Dana Reddick
Dana Kathryn Reddick born January 17, 1998 in Tallahassee, Florida to Jon and Ro Reddick as their only child.
Education
- Kinderschool, Tallahassee, FL
- 2000-2003, Preschool
- DeSoto Trail Elementary, Tallahassee, FL
- 2003-2007, First Grade - Third Grade
- Mandarin Elementary School, Jacksonville, FL
- 2007-2008, Fourth Grade
- Loretto Elementary School (technology magnet), Jacksonville, FL
- 2008-2009, Fifth Grade
- Mandarin Middle School, Jacksonville, FL
- 2009-2012, Sixth Grade - Eighth Grade
- Douglas Anderson School of the Arts, Jacksonville, FL
- 2012- , Ninth Grade -
Work History
- Make Believe Costumes and Dancewear, 10/8/13 - @ $8/hr (national minimum $7.25, Florida minimum $7.79)
Trivia
- Nicknames for Dana have included, "Pumpkin", "Pumpkin Pie", "Dane", "Dana Bug," "D.K." and "Sugar Pop"
- Her name, Dana Kathryn, comes from her parents' love of science fiction, specifically of character Dana Scully of The X-Files (1993-2002) and character Captain Kathryn Janeway of Star Trek: Voyager (1995-2001).
- Is a fan of The Gorillaz
- Took her first steps at age 6-1/2 months
- Started using a computer before 9 months of age
- Has her own personal lullaby, written in celebration of her birth by her Uncle Robert (Normand), and has been sung for her virtually nightly since her birth
- Started Irish dance in spring 2005
- First got her ears pierced on December 9, 2007 at a Claire's boutique in the Orange Park Mall in Jacksonville, Florida; stopped wearing them in May 2008, as it was "too much trouble" to keep her ears clean, and slightly painful to change earrings (which she couldn't and wouldn't do on her own).
- Wrote the poem, Dad, for her father on the occasion of his fortieth birthday.
- Started playing softball in spring 2009. (Crushers)
- Became a geocacher in November 2009.
- Did a television voice-over for a commercial for Mike's Limousines in Tallahassee, FL at age [???]
- Took hip-hop lessons from Dance Trance at age 12
Achievements
- Invited to join the Tallahassee Irish Step Dancers performance company after only one year of instruction, and performed with the company for a year prior to moving from Tallahassee
- Scored a perfect 6 on the 2008 4th grade FCAT (Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test) Writing+ Prompt (scored 0-6 points), and was one of only two children in her entire school to do so. Students are given 45 minutes to write on an assigned random topic and graded on the overall quality of the response. (This prompt was to "Write a story about what happens when someone plays a game with family or friends.") Only 1% of all 4th grade students statewide scored a 6 on the 2008 writing prompt.
Awards
- First place in the DeSoto Trail Elementary School Science Fair, April 2007. She won as a grade representative (3rd grade) and school representative, and went on to have her project displayed at the Tallahassee Science Expo Center. Her project was entitled, "How Does Age Effect Reaction Times."
- Tied for first place in a costume contest at Assimilation Con in Kissimmee, Florida, on September 29, 2007 dressed as Gaz, a character from "Invader Zim," an animated series formerly on the Nickelodeon channel.
- Won a 1st and two 4th places in her very first Irish dance competition (called a feis) in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida on June 22, 2008. She competed at the beginner level in three dances: reel, jig, and slip jig. She placed 1st in the slip jig out of 5 competitors, and 4th in her other two dances against 7 competitors each.
- April 2009 took 1st place out of a field of 13 in the treble jig, her first time competing in Irish dance hard shoe (sort of like tap). Continued with seven more competitions through November 2010 placing in all her dances in all her competitions before leaving Irish dance.
Her Irish Dance History
By age 7, Dana began becoming increasingly interested in participating in some type of club or sport, showing interest in Karate, music, and ballet. One spring Sunday in 2005 while going with her parents to eat at a restaurant near her Tallahassee home on Lucky Debonair Trail, her mother spotted a new dance school a few doors away from the restaurant: Killearn Performing Arts [1], which specialized in Irish dance. After eating, they went to look in at a class in progress. Dana was intrigued with the dance, and her mother felt like Irish dance might be more interesting for her daughter than ballet, which is very rigid and, at times, boring. Dana began classes shortly after this, but since it was already late spring, she only got about two months of instruction (one class per week) before the school took their summer break.
In the fall of 2005, she began beginning Irish dance softshoe classes. By the end of her first year of class in June 2006, she had advanced so rapidly that she was asked to try out for the children's performance company for the fall. She was the only child with no previous Irish dance experienced asked to tryout, but qualified for the "Kid's Company" with ease. To perform in Kid's Company, she needed to learn Irish hardshoe dancing, and began beginner classes in fall 2006.
In 2007, her family moved from Tallahassee to Jacksonville, and she began a new phase in her dance history: competition. She first started (briefly) with Glas Tara Irish dance school in St. Augustine in July 2007, but by August, it was apparent that her new instructors' aggressive style of teaching did not fit Dana well and, for a time, quit dance completely. Eventually, her mother found the Drake Irish Dance School in Palm Coast, Florida, about an hour from home, where Dana's love for dance was renewed. Within a month, Drake opened a branch in Jacksonville, meeting at an old ballet school, and Dana's competition phase of dance began. Despite having danced for two years in Tallahassee, she had to start over at Drake, as the styles and methods were completely different for competition.
In 2009, the dance school broke away from the Drake name, as Dana's instructor married another instructor with schools in Georgia. They merged names and became Glor na Daire. This was not an easy transition for the students, as many things changed regarding instruction and competition, and there was poor planning and communication about it. The school lost many good dancers, and finally early in 2011, Dana was one of the casualties, due to personality clashes, and her adventure with Irish dancing sadly ended.
Related Links
- Science Fair at DeSoto Trail[???]
