When most students study, they're stretching their mental muscles, but for Ann Parker, it can be more of a full-body activity.
Sometimes, when the 11-year-old is poring over an assignment, she'll multitask and work on her flexibility, which has been important to her since she began dancing at age 4.
"I try to practice a lot on it, like every night," Ann said. "If I was ... reading a book, I would try to stretch on the floor while I was reading."
That level of dedication is something that sets her apart, according to her instructors at Chattanooga Ballet, where she spends about six hours a week studying.
Ann is now in the Intermediate II class at the school, where she has been dancing since joining the Creative Movement class as a 4-year-old. This summer, she was inducted into the Children's Company, a by-invitation group for young dancers demonstrating artistic promise.
Ann demonstrated all the qualities looked for in candidates for that group, said Bob Willie, the ballet's general director.
"She's just a lovely dancer and dedicated and disciplined," Willie said. "She has an amazing stage presence and a love of dance. She is just extremely gifted and can go a long way, if she so wants."
In December, Ann will portray a soldier in the ballet's annual production of "The Nutcracker," in which she has performed four times before. She will be joined onstage by her father, John Parker, who is playing the "stage father," a nondancing extra who appears in the first act.
A former off-road endurance motorcyclist, Parker grimaces good-naturedly at how his former competitors would react to seeing him in makeup, but he said he loves being able to support his daughter.
"If it was about me wanting her to be a part of what I enjoy, she'd be racing motorcycles, but I enjoy being a part of it," Parker said, laughing.
In addition to her dancing, Ann has been taking piano since she was 5 and began taking voice lessons in August. Later this year, she will don a curly red wig to portray the lead role in St. Peter's Episcopal School's production of the musical "Annie."
Despite her parents' concern that she's overburdening herself, Ann said she would increase her involvement in the arts, if she could.
"No, I would do more," she said. "I like to get out on the floor and just have passion in what I do. I think it's just really fun."
Contact Casey Phillips at cphillips@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6205.