Anderson leans against wall to stretch before dancing. 
Anderson stretches her legs after a busy weekend of dancing. 
Anderson does the splits to prepare for dancing. 
Anderson poses with a dance move. 
Channeling her inner focus, Anderson strikes a dance move. 
Anderson reaches to the sky with her dance moves. 
Anderson stretches her arms behind her.
In the hustle and bustle of college, students can often lose time to pursue their passions. However, Holly Anderson, a first year electrical engineering major, balances her academic life with her love of dancing.
Anderson started dancing when she was thirteen years old at Bliss Urban Arts Center in Vacaville, CA. Since then, she has brought her passion for dance to Cal Poly.
In her free time she frequently posts videos on her Instagram titled “Dorm Room Dances” which can be seen below. One of her dance videos was reposted by music artist Only One Felipe on his Instagram story, when Anderson featured his song “IN YA FEELINGS” in the video.
“The dance culture is different in [San Luis Obispo]. There weren’t many classes for the kind of dance I like to do, so I started uploading videos,” Anderson said. She shared that the videos help her keep up on dancing, training and choreographing.
Anderson also runs an adult high heels hip hop class at CORE Dance in San Luis Obispo. The class started around September and typically are broken up into six-week sessions.
“I teach my students certain drills, isolations activities and choreography combos. I also take a lot of input from students on what they want to learn,” Anderson said.
In addition to teaching a hip hop class, Anderson frequently travels around California for dance conventions on the weekends. “I typically go for a weekend, stay in a hotel and attend dance classes all through the weekend,” Anderson said. She also is a faculty assistant for the Hollywood Dance Jamz dance convention.
When asked about balancing school and dancing she opened up about how difficult it is to maintain both of them in her life.
“It’s hard to balance. There are a lot of things I do behind the scene that people don’t know about,” Anderson shared. She continued on by telling about how she stays in the Recreation center until 1 AM and that she has to set aside time for private lessons she teaches.
“With classes, I have to make sure that once I get done with one thing I don’t go and slack off. I finish one thing and get started on another thing right away,” Anderson said.
Anderson is planning on taking a leave of absence from Cal Poly to pursue dance full time. She is currently represented by Go 2 Talent Agency and hopes to eventually choreograph as her career.
“I could do dance as a side thing, but it’s becoming a big part of my life, and I want be the artist that I’m meant to be,” Anderson said.
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