A Tampa teen is staying on point after the pandemic interrupted months of intensive training.

The Bay area ballerina talks rehearsing, competing and performing during Life in The Time of Coronavirus.

Veronica Jaspers is a trainee at Next-Generation Ballet at the Straz Center.

She just finished her Swan Lake shows, in which she performed the role of Black Swan.

And she just tied for second place in the Contemporary Dance Category in the Senior Age Division for the Youth America Grand Prix, a major ballet competition recently held at the Patel conservatory at the Straz Center.

You wouldn’t know part of her past year of intensive training was interrupted by the pandemic.

“I think most of us kind of concluded that it would affect us pretty much the moment it happened,” said Jaspers, as dance studios closed and great halls around the world canceled art performances indefinitely.

Teleconferencing became an immediate reality.

Everything shut down for months.

That meant no one had access to enough studio space to jump and leap.

“And we would all be taking class at home, building our own ballet bars and dancing in our bedrooms, kitchens, etc.,” Jaspers said.

Then, getting back required a whole new system of rehearsals for safety protocols, down to how and when each students could enter a building.

There is also self-isolating to stay healthy so dancing can continue — All steps Jaspers is happy to take.

Jaspers says she feel blessed to be able to take class in studio every day again. And her heart goes out to those who still can’t yet.

“But I just want them to know, keep going, keep following your passion and your dream and it will get better one day.”

For more stories about how your friends and neighbors are doing during This Life in The Time of Coronavirus, check it out here!