Students find community in different places—for some, it’s in their youth group, a school club or an elective class. For junior dance captain Maddyn Yantis-Blank, her community is deeply rooted in the Oak Park High School dance team. 

“My favorite part about the Oak Park Dance Team is the commitment everyone has to the team and their teammates,” Yantis-Blank wrote to the Talon. “Everyone on the team are such amazing people and it is genuinely such an amazing community!”

Over the past three years, Yantis-Blank has been a dedicated member of the school team, but her journey as a dancer began much earlier. 

“I’ve been dancing for eight years and realized it was a passion at around age 12,” Yantis-Blank wrote. “Dance in general is an outlet for me, I’m able to go to dance and release all emotions or feelings from the current time.”

The OPDT competes at multiple competitions during their season. Beyond the trophies and medals, these experiences can also bring the team closer together. For Yantis-Blank, they’ve done just that. 

“This year, we attended a three day camp in Burbank with WCE and it was such great bonding time and we just were able to get so close,” Yantis-Blank wrote. “The convention was pretty challenging so it was fun to see everyone working so hard together.”

However, like many athletes, Yantis-Blank has faced one of the most difficult challenges: injury.

“Freshman year, I suffered a stress fracture in my foot from inflammation,” Yantis-Blank wrote. “I was in and out of a boot for six months with hopes it would improve, but in the end nothing was happening. In June, I decided to just start dancing again and so I’ve had to overcome this.”

While the road to recovery is still slightly rocky, she has continued to dance through the pain. 

“I still have four very inflamed bones so I basically just live in constant pain, but I’ve adapted over time and now it is just a normal thing,” Yantis-Blank wrote. “Since then, I switched to OPIS and now dance double the time. I’m dancing 43 hours a week and wouldn’t have ever thought when I was a freshman that it would be possible.”

As for the future, Yantis-Blank plans on furthering her dance career by pursuing dance in college. 

“I plan to major in dance in college on the east coast or somewhere in California. For future goals I would love to be a Rockette, I have already started this training process and love it!”