Believing is Key

When I was a young child, my parents put me in many different types of sports such as volleyball, soccer, skating, tennis, and dance. The sport that stuck was dance. I began dancing at the age of three and it has been a huge part of my life ever since. Throughout the years, dancing grew from a fun energy filled form of entertainment to a 7 day a week lifestyle. During this time I continued soccer up to the age of 6 where I then completely devoted my time and life into dance. As I ran the fields during a typical soccer game, it was everything except typical. My parents have many a photo of me prancing and leaping and gallivanting about the field. It was definitely a sight to see. They then decided to place me full time in a sport I loved and never went a second without. My love of dance at the age of six began at The Dance Shoppe. Here I began one year on a recreational team that only danced for fun. The teacher confronted my parents about placing me on the competitive team in order for me to sprout my wings and fly. I was very excited about the transition but I knew it was going to be a challenge. I began preparing and practicing hard up until the day of tryouts. The nerves kicked in and I became somewhat shaky but I knew that I wanted to make the team and I was going to give that tryout everything I had. After waiting anxiously at home for about a week for my letter to come, I opened it to reveal and amazing discovery. I was selected to be a part of their performance team. After dancing about my house and in my yard I gladly accepted and was ready to roll for my first day. I spent years competing in what I loved most and my hard work and dedication paid off. During my final two years with the company I was offered my chance at a solo. These were only given to top performers they thought could handle the challenge. This meant the world to me and I made sure to make my teacher proud.

During my last year at The Dance Shoppe, I began preparing for my high school dance team. My dream goal was to make our varsity team as a freshman. It is a great honor to make the team as a freshman and brought about a lot of nerves and fear. I went to all the required camps and classes and forums about the team and stretched, practiced the routine, and kept active up to the tryouts. I left all I had out on the gym floor in front of my future coaches and captains from the previous year. Luckily, I had an amazing friend who was a captain who helped me calm my nerves for the audition. Having her there in front of me made the experience a million times better knowing I had someone watching me that knew my talent. It only took a few days for the coaches to make their final selections and we were notified by telephone a few nights later. I along with four other close friends were selected as freshmen to be a part of the varsity dance team. This was such an honor and great achievement for me and I will never forget the hard work and memories I created. The hard work and determination helped me to become the dancer I was and gave me a foundation to build off of.

Being a part of my high school dance team made all the difference. It allowed me to make new friends and become one big family that you could turn to with anything. My coaches became my parents, I saw them more than my own anyway, and helped to guide, shape, and encourage all of us to be the best that we could be. I spent three amazing and unforgettable years on the varsity dance team and I will treasure every moment as if it were my last. During these three years we won the state championship two of the years and took second place the other. Working as a team to become one and win we needed to believe in ourselves and believe in our team as a whole. This experience helped to shape my life as I know it today.

Dancing has helped to shape who I am today. Dancing has given me a way to express myself, my feelings, and my emotions in a harmless and artistic way. It has given me a new respect for music which has also become a large part of my life. If I had a bad day at work or at school, I always knew I could count on dance to release my stress and tension and allow it to flow out in a way everyone could enjoy. After a day dancing I always walked out the door feeling clear headed and relaxed, and maybe a little sore. Dancing has helped me to grow up knowing how to build strong relationships, work as a team, and learn to adapt to all situations. Being a part of this team has helped me to grow up responsibly, be independent, being a team player, how to value yourself as a person in respect to all of the stressors of the day, and confidence. I will never forget the memories I have gained for the friends I will keep for forever. Dance has given me a way to express myself and has helped me to gain confidence within myself. As a team, we all gained confidence, determination, drive, and loyalty. Dance has given the community something to watch and take their minds off their stressful days. Dance has given me the chance to build myself up to be the person I am today and has helped me to establish a basis for who I will become in the future.