Sierra Pacific senior Sidney Walker is a student known for her bubbly personality and happiness. But she is also known for her dancing skills on multiple stages.
Roman Ramirez, a junior at Sierra Pacific High School and a fellow cast member from the school’s recent production of “The Prince of Egypt,” would describe Sidney as a very kind, talented, creative and energetic person who you can always go to for help.
Many students would agree with Ramirez. Walker goes out of her way to be kind.
Walker is committed and involved in many extracurricular activities, including FFA (Future Farmers of America), showing animals at the county fair, the JFB (Junior Fair Board), choir, dance and musical theater.
A huge part of Walker’s life is dance. She competed in dance competitions for ten years. Ever since she was a young toddler, Walker has been dancing. She was enrolled in her first dance class at Kings Dance Center at only 14 months old.
Walker has danced jazz, hip hop, lyrical, ballet, musical theatre, tap, contemporary, pom, as well as tumbling. Walker says that her favorite style of dance is either musical theater, lyrical or contemporary dance. For having danced this long, Walker’s passion is evident.
“My inspiration for dance is that I can express myself through body movements and facial expressions,” Walker said.
Walker explained how her coaches and teachers throughout the years have helped shape her into the dancer she is today. Julia Terazzas, Walker’s ballet teacher at Bethel Ballet Academy, described how Walker stands out in her dancing because she is a team player. Terazzas mentioned how Walker gives her all to the choreography, no matter if she is center stage or in the back line, and she sees it through to help the dance fully come together.
Vivian Santos, the musical theater and choir director at Sierra Pacific said Walker is incredibly talented as well as being a dedicated student.
“She always goes above and beyond,” Santos said. “Doing things like staying late after rehearsals to help paint set pieces and helping other cast members with the dance numbers. She is exactly what every director expects from their cast.”
When not on stage, Walker finds ways to apply her knowledge and skills from competitive dance in the real world. She says, “[dance] taught me skills like leadership, and how to deal with many different types of people.”
Her experience in dance has allowed her to meet and work with many different personalities in a group setting. Walker explained how she has learned that no one person is the same. Her knowledge of these skills and years of practice will only benefit her in her future college and job.
With Walker’s high school career coming to a close this June, while she will be focusing on her major in Animal Science to become a livestock veterinarian, she still would love to participate in a musical theater program in college.
One of Walker’s classmates, Katelyn Warmerdam, says, “[Walker’s] passion is so prevalent in the amount of different styles she does, and that she gives her all to each one.
“I would say that she is an amazing dancer, and while it’s hard for some to be good at one style, she is great at multiple. You can tell when she dances how much heart she puts into it.”
