Excerpt from Soaring Magazine:
The world of tutus and ballet slippers has been Kayla Ascott’s* life from the time she was three years old. She attended CCCS until second grade, but with support of her family, she began home-schooling in third grade so she could train for five to seven hours every day. This was her routine until August 2013, the beginning of her junior year, when she decided to come back to CCCS to join her sister and to connect with others her age while participating in all the usual teen activities. It isn’t easy going to school full-time, because now her mornings and evenings are occupied with a busy practice schedule.
Her hard work and dedication have paid off though. Kayla is in the top 30 of 1100 ballet dancers in the Premier Level of the Atlanta Ballet Center for Dance Education. December marked her third year performing with the Atlanta Ballet at the Fox Theatre. She danced in three of the four Nutcracker casts and successfully balanced going to school full-time with demanding Nutcracker rehearsal schedules. In February 2014, she will do it again to perform in Pinocchio at the Cobb Energy Centre.
But that is just the start for her. While she intends to continue dancing, her dream is to be on Broadway someday. “When the lights go black and the music strikes up, it is magical to me. That is my favorite sound in the world.” And her love for it is clear to anyone who has seen her perform.
More than the neat opportunities and accolades, Kayla wants to be a light for Christ in the performance world. “Dancing isn’t for me. I am dancing for God’s glory,” she said. “I’m privileged that God is using the things I love to make an impact on others.”
*Names changed
