{
  "id": 8275186,
  "title": "Dancer Rica reveals she nearly quit dancing to focus on school",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/18/dancer-rica-reveals-she-nearly-quit-dancing-to-focus-on-school",
  "topic": "culture",
  "section": "Culture",
  "published": "2026-09-18T17:27:25.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "MyJoyOnline Ghana",
    "slug": "myjoyonline-ghana",
    "url": "https://www.myjoyonline.com/dancer-rica-reveals-she-nearly-quit-dancing-to-focus-on-school/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Rica, a dancer and member of the Dance. Grow. Live (DGL) Academy, has opened up about a challenging period in her life when she considered abandoning her passion for dance to focus on her education. In an interview on Joy Prime’s Changes show with Nikki Samonas, the dancer shared that balancing teacher training and performing became overwhelming at times. St. Francis College of Education, where she studied, was located outside Accra, while her dance performances frequently took place within the city. This meant Rica would often have to travel long distances to and from school to fulfill her dance commitments, resulting in missed lectures and exhaustion.\n\nRica expressed her fear of failing her exams due to the demanding schedule. She recounted how she sometimes had to choose between attending school and performing at events, which put her academic career in jeopardy. Despite these obstacles, Rica persevered and graduated with a first-class degree, an accomplishment she never thought possible given her busy lifestyle. \"But then somehow, I was able to pull through by God's grace and being able to come out with a first class; something I thought I couldn't do because I was not always in school and studying overnight sometimes was very tiring,\" she said.\n\nNowadays, Rica is a professionally trained and practicing teacher and dancer, successfully managing both careers simultaneously. She has no regrets about pursuing her passions side by side.",
  "summary": "Dancer Rica says she nearly quit dancing to focus on her education after struggling to combine teacher training with performances.",
  "key_points": [
    "Rica considered quitting dance to focus on school.",
    "Long travel distances between St. Francis College and dance performances caused exhaustion.",
    "Rica graduated with a first-class degree despite the demanding schedule."
  ],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}