I would like to present the first Ascending Star Dance, Dancer of the Month: Jamie Songer. Jamie is a former member of the Augsburg College Dance Team that I coach. She came to the team with a strong figure skating background. Jamie quickly picked up new dance skills and always worked very hard. Jamie was a joy to have on the team. I was inspired by the change in skill level Jamie achieved in just one season. When she transferred to UM, I was excited to see that she made the dance team there. Jamie is the Dancer of the Month because she knew what she wanted and she didn’t give up. Jamie’s experience proves that hard work and dedication can allow you to achieve your goals.

By Sara Willcutt

In Jamie’s words:

As I walked on the field at Florida State University, I could feel the scrutiny of over 80,000 pairs of eyes upon me. I wanted to be a Hurricanette since my senior year of high school, but nothing could have prepared me for this moment. My heart was racing so fast that I felt it was going to explode. Suddenly, the weeks of practice, choreography and hard work became a little more than a confused blur. I felt panic might consume me, then the band began to play, my anxieties disappeared, and I realized, “I am living my dream!”

That day proved to be the culmination of years of gymnastics, figure skating and dance, as well as the gateway to my professional career as a dancer. When I look back at how this all started, it seemed to be moving in a different direction. I began training in competitive gymnastics and figure skating at the age of seven with dreams of one day competing at the Olympic level. By the time I was twelve, my proficiency at figure skating led me to give up gymnastics to devote 100% of my energy to the sport. It was around this time that I began to incorporate dance to my training regiment in order to improve my artistry and style on the ice. I enjoyed dancing, but it never occurred to me to pursue the art other than to reinforce my skating abilities.

Throughout grade school and junior high, I advanced in figure skating, skating along side names such as Tara Lipinski, Michelle Kwan and Evan Lysacek. My career had potential; however, I was developing a growing problem that would soon make figure skating difficult and painful for me to continue.

I developed bursitis in my left ankle, which caused it to fill with fluid every time I would put it in the skate. By the age of fifteen, I made the difficult decision that rather than making daily visits to the doctor to receive cortisone shots and have my ankle drained, I was going to call it quits.

Without skating, there was certainly a void in my life and a lot more free time. It had been so long since I trained as a gymnast that any hopes of competing were out of the question. The next natural step was to begin focusing my attention on dance. In my high school, I began a performance dance team with a friend called The Caxys (after our school mascot.) My first job in high school was as a Bar/Bat Mitzvah dancer with Excite Works, Inc.

As my senior year in high school rolled around, I began thinking about colleges. It was then that I first became interested in the University of Miami and their Hurricanettes dance team. I knew right away that I wanted to be a Hurricanette. I found the idea of being part of something larger than myself very appealing. When I saw the girls perform, I knew that they were helping to create the legacy of UM, and I wanted to be on the field with them.

After my first year of UM, I decided that I needed a smaller school that was closer to home. I had tried out for the Hurricanettes and not made the team. The stress of being in a large school and so far away from family and friends had proven to be more than expected. For my next two years, I attended Augsburg College in Minneapolis, MN. In my second year at Augsburg, I auditioned to dance as a Silver Star and made the team. It was the first time that I had danced competitively on a collegiate level.

After two years at Augsburg, I decided I was ready to go back to UM. In the fall of 2005, I returned to Miami and once again tried out for the Hurricanettes. Armed with the training I received as a Silver Star, I did not just make the team but was granted a position on the front line.

At the conclusion of the 2005 college football season, Jose Guerrero, an excellent choreographer and an inspiration to me, convinced me to audition to dance with his team, the Marlins Mermaids, the first dance team in major league baseball. After the longest and most difficult auditions, lasting two full weeks, I was granted a position on the 2006 Marlins Mermaids.

As a twelve year old girl in the skating rink, I never would have dreamed that my life would turn out this way. Even as a high school senior reading over piles of college admission brochures, if someone had told me that I would make a career of something so fulfilling and for which I have so much passion, I never would have believed it.

Today,my job will require me to dance on the dugouts of a nationally televised major league baseball game, to autograph my own trading cards for fans and to appear on radio and television in support of my team.