Leila's Time with Rubicon: How dance has helped her become a more confident person
Hello, my name is Leila. I’m currently 17 years old and I’ve been at Rubicon since I was around 6 or 7 when my Mum signed me and my cousin up for Saturday classes. At the time I was doing a lot of extra curriculars, but by far dancing at Rubicon was my favourite!
During this time, I also did dance after school every Tuesday which was hosted by Rubicon and we had lots of opportunities to perform and learn dances. In year 6 I was still doing dance with Rubicon in after school club. This was the year that Tracey from Rubicon gave me the opportunity to be a part of the DUET scholarship. I did this scholarship for two years and within the two years I was taught ballet and street, which really taught me the foundations of dance.
By the end of the scholarship I was 12 and heading into Year 8. Rubicon then gave me the opportunity to join any flagship group I wished. I chose to be a part of the contemporary group which I had an interest in after seeing them perform at end of year shows. Into my second year I had to leave flagship contemporary due to outside activities, but I was able to join the flagship junior street group as it was on a better day, and I already had previous experience of street dance because of DUETS.
After a year in Junior street, I decided that I wanted to audition for the older street group, which at the time was called NuWorx. I was around 14/15 and Kim, who is the dance leader for the street groups, decided it would be good for me to be in both groups. I felt this was great for me as it helped me improve my street technique at a greater pace.
The next year I left the junior street group due to my age and for that year I continued being in NuWorx. At this point I loved street dance, but I did miss contemporary, so after talking to some of my friends in contemporary and my Mum, I decided to audition for the flagship contemporary group. To my surprise I made it into the group and it has really pushed me to be a better dancer overall.
Currently, I’m in both the Flagship Contemporary and Flagship Street groups, and I believe this is due to my journey with Rubicon. Throughout my time with Rubicon I’ve struggled with confidence and being able to put forward my ideas in dance and outside dance. But I believe because of my experience with the people and community at Rubicon I’ve grown and become a more positive and