By: Camille Kelleher
Photographer
Sundancers captain, senior Ashley Sanchez recently competed and placed fifth out of 105 couples at the prestigious Latin Ballroom World Professional Amateur Championship in Columbus, Ohio. As an aspiring professional Latin ballroom dancer she furthers her progress towards her goal with this honorable achievement.
Along with this title, Sanchez is a two-time Latin Ballroom National Champion in the Youth Division, has finished third and fourth in the World Championship and has opened two shows for the Dancing with the Stars tour. Her motivation and passion for ballroom dancing stems from the excitement generated on the dance floor.
“I wish that everybody would be able to feel what I feel when I am dancing on that floor. At ballroom competitions, you feed off of the crowd, your partner, and the judges. It is a beautiful sport,” said Sanchez.
Sanchez travels to Coconut Creek three or four times a week to practice with her Russian coaches. A typical practice is three hours and consists of warm ups and specific styles of ballroom dances. Along with school, the Sundancers, and her individual ballroom practices, Sanchez also teaches students ballroom dancing.
Sanchez uses her experience as an achieved ballroom dancer to be a supportive and dynamic captain for the Sundancers. Although the Sundancer competitions are completely different from her ballroom competitions, she is able to influence them and push them to do well.
“I enjoy Sundancer competitions more because I am with a group of 20 girls, who are like sisters. You have worked so hard together. Winning as a group is more rewarding in a way,” Sanchez says.
Recently, Sanchez was invited to a competition in Canada. However, she will not attend because she has a Sundancer competition the same day. In the future, Sanchez wants to travel the world, competing in international competitions and earning titles.
“I am very focused; that is the only way I am going to make it in life. Luckily I have decided what I wanted to do with my future at an early age and I have just been training and training. We will see where it takes me,” she said.
