It’s hard to know where to begin with you. I’ve been at a loss for words ever since I saw you perform at the studio’s ‘Special Show’. I can’t even begin to describe my feelings of awe and admiration for each dance you performed. Not only was your technique more immaculate than I have ever seen it before, but I could feel all your radiating passion and love for what you were doing seep into my bones, making me the most elated audience member in the theater. When you nailed your turns and your double wings, I wanted to jump out of my seat and dance right along with you. I think I told you this when I saw you after the show, but all the emotions that you transmitted me made me tear up as I watched you tell your story on stage. It may be hard for you to believe, but there actually were quite a few tears running down my face while watching you not just because of how wonderful you were dancing, but because of how extremely proud I am of you.

I remember the time I first met you. It was your first year of competitive dancing, and we were onstage together for your first awards ceremony. You were just a tiny second-grader then, and while we were attempting to dance the “Macarena,” you told me about how you taught yourself how to dance, and that’s how you could join the competition team with only one other year of dance experience. We chatted some more after awards were over about dance and school and that was when our story began. While speaking with you, I got my first glimpse of the spunk and determination that is still inside of you today. I knew right then a girl like you with so much talent and confidence at such a young age was someone to keep my eyes on.

I watched you grow over the next five years or so. I always had my eye on you whether it be in a high-school auditorium as I cheered you on for one of your solos, at the dance studio as I observed one of your classes in passing, or even in our school’s gymnasium as we struggled through those killer dance team workouts. When I assistant taught your class one year, I got to observe one of your biggest growth spurts in dancing that I’ve ever seen, and that has been one of my highlights of my years of dance. From that year on, the amount of improvement that you’ve shown has been hard to comprehend. When I came to watch you dance this year, I had to keep asking myself if that was really you dancing out there because you were unrecognizable with your newly controlled arms and glorious turns. As sad as it is to say, I had a hard time differing between you and your duet partner at times because you were both so perfectly in synch with your technique and control.

I’m not only proud of you because of how much your dancing has improved; I’m also proud because of the beautiful, strong, and caring young woman you have become. You care deeply about the feelings of others; I can’t count how many times I’ve seen you watching out for the younger dancers and your friends to make sure that they are happy and healthy. You don’t let others get you down; no matter what others say to you and how others act towards you, you keep going and don’t let them get you down. No matter how many times people tell you that you can’t do things, you prove them wrong. I also appreciate how you can walk to the beat of your own drum. You stay true to who you are no matter what others say. I’ve seen you grow from this shy, quiet little girl into a woman with so much grace and confidence that blows me away on and off stage.

I recently found a note that you wrote me last year as the dance season wrapped up. You wrote to me about how much I helped you and motivated you in dance that year. I am extremely happy that I was that person for you; I always tried my hardest to be there for you and be your biggest cheerleader because I never liked seeing you frustrated or upset. It was like taking a knife to the heart because I didn’t understand how others could put you down after I have seen you improve so much. I cheered you on so much more after those instances because I needed to make sure that you knew that you were appreciated and supported.

I hope you know how much you helped me and motivated me during those last few years too. Every time I wanted to give up, I would tell myself to think of you and how I would be letting you down if I just stopped when the going got tough. I couldn’t expect you to be diligent if I wasn’t. Your positivity helped me see the good in everything. Whenever we were stuck in a less than ideal situation together, your optimism is what helped us get through it. I would have never been able to get through those brutal cardio sessions if I didn’t hear a “Go Taylor” and see you giving me smiles and a thumb up every once and a while. Those workouts became more fun after that because I would focus on giving you positive comments as well. There is so much more I could say about how much you have motivated me to become a better person, but I am going to sum it up in one sentence; just your overall presence and personality has the power to motivate anyone to become more caring, smart, kind, optimistic, diligent, strong, and a whole slew of other adjectives.

As we near the end of this spiel, I want to further ingrain in your rather large brain (from how smart you are) that you should never let others bring your spirits down. Sure, it may be hard to keep dancing when you end up in the back of the formation, other groups get special treatment, or when you don’t get the score you want at a competition. You can’t let something as silly as that stop you; let it motivate you. Prove everyone else wrong; you’ve seen me do it quite a few times before. I’ve seen you grow so much over the past five years, and I can’t wait for others to finally witness what I have been seeing in you over the next five years. I believe in you. I know that there's a little flame inside of you that everyone can't wait to see.

Love,

Tay