Years Invested: 12 Honorifics: "The studio gave us awards at the recitals. I got one for best performer and one for the hardest worker" says Archer. ACHIEVER CHAT What got you into dancing?
"At the kindergarten I went to, girls were required to take ballet. I didn't like it because I never liked doing things that were required. But around second grade, I decided I missed it. Maybe it was the pretty ballerina dancing slippers." Did you ever get into competitive dancing?
"I got so obsessed and involved! I worked so hard that I could audition for the main company [at the dancing studio], and got in [around the age 10]. Once you're in the company, you have more classes, and you're competing all the time. I found out that you could take off-campus [physical education] and get graded on it instead of taking P.E. in school. So, I would go to school and then go straight to dance until about 10 o'clock every night." Did it ever interfere with your regular school classes?
"I was in choir in the eighth grade, and the teacher decided to have a mandatory rehearsal after school one day. When I got up to leave [for dance], she had hemorrhage. I told my mom, who wrote a letter, and I had to go to the vice principal. There were no problems after that. My mom writes the best letters." Did you make alot of friends while dancing?
"The studio was like your home. Once you got into Company, all the girls became your sisters. You didn't have time for after-school friends." Why did you give it up?
"I had gone to California when I was 15, and when I came back, I was more interested in acting. It came down to 'What are you going to do?'" Any favorite memories?
"One year, we were doing a [recital] dance to 'The Rainbow Connection,' and I don't remember why, but my friend and I started laughing. We did the whole dancing laughing hysterically. But we never stopped dancing. And my parents have it on videotape!"
