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Meet the Cheerleaders: Ashley

Thursday, January 10, 2008

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Ashley has taken her love of dance a “step” further, making it part of her career as well as her personal life.

Besides performing as a Rams cheerleader and line captain, Ashley founded a dance company early in 2007 and spends many of her evenings and weekends choreographing, rehearsing and designing dance routines for local special events. By day, she’s a database administrator, Web manager and editorial assistant for the Department of Music atWashington University.

Ashley has designs on a career as an animation and visual effects technician for a graphics company. “In the future, I also plan for my dance company to expand across the United States , serving those areas that are bursting with talent but don’t receive the exposure they deserve,” she says. “I would love to create more opportunities for adult dancers to continue learning and growing through master classes, workshops and performance opportunities.”

She also teaches, judges and choreographs for area dance studios and high-school dance teams.

Ashley began dancing at age 3, and hasn’t slowed a beat since. She first studied ballet and tap as a child, then familiarized herself with jazz, lyrical jazz, hip-hop and modern dance from there. “I spent most of my childhood in the studio and overcame my shyness by being on stage,” she says.

The St. Louis native earned a bachelor’s degree in computer science from Texas Christian University . She studied with the Pelagie Green Wren Academy of Dance and Ray Parks Academy of Dance, was a member of St. Louis Professional Cheerleaders and Dancers Inc., and performed on cheerleading squads for the St. Louis Ambush and St. Louis Storm. She captained her high school and college dance teams, was selected to perform in a halftime show for the Dallas Cowboys, was a cast member for a Sony Dreamworks film, and has won awards for her choreography for sports teams and dance competitions.

Ashley feels a strong connection to charitable causes that support dance and kinesthetic (interactive movement) education for public school kids. “As a whole, arts education programs have eroded in cities and communities across the country,” she says. “The intelligence of movement is almost forgotten. Movement provides added sensory input to the brain, which in turn improves learning.”

She also has seen family members experience cancer, and supports causes such as the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society that help improve patients’ quality of life.

One of Ashley’s dreams is to found a monthly magazine for young African-American women. “When I was younger, I designed all the pages and content,” she says. “One day I plan to make it happen!”