Katelynn Walker started dancing not too long after she started walking. As a two-year-old, she took her first class at a dance studio her mother, Johnna Walker, owned at the time. Now, at 14, the Lufkin High School freshman has earned a coveted spot on a prestigious California-based dance company.
Every year since she was eight years old, Katelynn has performed at L.A. Dance Magic conventions and competitions, and each time has won a scholarship to continue on at a higher level. This year, Katelynn was invited to the LADM Final Cut — an intensive week-long workshop where selected dancers from around the country work with leading choreographers to stage a performance.
Contributed photo/ Stephanie Davis Photogrpahy |
Katelynn Walker, 14, recently earned a spot on L.A. Dance Magic Dance Company.
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Contributed photo |
Katelynn, at 10, competed for the 2005 Magic Performer of the Year in Myrtle Beach, S.C.
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"You have to be invited to do it," explains Katelynn. "You audition for different dances. We have to put on a show at a big theater in Los Angeles. It's a lot of hard work."
During Final Cut, dancers are also invited to audition for the LADM Dance Company, whose elite members assist and perform the following year with the choreographers at the various conventions and competitions, and at the National Finals.
"It's a great experience," Katelynn says. "It opens doors with all those choreographers. You also learn the dances and you go on stage and assist the teachers at the conventions."
Three weeks after coming home from Final Cut, Katelynn learned she was selected for the company.
"I got a letter in the mail," she says. "I opened it and I screamed."
Katelynn will be dancing alongside choreographers and dancers who have made their marks in the industry, like Christian Vincent, who has danced with Madonna, Ricky Martin, Gloria Estefan and Prince; and Artem Chigvintsev, a finalist on "So You Think You Can Dance," one of Katelynn's favorite shows.
While Katelynn has won awards too numerous to count, she recalls when she almost gave up dancing until her mother urged her to give it another try.
"I decided I didn't like going to dance, so I didn't go for about year, then in first grade she forced me to be on the competition team, and I fell in love with it," she says.
That passion for dance translated into her performances, earning her an award the first time she competed as a solo performer, at age six.
"I won first place overall," she said. "I had no idea what it was. I walked back into the dressing room with a trophy that was taller than me, and my mom said, 'How did you get that?' I said, 'I don't know; my friend told me I won.'"
After being part of that team for seven years, Katelynn decided to pursue dance more seriously, focusing on attending competitions and trying to earn scholarships to national conventions.
Along the way, she encountered a slight hiccup in the form of a growth spurt.
"I grew six inches in a year, and that was way awkward," she says. "You have to completely relearn everything. My legs got super long."
Now standing 5 feet 10 inches tall, Katelynn has done some modeling through an agency in Houston and also competes on the LHS track team in the 300-meter hurdles, high jump and triple jump. She is also a member of the Junior Varsity Drill Team and plans to try out next year for Panther Pride, which her mother directs. She hopes to pursue dance after high school, first as a member of the Kilgore College Rangerettes, then eventually transferring to a college in California.
In the meantime, she practices her routines anywhere from two to four hours a day, usually six days a week.
"I like it because you can express yourself through it," she says. "It's my creative outlet."
