Sami Sonder, one of the Valley’s most promising young dancers, is taking her talents to the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University (NYU) this fall.
The Scottsdale native is almost always working on her craft, as she’s spending much of her summer training at dance studios in San Diego and Arizona. Sonder is currently training for the National Dance Honors competition in Las Vegas from June 29 to July 4.
“I love ballet,” Sonder said. “It’s always been really important to me because ballet is kind of the fundamental to every style, but I also love contemporary dance and jazz.”
Sonder began dancing at two years old and first competed at the age of eight. She’s been recognized as a top 20 dancer at both The Dance Awards and Radix Nationals, and she said NYU is her dream school.
“It’s the best for what I wanted, because it also has academics too, and academics are very important to me,” Sonder said. “I’ll be able to get a minor as well as a major in dance.”
Sonder was among nearly 800 students who graduated from ASU Prep Digital this past May, and she was among the top 5% of her class. Sonder attended Horizon High School in the Paradise Valley Unified School District before she enrolled in ASU Prep as a junior.
She was able to excel in the online classroom and personalize her academic schedule around her dance schedule. Sonder often participated in class from hotel rooms and was able to audition for The Rockettes in New York City just five days after her 18th birthday thanks to her flexible schedule.
Sonder has always felt called to New York City. She’s danced all around the country and loves the east coast dance scene.
“East coast is very jazz, old school, almost sophisticated, and then when you come to Los Angeles, it’s very hip hop based, and like commercials and dancing for backup artists,” Sonder said. “It’s totally different vibes and for me, I really resonated with like the New York, east coast style, which is why I want to go there for college and hopefully stay there afterwards.”
Sonder wants to be a professional dancer and can pursue her dream in multiple ways. She said she would need to train her singing voice to go on Broadway, but she’s also interested in performing with a traveling group.
Dance comes in many forms and genres. Sonder said she gets a surreal feeling when an audience watches her perform solo and said she enjoys dancing with other people in both big and small groups.
“I just get really inspired by the people I dance with and [by] forming these connections and bonds in person,” Sonder said. “I feel like that’s something that’s just special about dance, the energy you kind of create within each other and the support, and that really motivates me.”
Sonder pursued her passion for over a decade, earned multiple awards and scholarships, and made it into one of the most selective schools in the country for dance. She’s excited to continue and grow her career in a new environment starting this fall.
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