Criminal justice sophomore Diana Moctezuma has been a dancer since middle school and is now a teacher’s assistant at Giselle Dance Studio in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico. She credits her success in the dance industry to her discipline and determination.
Moctezuma developed a love for dance in the sixth grade. Although she initially didn’t like to dance at all, she soon grew a love for the art.
“I started dancing when I was in sixth grade which, in the dance world, is old because I know people who have started when they were [2 or 3] years old,” she said. “When I was that age, very little, I didn’t like to dance at all. My mom would put me in a tutu and everything, and I would like to take pictures [in them], but then to actually go to class, I wouldn’t like to. I would just stand there and cry.”
As Moctezuma got older, her interest in dance grew after she met friends with similar interests.
“When I got older, some of my friends told me they were going to dance classes,” she said. “So, I guess that’s when I got interested in checking it out and everything.”
Moctezuma has been a part of four dance studios in Brownsville and is currently competing under Giselle Dance Studio. She dances ballet and tap, and enjoys modern and jazz the most.
“Right now, we’re practicing to go to dance competitions,” she said. “This year is my first year as a teacher’s assistant, so I’m not only a dancer this year, but I’m also helping my teacher. I choreograph and also teach some classes. Right now, we practice on the weekends for competitions.”
The next competition she is preparing for is Stage One in February, which is taking place in San Antonio. She will compete in jazz.
Dancing and competing while teaching is a new experience that presents some challenges, according to Moctezuma.
“It’s very different,” she said. “Knowing how to dance and knowing how to teach and transfer what you know to other people, it’s very different. It’s also weird because some of the older girls I’m teaching would dance with me before.”
She overcomes some of these challenges by looking toward her mother, Dalia Ceballos.
“As a dancer, my motivation is mostly my mom,” Moctezuma said. “She motivates me in everything I do. [Ever] since I told her I wanted to go to a dance studio, she’s always supported me. Ever since I was little, she has been taking me to classes and she’s the one that whenever I doubt myself, she would always [encourage and reassure me] to go for it and [keep trying].”
When dancing, she enjoys the overwhelming feeling of accomplishment afterward.
“I feel like the most memorable thing about dance is the feeling you get after you dance,” Moctezuma said. “I can’t really describe it, but once you do a dance and after you’re done, [when] everyone applauds your work, you feel like, ‘Oh, this is what I have worked for, like, yeah it ended in two minutes but it was worth it and it was something I enjoyed.’”
In order to balance her dance and school schedule, Moctezuma learned to sharpen her time-management skills.
“It’s been hard,” she said. “I’ve had to accommodate my school schedule [in order] to go to dance because I get a [lot] of homework and then I have to go to dance in the afternoon. What I always do is have my planner with me, so I can always try to schedule [things] in advance and [utilize] free time, so I have time for other things and dance.”
Despite having polar opposite interests, criminal justice and dance, she hopes to integrate them both into her future lifestyle.
“My plan in the future is to go to law school,” Moctezuma said. “Both of my parents are lawyers, so I’ve always seen what they do and feel like it’s something I can [see] myself doing in the future and that my path is leading me to. I don’t even know if I’m going to go to law school, but I like my major and I feel like dance would be good to accompany it on the side as a hobby.”
Moctezuma said discipline and control are the most valuable qualities to possess for students pursuing any kind of art while in school.
“The most important thing is discipline,” she said. “You have to be really disciplined to do anything in art because, yes it’s for fun, but you also have to take it seriously and discipline yourself in your time to make the most of everything.”
