Iowa State University Alumni Association| online edition | spring 2006
Frozen assets: Jim Colbert and Neal Iverson pursue interests that take them to Arctic environments, not unlike this walk-in freezer in Friley Hall.

 


SPRING 2006
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Designed to dance

Kate Arends can fly.

She can kick her leg as high as her head, fling her feet in all directions, and move about as fast as the human eye can see.

Arends, a 22-year-old senior graphic design major, has been dancing since she was 5. In high school, at the height of her dancing career, she was ranked seventh
in the world in Irish dance.

But competitive dancing is a big commitment. Arends, who lived in Indianapolis and then moved to a suburb of Chicago, trained in ballet, gymnastics, and other forms of dance as a young girl.

By fourth grade, she had to make the decision to focus entirely on Irish dance if she wanted to be competitive.

“I remember the first regional competition I won,” she said. “I was 11, and I was the complete underdog. When I won, it was a total surprise. Then dealing with having to win after that over and over and over again was really tough.”

Arends had to make another choice during her senior year of high school: go to college or become a professional dancer.

She thought about it. She thought about the life of a dancer, the late nights and being on the road and the physical stresses that dance puts on your body … and she opted for college. She came to Iowa State, the university from which her parents and grandparents had graduated, to study graphic design.

Arends teaches Irish dance at Robert Thomas Dancenter in Ames. She started as a freshman teaching one class. The sport of Irish dance grew rapidly in popularity, and by her second year of teaching, she had five classes.

People are drawn to Irish dance because it involves the kind of agility and quick motion that takes a lot of time and technique to perfect, Arends says.

“When you listen to the music and you watch the people dance, you can see the history,” she says. “It’s a celebration of joy and life.”

-- C. Gieseke

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