Marketta Laurila
Marketta Laurila
Tennessee Tech professor finds discoverry & transformation in dance
Marketta is a professor of Spanish, the chair of the Department of Foreign Language and the co-director of the International Business and Cultures program at Tennessee Tech.
In the back of her mind she always wanted to dance. Years later she decided to go for her dream. She started classes with Piper Landis in Cookeville for two years before heading to Nashville for private lessons with Christopher Wayne of Dance World where she went into competition-level training. “The idea of dancing and being judged was overwhelming,” said Marketta. With a lot of encouragement from her instructor, Marketta decided to face her fears and attempt her first competition at the Denver Star Ball in Colorado in June of this year. Her goal was just to get through the competition but she wound up placing first or second in most of the single dances and made the semifinals in the group dance. Marketta danced 40 dances for the competiton. On Friday of the competition she danced rhythm dances known as Cha Cha, Rumba, Bolero, and the Mambo. On Saturday, she danced smooth dances known as the Waltz, Tango and the Foxtrot. On July 29 and 30 she competed at the Volunteer State Dance Challenge in Nashville. “I found that dance, for me, has really been an expression of self-discovery and personal transformation,” said Marketta. She plans to take part in more competitions this fall and in the spring as well.
“In dance, you have to display yourself and have this attitude of, ‘Here I am! Look at me!’ This is not me at all—I’m basically a reserved person and more inward than outward. But I have moved more outward and I feel that I can give myself permission to take that space. So it’s sort-of a physical thing and it’s a mental attitude. It’s a passion with me now; I love dancing.”
