I started dancing when I was just a toddler, dressed in a leotard and tutu taking ballet lessons at the YMCA. My passion started the moment I was dancing around the Christmas tree to “Jingle Bell Rock”, and it has never ended since that day.

I may not be dancing currently for a team or competing for a trophy, but that doesn’t mean I still don’t take the time to dance around when the music comes on, even if I’m the only one in the room. These moments allow me to look back and reflect on everything that dance has done for me and realize that without dance, I wouldn’t be who I am today.

Without dance, I wouldn’t be strong, both physically and mentally. Learning a routine in a week and having to remember every move is difficult, to say the least, and the stress it puts on your body can be unbearable at times but is worth it in the end. Dance will literally knock you down everytime you get back up, leaving you with bruises all over your knees and sweat pouring down your face, but in that pain, it teaches you to never give up.

You can’t just stop dancing in the middle of a routine, and dance forces you to find that strength within you to keep going and believe that you can do anything you put your mind to, even if it’s only for two minutes and thirty seconds.

As well as strength, dance taught me the value of determination and hard work. As a dancer, it is crucial that you spend hours outside of the studio perfecting your technique and working to improve your flexibility. If you don’t put in the time and effort yourself, then the consequences only affect you. You are the one that gets put in the back of the routine or gets chosen as an alternate for competition season, and if you don’t put in the work, then you have nobody to blame but yourself.

Dance taught me that if I want something, then I’m going to have to work hard for it and that nobody can do that work except for me. You are your biggest advocate, your biggest supporter, and your biggest motivator, and without dance, I wouldn’t know how to work as hard to fulfill my dreams and be determined to excel and be able to do what I love in the future.

If it wasn’t for dance, I wouldn’t be doing as well as I am.

Dance has acted as a stress reliever, a strength builder, a personal motivator, and a reminder that anything is possible through a little imagination and hard work.

Even if the only dancing I’m doing right now is dancing alone in my dorm room in my underwear, I’m still dancing nonetheless, and finding myself a little bit more with each dance. Dance has made me who I am, and it continues to shape me as a person.

Dance wouldn’t be that same without me, and I definitely wouldn’t be the same without dance.