Senior Ashley Kim is known as a dedicated member of Poly’s ASB, one of the Editors-in-Chief of this newspaper and a vital member of Poly’s dance program. From pirouettes to leaps, she graces the stage with a palpable passion that even the audience can feel.
Kim’s early interest in dance arose from her initial love of music and playing Just Dance, a rhythm video game featuring popular songs and accompanied by on-screen follow-along choreography, with her brother. While she started off doing gymnastics, a dance class with her gymnastics team made her realize that she enjoyed dance a lot more. She spent summers in hip-hop and ballet classes as just a leisure activity, but as she grew older, she began exploring other styles of dance, such as modern and contemporary. Though Kim officially started dancing in first grade, she felt an immediate, strong connection with modern dance, which she discovered in fifth grade. Modern dance goes against the rigid structures of ballet and fosters more fluid movements that express the dancer’s passion and emotion. When asked why she favored modern over other dance forms, Kim stated, “Modern kind of has that raw emotion and that groundedness, which is what a lot of famous choreographers are known for, like Martha Graham. I found modern to be more liberating.”
Kim acknowledged that modern dance can be an uncomfortable style to watch, yet she reflected, “That uncomfortableness is really important as an artist, because you’re actually pushing against boundaries and are not just doing what is cut out for you. I’m always constantly pushing myself in various ways.”
Kim also dances outside of Poly at the Colburn School in Downtown L.A. In total, she dances about 30 hours a week, including after school and over the weekends.
“Although it was exhausting at times, I loved it so much that it didn’t seem difficult,” she said. She added that during stressful weeks, she channels her emotions into her dance and her choreography.
For the Poly 2024 fall dance show, Epiphany, Kim self-choreographed “BOSS,” a hip-hop piece centered around female empowerment, and “Avian,” a piece about a young girl’s journey from isolation to hope as she pursues her dream, expressed through bird-like movements. When Kim thinks about what inspired her to create this dance, she states, “It was kind of centered around my independent study from the spring of my junior year.”
Through her independent study, Kim wanted to explain to the audience what modern is and highlight the differences between it, contemporary and lyrical.
The Upper School Performing Arts Teacher, Danielle Pigneri, who has choreographed many of Kim’s dances, stated, “Her choreography in junior and senior year showed so much growth, and her independent study in modern dance gave her a whole new perspective that she brought back to the studio.”
Pigneri added, “She’s always lifting up others around her, making our dance community stronger and more connected.”
Similarly, junior Hera Yuan shared, “In class, Ashley is a leader by example, someone everyone trusts to know the choreography. Her presence inspires all of us to work harder.”
In the future, Kim wants to be a lawyer so she can advocate for people who cannot advocate for themselves, yet she expresses that she also wants to continue dancing at Columbia University, where she’ll be attending next year, even if not as a professional career. She describes, “I would definitely audition if my favorite artist went on tour or for a Broadway show; I think that would be a lot of fun.”
Kim says that she will miss the Poly dance community next year: “I just love the people who dance at Poly. It’s the people who I come back for; they’re always so encouraging, so thoughtful and so helpful. It’s that joy that I don’t really get from anything else; it’s like when I’m dancing, I sort of forget about everything else.”
While we will definitely miss her on The Paw Print, ASB and the dance program, Ashley Kim has left behind a legacy of impressive work, and we know she’ll find new stages for her talents at Columbia and beyond.
