New faculty member Brook Nelson has been at the school before–as a student who graduated in 2015. Today, she teaches dance, High School 101, and coaches the dance team.

When she attended Nation Ford, no dance class was offered, so she had to take the bus up to Fort Mill High to dance. After her first semester, she quit dancing because she did not like the bus ride. 

Nelson enjoys the creative freedom and expression dance allows her. She wants to show how fun and creative dance can be. 

“I want to show that anyone can dance,” Nelson said. “The difficult part is teaching dance that interests students and challenges them creatively.”

As coach of the dance team, she does fundraising, planning for events, and making orders.

 “I prefer to focus on dancing and team-building,” Nelson said.

The dancers “I love Coach Nelson tons!” Sadie Tucker says. “She is so encouraging and cares a ton about our team. She lets us all have a voice and opinion on the team.

The creative process for Nelson starts with finding a good song to start with because it is always difficult to start dancing without having a good song. Then comes choreographing where she feels that she is the most inspired.

The big challenge is her performance as the teacher and coach, she says. “I’m always anxious about technical difficulties such as the music stopping or not being loud enough for the dancers,” Nelson said.

She also encourages her dancers to do their best and perform for each other no matter what. 

In her free time, Nelson likes to spend time with family. 

“I like to spend time with my daughter, Nelson said.  “She also likes to try out new restaurants in Charlotte.”

Her favorite restaurant is  Eddie V’s in Uptown Charlotte and Chipotle.