“Follow your dream and persevere through your journey!” says Wayne Valley Alumni and current Rutgers student, Liz Vivino.
Liz has been dancing for 15 years and continues to pursue her dreams at Rutgers University. She states, “I grew up going to many football and basketball games because my parents went to Rutgers. I always watched the dance team and thought they were so cool.”
Liz started dancing at LeDanse in Wayne, New Jersey after her best friend quit gymnastics to join dance. She wanted to tag along with her best friend, not realizing that she would soon fall in love with the beautiful sport and be her best friend’s duet partner for 6 years. She also had a great supporter through her dance experience, her teacher. Liz explained, “My dance teacher was always someone who I looked up to. She was good at pushing me to my best ability but also encouraging me through the process. She taught my solos for ten years and never once doubted my technique. She was a great support system and an even better inspiration.”
She then also became a part of Wayne Valley’s Dance Team her freshman year and fell in love with it. She continued her journey through Wayne Valley and became a part of the Student Dance Association (SDA). She loved it so much that she became Blue Jazz captain alongside Delila Aktan in the year of 2022. She then progressed and worked her way up to Blue Overall in 2023.
After working her butt off for years and years, she got the great opportunity to be a part of the Rutgers University dance team and took the position proudly. Liz explained, “The transition from Valley’s dance team to Rutgers, wasn’t the hardest because I was already aware of the basic dance team essentials. It was harder for my friends to transition from a studio to a dance team. For example, I was already familiar with Pom (which is one of the styles we compete in) and how we set formations based on the floor. Obviously, any college dance team is different from high school, but the main difference was the number of people. On Valley’s dance team, we only ever had eleven or less members, so coming to Rutgers with a full team of 28 was way different.”
It takes some courage to go out and reach for that dream, but once you reach for it, it will feel amazing. Liz suggests to “Set a personal goal and push yourself to reach it! It may be harder than you think, but you cannot give up. Everyone around you is supporting you and wants the best for you.”
Photos from the SDA show are from Photos By Borchard Instagram page and the headshot is from Rutgers.
