Arts and Entertainment reporters Reyna Galvez and Lauren Puthoff sat down to discuss their creative outlets and how they became involved in them. Listen to the full podcast episode mediated by Angelina Gallulo on the Marquette Wire website.

What are your biggest creative outlets and why?

Reyna: My biggest creative outlet is dance. I’ve been dancing since I was three years old at a small non-competitive league studio in Park Ridge, Illinois, Picture Us Different Dance Studio. Usually, I would say my favorite style of dance is ballet because it’s beautiful, technical and lets you connect with your emotions, but I’ve become fond of tap. After a number of emotional dances, the minute I get on stage to tap it never fails to put a smile on my face.

Lauren: To build off what Reyna said, athletics have been a creative outlet for me. I started swimming at eight years old and swam until the end of my senior year in high school. When I stopped swimming, I felt more relaxed, for a bit, since I no longer had to wake up and swim twice a day, but it also put me in a position where I needed a new creative outlet. I began trying new things outside of athletics and found myself in love with designing and building things, leading me to my engineering major. Although the STEM world does not seem very artistic to the outside world, it allows me to create a physical representation of an idea.

How do different people inspire you creatively? 

Reyna: I have a lot of friends in the same field as me. I get really inspired by all the other dancers I dance with. They all have very different styles of dance and how they express their emotions. My whole family is filled with dancers, too. My mom, aunt and Nana all come from the same dance studio which always inspires me to move forward.

Lauren: My friends and family have always known how to inspire me, whether it’s a hard day and I’m stressed with homework and exams, I know the minute I call them it will get better. Even if I am simply waving to a friend on the street or walking into my dorm and seeing my roommate, it instantly brightens my mood.

What types of challenges or obstacles have you had to overcome to inspire you today?

Reyna: I was very confident dancing when I was a little girl. Then as I got older, I got less confident, and I was tempted to quit dance. My mom inspired me to continue dancing, and I think that helped me grow. Then I told my mom I wanted to take one more dance class. I think doing an additional dance style, contemporary, outside of the three main groups of tap, jazz and ballet helped me practice a style alone and fall in love with it which helped me become more confident on stage.

Lauren: I think many people would say injuries are a difficult obstacle to overcome and as someone who has had multiple, I would have to agree, but the hardest obstacle for me was my confidence. Although gaining my confidence was a huge move for my athletic career, even though I am no longer swimming it has continued to play a huge role in my life.

How have your outlets grown with you?

Reyna: The fact that we always have so many opportunities that inspires me the most. My first year of college I did not come to Marquette, I went to Belmont University. The whole year there I did not dance until second semester, and I did ballet for a college credit, but it wasn’t really dancing it was the small technical practices. I really missed all the emotion that came out of dancing on stage. Now I’m dancing here and it’s a very creative space. I love it. It helped me find my love for dance again and it pushed me in the direction of feeling confident enough to choreograph one day.

Lauren: As a swimmer, I knew I was never going to be an Olympian, I did the sport because of the love I had for it. When I quit swimming after my senior year it was not because I grew to hate the sport, rather it was because I outgrew the sport itself. I no longer had the drive to continue going to practice twice a day and more than anything, I wanted to try new things outside of the pool. Leaving behind my athletic career brought me some of my latest creative outlets, from journaling to coloring to spending time with friends. I think that as you grow as a person, your creative outlet changes with you.

This story was written by Lauren Puthoff and Reyna Galvez. They can be reached at [email protected] and [email protected].