In order to understand who I am, you must know that I absolutely LOVE to dance. In fact, my mom says I came out of the womb with “jazz hands”. There are home videos my parents would take where I am visibly dancing around the house, twirling and kicking my leg relentlessly. My mom told me that when she would take me to the supermarket, I would always dance to the music.

When I was four years old, I begged my parents to sign me up for ballet classes at my preschool. While most of the class was only there because their parents forced them to attend, I proudly note that I was encouraged to dance all on my own! This first introduction to dance changed the whole trajectory of my life. From that moment forward, there was not one year of my life that did not involve dancing.

My days were filled with dance rehearsals, and hours of the week were devoted to time at the studio. Dance was my whole life. Dance was where I did my homework. Dance was where I ate my dinner most nights. Dance was where I met my best friends. Dance was where I learned true hard work and dedication. Dance was also where I learned about failure and rejection.

In July 2019, my dance company was invited to a national competition in Virginia Beach. Nationals in the dance world are tough! The moms are meaner, and the dance teachers become stricter. My company was just so excited to even be qualified, and while we put in hard work, none of us expected to win anything major.

After performing our hearts out, our team sat together during the awards ceremony, eager to hear the highest scoring performances. It was finally time to announce the Xcaliber award, which is awarded to the highest scoring dance of the whole competition. As the announcers drew out the announcement of this award for dramatic effect, my whole team sat together holding hands. After an unnecessary long pause, the announcers played the beginning of our performance’s song. Once we all realized that we had won, everyone jumped up and hugged each other, crying, laughing, and smiling. Our number Dance with Somebody, which was a tribute to Whitney Houston, had been the highest scoring performance out of 800+ acts!

Without four year old me begging my mom to sign me up for class, I would have never learned all of the lessons that dance had taught me. I would have never experienced this pure moment of exhilaration.