Brown Ballerina Ambassador Mia Watkins Reflects on Maintaining Professionalism Under Pressure
Mia Watkins is a 16-year-old ballerina from Maryland. She started dancing when she was 3 and began formally training at 6. “My grandmother would play James Brown for me every day and I would make up dances to his songs,” she said. “At that point, my family knew I loved to dance.”
Mia currently dances at CityDance Conservatory in Rockville, MD, and Spotlight Dance Company in Millersville, MD. She is training in ballet, jazz, tap, hip-hop, modern, and contemporary. She studies a variety of ballet types, including Vaganova, Cecchetti, and Balanchine. In the future, Mia hopes to become a professional commercial dancer.
Photo: Mia Watkins; shot by Ally Day Photography
“I love dancing because of the emotional outlet, the different variations of movement, and not only how it makes me feel but also how it makes other people around me feel,” she said. In her interview below, Mia reflects on an experience in her dance journey where she had to quickly pivot to a new objective, and how she learned to handle it professionally.
A Learning Experience
A couple of years ago, my dance troupe and I rehearsed to be a part of the UniverSOUL Circus and had to scrap our entire routine the day of the show. We were invited to dance in the pre-show and the closing number. We rehearsed and prepared for weeks, but when we arrived, we found out that due to a miscommunication, we had to change the entire routine for the closing number.
This was a challenge because my troupe and I had to learn a whole new routine the day of the show and perform it within a few hours. We were already nervous about performing and now everything we had worked on had been cut. Even our teachers were upset. In the end, we learned all-new choreography, we were still able to perform well, and no one knew how much chaos there was before we hit the stage.
Lessons and Reflections
I learned that even though this was a very stressful experience, I was very grateful for it because it gave me a glimpse into how the professional dance world operates. I learned that every experience will not be perfect and sometimes, as dancers, we will have to think fast on our feet. As a result, I now have a better understanding of how to react under pressure.
The only thing I think we should have done differently is not to spend so much time debating about what happened. We needed all of our time to practice the new routine instead of talking about things that were outside of our control.
Applying the Lessons Today
As a performer, this experience taught me to always be ready for anything. You never know when things will change. No matter if the change is positive or negative, you must always be ready and make the best of it!
A Thought for Dancers
What I would share with other dancers is just to continue following your dream. No matter how hard it seems or how many hours you spend in the studio, just keep working and you will become a great dancer!
Follow Mia’s dance journey on Instagram or visit her website to learn more about her!
Our Brown Ballerina Ambassador program is designed to create opportunities for young dancers in training to be seen as leaders and to eventually become mentors to other Brown Ballerinas in Training. To find out more about our ambassador program and how you can support it, visit our Ambassador/Mentorship Program page.
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Note: This interview has been edited for concision and clarity.