Community Corner
Beachwood Patch Whiz Kid of the Week Ilana Blumin
This soon-to-be high school junior has been dancing since the fourth grade and will also be secretary of the school's executive student council next year
Age: 15
School:
Accomplishment: Ilana has been dancing since the fourth grade, joined the dance and drill team last year and was elected secretary of the high school’s executive student council for next year.
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Key to Awesomeness: When a friend of Ilana Blumin told her she was taking dance lessons, it piqued her interest.
“Why not?” Ilana thought to herself. It sounded like fun.
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That was seven years ago. Ilana never stopped taking those lessons at , where she said the focus has been hip hop and jazz-type dance. Now at 15, she’s decided to branch out and join a new studio, hoping to experience everything that dance has to offer.
“I’m excited,” she said. “I like a bunch of different styles. Whatever I can do.”
She said that while she took to dancing quickly, at first it was just something fun to do after school. But that was before she saw her first episode of the hit FOX TV show So You Think You Can Dance?, a dance competition where individuals compete against each other to see who has the best moves.
“I thought it was amazing,” she said. “It’s like an art form and a sport and it’s so interesting and fun to do.”
After that, she said she been took dance more seriously, bumping her days at the studio to four per week this summer and joining the dance and drill team at Beachwood High School last year, where she performed at football and basketball games. She has decided not to continue on the team next year to focus more time on school and her work in the studio.
Although she loves watching So You Think You Can Dance?, Ilana said she doesn’t have any plans to enter any dance competitions, instead preferring to enjoy just dancing.
“It’s very freeing,” she said. “It’s more than just a sport where you’re running back and forth across a field. You’re expressing yourself in a way. You know how some people write, some people sing and I dance.”
Ilana has also been involved in student council since freshman year when she was elected class secretary and then class president as a sophomore. In the fall she’ll be secretary of the executive student government.