cannot do more,” she said.

She likes to stay active, but not just through dancing. “In my free time, I like to sketch or paint, I like drawing in general. I like to be active physically, too, so I like playing basketball and sometimes even volleyball,” she said. “I like sports a lot, and I’m actually on the basketball team. Before that, I was on the volleyball team. Now they even have a badminton team so I might want to try that sometime later on,” she said.

Everyone has a story to tell and dreams to chase.  Aguilar hopes she can stick with dancing and continues to develop her style to benefit her in the future.