I first started dancing sometime in 6th or 7th grade. We had to pick "electives" and if it was a performing elective, it would end up in our showcase called "Freestyle Fridays." I picked dance because I had been interested in it before and had a slight experience in elementary school...or I backed out of it I can't remember.

I started to fall in love with dancing and how free it made me feel. Then I got to High School and my feelings started to change. I went to a performing arts school (not LaGuardia) and as a P.E requirement, everyone had to take dance.

I loved dance and the different styles we got to do but, at some point in between I started to doubt myself. I started to hate dance and felt like I wasn't good enough. A lot of this problem stemmed from my own personal issues. I started to hate my body, the way I looked, and then it became I hated the way I looked on stage. I disliked all the "costumes" we had to wear. I just didn't like any of it. I started noticing things like stretch marks on my thighs and stomach and tried to hide it from everyone and it was hard to do so in dance.

I started hating pictures of me, just like this one. I didn't feel pretty so nothing I did ever felt good enough, even the things I loved to do.

As time progressed and I started dancing more, I came over the self-doubting a little bit and then when I got to college I felt like I was starting all over again. I just learned how to feel comfortable being myself around the kids I went to High School with and now I have to start all over again? I didn't think I could do it.

Luckily, I've been blessed to go to a school where there really is a focus on body positivity. Everyone I've surrounded myself with has had some issue with their body at one point an learned to love the things they disliked. By being around them, it started to rub off on me and I started appreciating the things I didn't like. Stretch marks, my butt, my stomach, everything. By gaining a little more confidence, it helped me perform better and I've been in pretty much every show since I got here. I've been in a number of dance routines, with more to come.

Me in the center with my poor knee brace.

Dancing really solidified my love for myself because when I dance, I feel free and graceful yet, for lack of a better term, like a bad ass. Dancing is where I feel the most confident. If I'm ever having a lack of confidence, I remind myself of the things I've been able to do with this body that I didn't like. The countless times I've traveled and twirled across the stage. The superhuman things I've done with this body. I remind myself that not everyone can do what dancers can and that my body is just perfect for me and for the things I want to accomplish in life.

All of this confidence from dance! Who knew?
I am grateful for dance, and for the body I was blessed to have.

In the back with the green on.