Jacqueline Adams ’12

Hometown: Whittier, California

Although she spent a decade studying ballet to a preprofessional level, Jacqueline Adams admits she “learned at a young age ballet wasn’t necessarily for me.”

“Dance has always been a way I explore different aspects of myself,” said Adams, who also trained in modern dance. But, she added, “I’ve always struggled with the dancer’s image. . . . I’ve had to learn that as an African American female, a girl with hips and curves, people won’t always accept me as a dancer. I don’t fit into particular molds, so I’ve used my expression to defeat many stereotypes. What I want most out of my dance experience and career is to break down walls that say what size, shape, color, and height a woman needs to be in order to dance.”

Adams had a chance to hone her dance skills and her perspective in the summer of 2007, when she was accepted to the intensive summer program at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in New York City. For seven weeks, six hours each day, she studied ballet, West African and Horton dance, and yoga. She now plans to major in dance at MHC.

“I want to challenge stereotypes further and really come to understand myself as an expressive body and choreographer,” she said. “I’m ready to be a role model and own myself as a a dancer, an artist, and a woman!”