Tutus, pretty pink shoes, and their own special hairstyle. Needless to say, ballerinas have it made!

When people think of popular dancing today, hip-hop comes to mind and ballet seems like a thing of the past. For juniors Samantha Skobel and Annie Sneed, however, dancing has been an integral part of their life.

Skobel has been dancing ballet since her mom signed her up when she was two years old, but for Skobel dancing goes back farther than that.

 “My grandma was a ballerina, and I always saw pictures of her dancing and wanted to be a ballerina just like she was,” said Skobel.

Sneed caught the dancing bug early as well as she has been dancing since she was three and finds it a very rewarding experience.

“I love the adrenaline rush,” says Sneed.

Being a part of a program for so long, is hard to believe as most kids skip around to all sorts of sports and activities. Skobel and Sneed couldn’t imagine doing anything else, though they do perform other types of dance such as hip-hop and pointe.

Dancing not only provides discipline and strength, but also offers them with life changing experiences.

“A few weeks ago for hip-hop class, Jason Cerda came to teach us, he’s been on ‘So You Think You Can Dance’ and has worked with many famous rappers and has made several music videos, it was pretty cool,” said Sneed.

Performing itself can be a pretty daunting task for any ballerina, no matter what part you play. Each dancer is crucial to the ballet, helping to tell the story. However for Skobel, performing isn’t always as fun as it sounds.

“I would rather improve technique than improve performing since I don’t want to be a professional dancer,” said Skobel

 Both girls have similar experiences as their favorite parts include playing roles in “The Nutcracker.” While both girls played Clara, that was Sneed’s favorite role. Skobel preferred playing one of the Dolls, which she performed twice, once with Sneed.

“Clara was fun but it was a lot of standing and looking gorgeous,”said Skobel. “I liked the Dolls because it was more fun to dance and work together with your partner.”

Even though dancing is a big part of these girls’ life, both have said that they do not plan to be professional ballerinas. Being a professional dancer is a tough lifestyle with the practices and performances—most careers end by the time a dancer in her late 20s.

“I probably won’t [be a professional dancer], but it’s really fun and rewarding and it helps me meet a lot of cool people,” said Sneed.

The dancers decided that if they were to go into any ballet-related career, they would want to work with little kids.

“I want to work with mentally disabled children. I believe everyone deserves to dance,” said Skobel.

No matter that these two don’t plan to pursue this as a career, theses two won’t be giving up any time soon.

“It’s a stress relief and I can’t go without it,” said Skobel. “I’m hopelessly addicted to ballet.”