We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Araceli Cervantes. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Araceli below.
Araceli, so excited to have you with us today. So much we can chat about, but one of the questions we are most interested in is how you have managed to keep your creativity alive.
I keep my creativity alive by continuing to immerse myself in my craft of competitive Latin dancing. After being .12 and .18 of a point away from placing at my competition in 2018 and 2019, I was determined to continue to put in the work. I continued to train, improved my technique, and received four medals in 2020. After reaching the goal of placing in the top three, I wanted to continue to challenge myself. At my next competition in 2022, I entered thirteen dance categories and placed in eleven of them. I received four first place medals, three silver medals, and three bronze medals. I competed in Latin Hustle for the first time with only six months of experience in that style and placed first in the Newcomer category. It was a huge accomplishment because I took the chance of trying something new and it paid off.
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
My name is Araceli Cervantes. I am a current World Champion Latin Dancer. I started dancing when I was ten years old by dancing Mexican traditional dance named Ballet Folklorico. I continued my dance training in high school by being on my high school dance team, where I had the opportunity to perform annually at Disneyland. I then went on to minor in Theater and Dance at the University of California, San Diego, where I continued my training in contemporary and Latin dance. I started my competition journey in 2018 and have continued to enter competitions and push myself to the next level. Dance allows me to channel my creativity, as well as contribute to my mental and physical health.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
A skill/area of knowledge that has helped me on my dance competition journey is having a background in music. I played the flute for five years from fourth grade to ninth grade. Musicality is important in dance competitions, as you have to make sure that you hit every accent in the music and that you follow the timing with each movement that you execute. A quality that helps with competitive dance is perseverance. You have to keep going no matter what obstacles or challenge come your way. If you do not succeed the first time or the second time, reflect on those moments and bring your focus to the areas that need improvement and work on those to get closer to where you need to be to get to the next level. Another quality that is important when pursuing competitive dance is to be confident in yourself and know that you have what it takes to put the work in and succeed. If you are early in your journey, remember that you are worthy of what you set your mind to and that you have what it takes. Never give up.
Before we go, any advice you can share with people who are feeling overwhelmed?
When I feel overwhelmed, I take a step back and deconstruct everything that needs to be done. I break it down by level of importance and see what I need to do and prioritize my time and effort in order to accomplish the goal. My advice would be to breathe and allow yourself to focus so you can make sure to have a clear mindset to know what direction you need to go.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.aracelicervantes.com
- Instagram: aacervan
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/araceli.cervantes.79
- Youtube: Araceli Cervantes
