Meet Annika | Binford Dance Company Feature | Year Six
The Binford Dance Company was established in 2016. It is an audition-based student dance company from Binford Middle School, an arts integrated school located in Richmond, VA. Company members study Ballet, Modern, Jazz, Improvisation, and Composition within the Binford dance program. The company has performed throughout the community including: The 2019 Superintendent’s State of the Schools Address, Generation Dream, Richmond Public Schools Fine Arts Festival, Strawberry Street Festival, Appomattox Regional Governor’s School for the Arts and Technology, Petersburg Home for Ladies, and Cedarfield Retirement Community. The company also had the opportunity to perform in the music videos “Have It All” and “Love Is Still The Answer” by Jason Mraz. The Binford Dance Company inspires students to find their own voice through performance and choreography while learning valuable skills in the rehearsal process including collaboration, respect, and confidence.
This year the company dancers met at the VMFA and chose their favorite spots to showcase their movement and choreography they have learned through this year’s dance curriculum.
MEET annika
ANNIKA - 7th grade
Hi there! My name is Annika, I am a 7th grader at Binford Middle School and this is my second year of being a part of the Binford Dance Company or as we call it BDC. My dance journey has been a wild one. I started my first ballet class when I was around seven years old at a small dance studio called River City Dance. I took classes weekly and started performing. Eventually I developed better technique and raised the skill level bar. As I grew older I started to drift away from dance, I took a year of dance off and on until 5th grade when I got accepted into Team XL which was a dance program for the Richmond Ballet through my elementary school. There we learned a dance in which we were going to perform before Covid hit. I was devastated when I found out that due to the pandemic I couldn’t showcase my hard work. When it came to middle school I heard that there was a dance company along with dance classes and I knew that I needed to take both. I first auditioned for a spot on the dance company, which I made it into, and this was the start of my dance journey in middle school. I had such an amazing experience that I wanted to audition again this year and I got into it again. One of the adjudicators at the audition saw my talent and wanted me to dance for her studio so I’m taking classes there now. Since then I have never danced better. Dance is my everything, it is a way for me to express my emotions without having to verbally speak about them. Dance has always been a way for me to cope with grief, happiness, confusion and so much more. Dance is my therapy and I do it because it is the only thing that can be whatever I make it. Without the Binford Dance Company I wouldn’t have gotten the opportunities I have now. I have had such amazing relationships and experiences through this company and I could not be any happier to say I am a proud member of the BDC.
