Every day at 2:35 p.m. when the bell rings, students make their way to their eighth period classes. However, senior Demi Demopoulos leaves school and heads to the train station with her younger sister, freshman Lia Demopoulos, to catch the 3:40 p.m. train down to the city.

By 4:15 p.m., the girls make it into the city where they meet their mom, who takes them down to a studio where they begin dance classes by 5 p.m.

Demopoulos began dancing at four years old. She started off with ballet and eventually tried out all the other styles such as jazz, contemporary, modern, hip hop and tap, but ballet is still her passion.

Upon reaching fifth grade, Demopoulos realized her love for dance and stopped all other activities to continue pursuing dance.

“I like a challenge and learning from other people” she said when talking about her favorite thing about the fine art.

Once dance became number one in Demopoulos’ life, she began taking classes at the Joffrey Academy of Dance which is connected to the well known Chicago based company.

All of her hard work at the academy will hopefully pay off. Mondays through Fridays she has class from 5 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

Demopoulos’ dance training doesn’t stop on the weekends however, as she is still at the studio on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

With all this time dedicated to dance, unfortunately Demopoulos has had to deal with losing contact with good friends, though she has been lucky to have people who stick around.

“It’s definitely been hard, especially on my friends,” she said. “I don’t know how they deal with it, but I have some pretty good friends who have stuck around.”

Aside from dealing with balancing a good social life, Demopoulos still has her future to worry about. She has applied to a few colleges, but her first plans are to try to make it as a professional dancer. If that doesn’t work, she will attend college and then hopefully dance afterwards.

But before thinking about life after college, Demopoulos still has grades and homework to worry about.

“It’s actually really hard,” she said. “I do homework on the train or during my lunch periods.”

She has attempted to take honors classes, but felt it was necessary to drop them in order to stay on top of schoolwork and her dance schedule.

However, as of now you can find Demopoulos training with the academy to put on their own version of the Nutcracker suite.

She has been performing the Nutracker since she was in sixth grade. In this classic winter ballet, she will be playing a polichinelle – little clowns who emerge from Mother Ginger’s hoop skirt and perform a dance.

Performing is one of Demopoulos’ favorite things about dancing, as well as the costumes. Performing the Nutcracker will  prepare Demopoulos for what she has coming for her as a professional dancer.

“I want to try to be a professional,” she said, “or at least get into a trainee program or an apprenticeship.”

By: Codi Oehelrking