Mallory, Isabel and Haley of 2017's Fab Five

A few years back I was picked to be a part of an exclusive community spotlight called Beauty Revived. Beauty Revived is a quarterly national publication dedicated to celebrating people who are wildly deserving of special accolades in your community. Each campaign has a different theme for whom in your community you showcase. The theme I applied for highlighted teachers. I took it all dancerly and wanted to showcase a dance teacher. Dance teachers get this unique view into their students lives most teachers don't. They see you from the time you come in for creative movement pre-ballet, all the way until you graduate in some case. Lynn Webb of Bellbrook Dance Academy was my featured star of the community! You can read how dedicated she is to her studio and community here.

Being a part of Beauty Revived inspired the heck out of me! It got me thinking...what if I could shine a little light on those that go above and beyond in the dance community? Dance life is hard! You spend the first 10-15 years of your dance life balancing school, family and dance training day after day. You make sacrifices like skipping Prom(s), spring breaks and often times most of your summers are spent away from family and friends for summer intensives. Once you make up your mind to be a serious dancer, you toe the line of adulthood and kid much faster than your non-dance friends. The bonds you make along the way with your dance families are some of the most caring and loving relationships I see. After hearing so many stories in each studio about the kindness their dancers exhibit, I had to have my own twist on celebrating those in the dance community.

What is it?

It's a hand selected group of dancers from different studios that exemplify grace both off and on the stage. It's not all about their skills, although my dancers are pretty amazing, but also about how they interact with their peers and younger dancers at their studios. Do they mentor a younger kid in the studio? What kind of events showcasing dance do they do around the community? Or, a way they have come to serve the community in some capacity as part of being in their dance school. Some of my favorites have been, dancers organizing fundraisers for a studio mom with breast cancer, nights together serving the less fortunate at shelters, having book and food drives, making care packages for parents whose children are admitted into the hospital. My favorite, organizing teams to walk Light The Night in support of a teammate battling leukemia! I won't name the dancer, but her Light the Night Team (cough..cough #TeamGinger..cough cough) routinely CRUSHED my family's team in fundraising. When they announced she would be doing the survivors walk last year...yeah. I may have cried the happiest tears! I may be tearing up now as to how flipping happy her family and teammates were. I mean, you name the cause, and one of the dance schools in my area has opened their heart to try and make the world a better place.

After all of that, celebrating our future leaders and professional dancers is just a no brainer. Am I right?

How can I be a part of this elite group..and what do I get?

Today the application for the 2018-2019 Dance Corp open up! Applications will be open until May 19th and can be submitted via this link at BethPhillipsPhotography.com. This year we have changed one big requirement. Applicants can be within 2 hours of Dayton! Yes! You can be in Newark (I'm looking at you PDC!) all the way to Northern Kentucky this year...and all places in between.

Each dancer gets their own full portrait session and a swag bag filled to the brim! Everyone also gets their own featured blog and be the face of Beth Phillips Photography's social media for an entire month! My Dance Reps are also the first I call if I have a new outfit..idea..location! You're my go to's for all things exciting! You also get personalized rep cards to hand out and earn gifts and products along the way.