For senior Lindsey Fortino, one of the defining aspects of her time in high school was dance. Participating in both the FHC Varsity Dance Team (FHCVDT) and dancing at her studio, Lindsey has been immersed in the sport since the fourth grade, when her parents put her in it to get out some extra energy.
“I would say that when I started dancing in fourth grade, I just had a lot of energy,” Lindsey said. “I was crazy, and no one really knew what to do with me. And then, my parents put me in dance because they said I was antsy. And I think that I really found out a lot about myself through dance, and I had some coaches who weren’t great at my first studio, so I definitely learned [a lot].”
Dance started as an outlet for energy, then transformed into an outlet for all sorts of things over the years for Lindsey.
“Throughout high school specifically, whenever I had a bad day, I always danced it off. And that’s such a cliché thing to say, but it really does work,” Lindsey said. “Especially through dance team, [and] my coach, Crystal, she taught me a lot about independence and self-confidence. And I do feel like I learned that through dance.”
Self-confidence and other life lessons are not the only things that Lindsey has learned through dance. Additionally, through struggles with injuries and doctors, Lindsey has learned resilience, as she continues to dance despite these obstacles.
“Well, it’s kind of complicated, but I always grew up being the person at dance who had weird niche injuries that you couldn’t really treat,” Lindsey said. “I have a lot of overuse and things like that, especially in my feet. So it was always hard for me to dance because there was nothing I could really do to ever make the problems go away, except for 13,000 rounds of physical therapy. I’m not even kidding. And then honestly, I had doctors be like, ‘Well, there’s nothing you can do about it.’”
As she advanced to dancing on the FHCVDT, Lindsey began to find some help with these problems, and she learned a substantial amount about the realm of athletic training and the science behind it.
“It was when I started working with [FHC athletic trainers] CJ and Alex that they were explaining to me that yeah, this problem isn’t going to go away, but they helped me maintain it a lot better,” Lindsey said. “And so I kind of became fascinated with how you can strengthen your muscles and things like that, so that you can maintain those overuse injuries. And then just recently, this past year, I had a very big interest in it.”
Lindsey’s newfound interest in athletic training and physical therapy has led her to plan on attending Michigan State University for kinesiology; her dream career is to be an athletic trainer or a physical therapist for the NFL. However, there is nothing new about Lindsey’s love for MSU.
“I grew up going to Michigan State every home football game; I’ve basically grown up a Spartan,” Lindsey said. “I used to always say my blood runs green, and so I am really excited about [going there]. And then also my dorm that I’m living in, my cousin’s apartment building is the one right next to mine. I’ll be really close to my aunt and uncle who I’m super close with. I’ve just been a Spartan since day one.”
A Spartan her whole life, Lindsey looks forward to finally attending the college she has been a fan of for so long. She is unsure if she will try to dance in college through a club, but regardless, dance has been a defining part of the past several years for Lindsey, and she has learned so much about herself, life, and more through the sport.
“If you’re not confident in what you’re bringing to the table, no one else is going to be confident in it,” Lindsey said. “And I think that I’m walking away from dance this year with a lot of strength and a much more positive mindset about the future.”
