by Sarah Gladstone

For many high school students, school can be a very stressful place. Fortunately, a space exists where students can both relax and push themselves artistically. While trying new things and taking risks can be daunting, dance, health and fitness and yoga teacher Mayra Hernandez is someone who makes the process fun and manageable.

According to Hernandez, she had known that she was going to be a dancer since the age of two.  But it was not until college, where she double majored in dance and sociology with a focus in education, that she really began to teach.

“Immediately, I fell in love with teaching and the rest is history,” she said.

While Hernandez has experience teaching a variety of grades, she said that she finds she is able to connect better with high school students.

“I’m very open and understanding,” Hernandez said. “That’s why I like teaching high schoolers. I’m going to push you and have very high expectations, but I’m also going to understand where you are coming from.”

According to Hernandez, connecting with students on a personal level is very important. If students are stressed, they are allowed to stretch for a little longer or take it a little easier in the beginning.

Junior Lea Churchill was in Hernandez’s Intermediate Dance course last year.  According to Churchill, Hernandez’s ability to connect with her students made the class experience much better.

“I think having her as a teacher was actually my favorite part because as a teacher she’s super understanding,” Churchill said. “And she was funny and she was a really good dancer and choreographer and she never made anyone feel bad.”

According to Hernandez, while she accommodates the class’s needs, she pushes her students to do the best they can.

“I think that my dancing has greatly improved especially because she taught the class as an advanced class even though it was intermediate,” Churchill said. “She always takes everyone one step forward. I learned how to get out of my comfort zone.”

Senior Jared Shanks, who also took Intermediate Dance last year, said that really valued her way of teaching.

“It was the first dance class I took [in the high school],” Shanks said. “But in the ones I started taking afterwards, I haven’t quite found the same ‘personalized yet able to teach everyone in the class at the same time’ that she was able to produce in her class.”

Junior Talia Putnoi took Hernandez’s Beginning Dance last year, and is now in her yoga class. Putnoi said that she was able to take away lessons that will help her with even more than just her dancing.

“I think I learned to be more patient with myself and just take the time to get things right,” Putnoi said. “She always talks about the process over the product.”

Hernandez’s life motto, “Measure twice, cut once,” reflects her hope that students will be precise and commit to their individual dancing and the dance community at the high school.

Even with her high expectations, she is there to lend a hand.

“I’m going to pull you in and I’m going to keep you and I want you to know that it’s a very safe place to be as long as you take risks that you feel comfortable doing,” Hernandez said. “And I’m going to push you because I know you can handle it.”

Sarah Gladstone can be contacted at [email protected]