Dancer Rica Reveals She Nearly Quit Dancing to Focus on School

Ghanaian dancer and teacher Bawa Fuseina Frederica, popularly known as Rica, has revealed that she once considered giving up dancing because of the pressure of combining her passion for dance with her education.

Rica, a member of the Dance. Grow. Live (DGL) Academy, said the challenge became particularly difficult while she was pursuing her teacher training at St. Francis College of Education.

Speaking on Joy Prime's Changes programme with host Nikki Samonas, Rica opened up about one of the most difficult periods of her journey as a young dancer.

Balancing school and dance was not easy

According to Rica, her school was located outside Accra, while many of the dance performances and events she was involved in took place in the capital.

This meant she regularly had to travel long distances between school and Accra whenever she had a performance.

The demanding schedule sometimes forced her to miss lectures, leaving her worried about how the situation could affect her academic performance.

At one point, the pressure became so intense that she seriously considered walking away from dancing.

She explained that travelling several hours to perform and then returning to school left her physically exhausted, especially when she still had academic work to complete.

She feared she might not graduate successfully

Rica admitted that there were moments when she questioned whether she could successfully complete her education while maintaining her career as a dancer.

The combination of travelling, performances, lectures and late-night studying made the journey extremely demanding.

There were occasions when she had to remain away from school because of dance shows, adding to her concerns about keeping up with her studies.

Despite these difficulties, she decided not to abandon either side of her life.

Rica graduates with first-class degree

Against the odds, Rica successfully completed her teacher training and graduated with a first-class degree.

The achievement was particularly meaningful to her because she had previously doubted whether her demanding schedule would allow her to reach that level academically.

She attributed her success to perseverance and, as she put it, God's grace.

The dancer recalled the long nights of studying and the difficulty of keeping up with schoolwork while maintaining her performance commitments.

Her eventual first-class result, therefore, came as a major personal achievement.

She continues to pursue both careers

Rica is now a professionally trained and practising teacher while continuing her work as a dancer.

Rather than seeing the two careers as competing paths, she has managed to build a life around both.

Her experience highlights the challenges young creatives can face when trying to balance education with opportunities in the entertainment industry.

For Rica, however, the difficult period did not force her to choose between the classroom and the stage.

Instead, she pushed through the demanding period and has continued to develop in both fields.

No regrets about choosing both paths

Looking back, Rica says she has no regrets about continuing with dance while pursuing her education.

Her story is a reminder that creative careers and academic ambitions do not necessarily have to be mutually exclusive, although balancing both can require considerable sacrifice and discipline.

From nearly walking away from dance to earning a first-class degree and continuing to perform professionally, Rica's journey reflects the determination it can take to pursue more than one dream at the same time.

For the young dancer and teacher, what once felt like an impossible balancing act has become part of her story.