Whenever I research the person I’m going to interview for a Spotlight article, I look them up online. Aniyah Stuart-Veira is 16 and has only begun her online presence, but one thing jumped out at me right away: her positivity. 

“I like to be positive,” she says during our call, “because better things come to you when you’re being positive, as opposed to being negative.” 

Now in grade 11 at St. Roch Catholic Secondary School in Brampton, Ontario (just outside Toronto), Aniyah started dance only four years ago, at age 12. Her friends were already flexible, skilled, and competing, so she knew she had a lot of work ahead of her to catch up. 

Every day, she stretched, and if she learned something new at her studio, she practiced it until she got it right. “You've got to work very hard to catch up with them since you've already lost so many years,” she says. 

For her 15th birthday, her mom gave Aniyah a practice space in the basement: it has a barre, a mirror, surround sound, and is sound-proofed so she doesn’t bother the rest of her family. Her practice always includes stretching, barre, and technique, and she ensures she practices a variety of styles through the week. 

Aniyah now receives her dance education through the arts program at her school. Although she finds balancing school and dance important, it can be a struggle. “Dance isn't a forever career,” she says. “You can get injured, so it's always good to have something to fall back upon.” 

She aims to practice for an hour a day, but she admits grade 11 has made it difficult for her to follow through on that because of the work required to prepare for university applications the following year. (Aniyah wants to be a pediatrician after her dance career.) 

Of course, Aniyah’s positive attitude kicked the struggle to the dustbin like a chorus kick line. It comes down to her priorities. For other dancers in the same boat, she suggests the same approach: "Whatever they think is more important for them, they could prioritize that.” That means Aniyah doesn’t come home from school and watch TV: she does her homework and, whenever possible, practices dance. 

Photo Credit: Andy Yu 

Her hard work is paying off. In January, Aniyah successfully auditioned a second time to perform at a half-time show for a Toronto Raptors home game. (Last year was her first such performance.) Dancers from all over Ontario participated, and Aniyah says she learned a lot and made lots of new friends. 

In 2016, after just a couple of years of dance, she landed a dance spot on the hit Family Channel show We are Savvy, performing her own choreography in the show’s segment called “Dance Mansion.” The experience taught her a lot about working in television. 

"It's a really cool experience,” she says, “because I’d never been on TV, so you got to see everything that goes behind it. I had to dance five times just to get different angles.” 

She also learned how filming can be unpredictable: weather wasn’t playing along that day, so she frequently had to sit and wait for the sun to come out before shooting another take. It had nothing to do with needing the sun’s light for brightness and everything to do with continuity: the final cut couldn’t have the sun turning on and off like a broken stage light during her piece. 

When she’s not busy with school or dance—which doesn’t seem to leave her much time at all—Aniyah volunteers for two organizations very close to her heart: Craft for a Cure and Brown Girls Do Ballet. 

Craft for a Cure is a charity that helps children have a positive experience during hospital visits by distributing donated crafting kits to emergency, clinic treatment, and operating waiting rooms. The charity also has an annual run, which Aniyah enjoys participating in. 

Brown Girls Do Ballet is a Texas-based non-profit that aims to improve diversity in the ballet world. It began as an Instagram movement and now has 109,000 followers. Aniyah is the organization’s first international ambassador and explains its purpose: “It's like outreach to other dancers and younger dancers to show them people they can look up to so they don't feel like there's this box and they don't fit in." 

Not fitting in is something Aniyah has experienced. “I started late and sometimes being the oldest in the class, and sometimes being the only black girl in class with the puffy hair, I faced challenges internally,” she says. Even in rec class, she knew the other dancers had danced previously. “At times, they weren't the nicest to me, and if I didn't get a move right away, they would look at me like, 'Why is she even in this class?'” 

That’s a hard reality to face. But true to her style and personality, Aniyah took the positive way out: “I learned to ignore them and push through. I was there to get better, so they shouldn’t affect me.” 

Photo Credit: Paula Whitten

Aniyah has no plans of stopping. She attended her first ballet summer intensive last year at the School of Cadence Ballet in Toronto, where she danced from 9-6 every day and absolutely loved it. She hopes to participate in more intensive programs this coming summer on her way to becoming a professional dancer with a dance company before she begins her second career in medicine. 

What’s the reasoning behind Aniyah’s positive attitude? "This is the only life you have to live, so why waste it being upset all the time and angry when you can see the goodness in every single day, and make the day more positive?” 

Exactly. 

 Brown Girls Do Ballet

www.browngirlsdoballet.com 
YouTube Channel: Brown Girls Do Ballet
Instagram: @browngirlsdoballet
Facebook: @BrownGirlsDoBallet
Twitter: @BrownGirlBallet

Follow Aniyah on social media!
Instagram: AniyahDance
Twitter: @AniyahDance

#browngirlsdoballetambassador #aspiretoinspire #dontgiveup #prettybrowndancers #beyou #bekind #giveback