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Maraya Rashid traveled to Denver in the summer of 2009 to attend a summer dance intensive at the Colorado Ballet. She was invited to return to Denver from Florida to audition at Denver School of the Arts by Mr. Michael O’Banion. Subsequently, she was accepted into DSA as a Dance Major and Maraya and her mother decided to relocate to Colorado.
I began dance classes at two years old with Mrs. Karen Napier of Covenant Dance in my hometown of Panama City, Florida where she instilled in me the love of dance and performing. Since then I have been training and performing for the past 16 years. My concentration is on ballet, contemporary and jazz, although I have also had training in modern, tap, lyrical, hip hop, and Bollywood. I am currently training with Anastasiya Baranova and David Taylor of Denver Ballet Theater Academy.
My proudest and most cherished moment as a dancer was when I was invited to take a bow with a prima ballerina from the Moscow Ballet after I had performed as a snowflake in the production of the Nutcracker. I am also very proud of being accepted into Denver School of the Arts because I know firsthand what an incredible dance program they offer and it was an honor to have been a part of it for two years.
I chose to transfer to Denver Online High School because I was seeking more time and flexibility in my schedule for dance training. The administration and staff of Denver Online High School have worked tirelessly to assist me in achieving my ambition of graduating a year early. I am very grateful to them for their unwavering support and their many efforts to aid me in accomplishing this goal. My plans after high school include attending Community College of Denver and a University dance program, in order to achieve my goal of becoming a professional dancer.