After playing Just Dance seven years ago – dancing to practically every song with her family – senior Brooklynn Davis found her love for dance. 

“I played it a lot as a kid and I was like ‘OMG, I am amazing and should do real dance,’” Davis said.

She thought that she was really good at it, but later realized it would take more work to be great. Each week Davis dances for around 14 hours, taking five dance classes a week, along with morning practices and Saturday rehearsals.

Davis is a Pantherette, dancing at the halftime of football and basketball games.

“What drives me a lot is that I enjoy it and I enjoy the people around me,” Davis said.

Davis also dances competitively and teaches at Set Free Dance Studios owned by Megan Bryant, who is her role model.

“She is a beautiful dancer and it is amazing to witness the progress,” Bryant said.

When first trying out dance, Davis was into hip-hop, but got into ballet and has grown from there. Now she takes many styles of dance.

With the Pantherettes, she helps with cutting music and creating dances with her teammates.

“Brooklynn has helped the team by being a great leader and always being there for everyone,” freshman Kadence Rosenthal said.

Davis won’t continue dancing after high school, though, because of college – she’s taking classes at Butler, plans to study laboratory science at Kansas State and will go to the Kansas medical school to be a forensic pathologist.

But for now, she’s loving every moment of dance.

“Dance is one of my biggest passions,” Davis said. “… I love how you can express yourself in so many different ways.”