Miles sits on the stage performing the fall play. Photo credit to Shannon Heldt.
Senior Ryanna Miles is a Northview student who is always expressing her emotions through different forms of art, participating in both the drama program at school and dancing away from school.
Miles has dedicated a lot of her high school time to the theatre. She started when she was a freshman, deciding to audition for High School Musical, and she earned the honor of being the dance captain for the production.
“Ever since then, I’ve been really involved in all the plays and musicals we’ve done,” Miles said.
Miles was also involved in the fall play this school year, The Skin of Our Teeth, where she got the opportunity of playing a lead role, Sabina.
“It was really challenging, I hadn’t had a role that big before but I liked it. It was very hard but in a rewarding way,” Miles said.
Last year, the fall play was put on via live stream due to the pandemic, therefore the cast did not get to perform it live.
Miles was relieved that this year’s play was different.
“Getting to perform was so fun because last year we didn’t have an audience. So, actually getting to put a play on for an audience was really cool,” Miles said.
Miles is continuing her high school theatre career in the spring musical this year, Beauty and the Beast. She is part of the “dance core,” a small part within the ensemble that does the big dance scenes, as well as assisting Phoebe Dawson with the choreography for some numbers.
“I’m also playing the part of the Enchantress in the beginning but most of the time I’m just in the background. For [some] parts I get to dance so that’ll be fun,” Miles said.
There are many things that could be great about theatre, but Miles says her favorite part about the department is the accepting environment.
“I feel like that’s very cliche to say but in the theatre community, there’s so many different people, but we all come together with one thing that we all like to do and I feel like everybody there has a passion for what they do,” Miles said.
Miles feels that theatre kids sometimes get a bad rep but she doesn’t recognize why.
“I don’t understand, cause they’re some of the most accepting and welcoming people that I’ve ever met,” Miles said.
Along with theatre, Miles is also passionate about dance. She has been dancing for 16 years and is currently on the competitive team at Dance Dimensions.
Miles feels dancing gives her a creative outlet.
“Some days when I’ve had a really hard day and I get to the dance studio, I can just dance it out. It’s really easy to get your emotions out through movement and that’s what made me love it so much,” Miles said.
Like many seniors this year, Miles is feeling sentimental about moving on from Northview. She is especially nostalgic about Beauty and the Beast being her last Northview production.
“I haven’t actually performed in a musical since freshman year and this one being my last one is going to be so sad,” Miles said.
