Dancer Finds Safehaven

AJ Parker walks into the studio every day, earlier than everyone else. She has a leather brown bag full of tap shoes, lyrical shoes, jazz shoes, and her gray tennis shoes. She puts her bag down and begins reviewing the choreography she had been taught the week before. She prepares to show the the the whole elite dance team an emotional dance piece dedicated to her father, choreographed by Marques Salgado. It is dress rehearsal week, and it is chaos. Kids and teenagers are running in and out of dressing rooms, but as the last of the dances are being shown the dance students rush into ROOM A, they sit down quietly and wait for Parker to start, eyes all on her. The music starts and her feet move smoothly across the floor. Pain in her eyes, but dance keeps her sain.

Parker is a dancer at Dance Creations in East Wenatchee. She works there as a choreographer and is one of most passionate dancers to ever grace the stage. Parker recalls, “Most of my time and money has always gone to dance, and when I’m in low times in life, being here is like my home.”

Parker’s father passed away because of an asthma attack in 2015 and she lost her mother to cancer just two years later. Parker found herself alone at 17. She still did not have a job nor did she have most of her family in town.

Despite all the sorrow Parker was experiencing, she still found herself in the studio working long hours. “I was at the studio almost every single day, and I was there all day to get my mind off all the things I was going through,” explained Parker.

Parker, now 18, is struggling with money, food, and loss, but this does not define her. She related, “Once I walk through the dance door into the studio, it is almost like all the weight on my shoulder falls off. Then I am ready to dance everything out.”

Competition after competition she performs this beautiful piece for her dad and has won many titles. She received “The storytelling award” and received a diamond in the senior category. “After everything I’ve been through, dance has taught me to stay positive and keep moving forward, even though it’s really hard sometimes.”