When you think of a typical Lancer Dancer, you probably think of slicked hair, jazz shoes and a unitard. Senior Piper Cervantes fits this description perfectly, but there is more to this ‘Varsity’ dancer than you would think. When she’s not living her life on the dance floor, you might see her playing the piano, listening to jazz music on Pandora or modeling in the new Varsity Spirit magazine.

“I have been dancing for 15 years at Carlsbad Dance Centre, and I’m a four-year member of the Lancer Dancers,” Cervantes said.

Dancing immediately became one of Cervantes’s passions, and it has helped bring her a long way. Not only is she a captain of the nationally ranked high school dance team, but she recently traveled to Dallas, Texas to model for the popular cheerleading and dance brand, Varsity Spirit.

“It was really cool being able to travel to Dallas to do the photo shoot,” Cervantes said. “We would wake up, get our hair and makeup done, and then we would see the rack of clothes that we were going to wear that day.”

After impressing the photographers with her photogenic looks, she got invited to participate in the Varsity fashion show in December. This show is produced live on varsity.com and is available to anyone in the nation who wants to watch.

“The fashion show was in Nashville, Tennessee during the Varsity Spirit conference,” Cervantes said. “A bunch of different reps go to see the new line, and it was super cool being part of the experience.”

Cervantes managed to get a whole spread to herself in the new magazine coming out in March. She is not only known for her artistic abilities; her friends appreciate her humor, kindness and uniqueness.

“Something you don’t know about Piper is she loves listening to jazz music from the 1920s,” senior Nicole Mendrala said. “You can always find her doing something weird in the corner to Frank Sinatra music. Another thing people don’t know about Piper is that she plays the piano. She’s been playing since she was four probably, and is still playing which is really cool.”

Piper plans on continuing her passion for dance in college, and hopefully beyond that. She hopes to go to school in New York, and dreams of booking jobs involved with musical theatre and Broadway or even joining a dance company.

When Piper’s not dazzling the crowd with her dance skills, or “wowing” an audience with her fingers on a piano, she lives a perfectly normal life. She loves going to the beach, hanging out with her friends and being a Lancer.

“Piper is such a good friend because she is always there for you if you need to talk,” Mendrala said. “She has great qualities to her, and I can’t wait to see how far she goes.”