Dance Student Spotlight: Meet Nya Cunningham

Meet Nya Cunningham, 14, from Washington, DC currently train at Baltimore School for the Arts.

Can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.

‍I've been dancing since the age of three but it wasn't until I started training at The Dance Institute of Washington at the age of 8 that I found my love of ballet. I've been blessed with the opportunity to train and work with some great people at such a young age like Debbie Allen, Anthony Burrell, The Washington Ballet, Atlanta Ballet, and American Ballet Theatre to name a few. I've trained in various genres of dance such as ballet, modern, contemporary, hip hop, and African to name a few.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?

‍My journey in dance has not always been easy. It has been hard to stay focused on my training as I have always had moments of self-doubt in my abilities as a dancer. There were a lot of times when I got in my own head. I would let the negativity get to me and let it mess up my performance in classes or on stage.

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What personal limitations if any did you go through in your young career?

‍N/A

Has anybody ever tried to limit you on what you could do? If so how did you fight it?

‍People wanted to limit me to just sticking to modern and hip hop because the color of my skin or my muscular body type. Other times people may say I won't get far in ballet either. To fight it, I just stayed true to myself and worked hard to prove those people wrong.

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How do you conquer negative talk?

I would either talk about it with my mom and she would help me with ways to ignore the negativity and focus on the positive things in my life. Talking about it really helps to release those thoughts and move on to better things. Never keep it bottled up inside you.‍

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What is your favorite quote?

"If you're always trying to be normal you will never know how amazing you can be"- Maya Angelou

So, what’s next? Any big plans?

‍I have a few things in the works but right now I just started working in an independent dance movie. It's my first time acting!!