I dreamt of being a professional dancer since I was a little girl. I remember attending a showing of the Nutcracker ballet and wanting to be on that stage dancing with the cast.

I grew up with listening to Hip-Hop, R&B, and a little bit of Rock music. Hip-Hop has always been my favorite genre. My mom enrolled me in hip-hop classes when I was four years old. I also saw NSYNC* at four years old. Justin Timberlake waved at me! Anyway, my first performance as a dancer was to TLC's "No Scrubs". The crew was worried about me in particular because it was my first ever performance and there was a smoke machine. The performance actually went really well!

I continued to dance annually for the next 12 years of my life. I enrolled in tap, ballet, and pointe. Dancing became my life! I lived and breathed dancing. I performed to hits like Coldplay's "Viva La Vida," Ne-Yo's "Closer," Rihanna and T.I.'s "Live Your Life," and Michael Jackson's "Thriller."

I was bullied throughout elementary school and things at home weren't too great, either. Saturdays were the days where I could escape from the chaos and just dance. My favorite part about taking dance classes were the recital shows. I never got nervous about dancing on stage because I loved it so much and knew that if I fell or messed up that I would improvise. There was one recital where I fell completely flat on my face during a ballet dance and I heard the crowd gasp. Of course, I got right back up and continued dancing with a smile on my face. The crowd clapped for me. Yes, it was an embarrassing moment. I did cry afterwards, but it is one of my best memories of dancing. It shows that I had strength and confidence.

When it came time to apply to high schools and audition for schools, I had my heart set on Frank Sinatra Performing Arts School in Astoria, N.Y. I had auditions in place at other performing art schools in the area like Laguardia. I didn't make it my other auditions though... I auditioned at a high school and at the time I didn't realize that I popped my knee cap out during the audition itself. About a week later my mother and I were going to a show and I happened to fall down the stairs in our apartment building. The fall was hard and painful. I cried out in pain. I couldn't walk without feeling insane amounts of pain.

A few days later my mom took me to an orthopedic doctor. I was told that I popped my kneecap back in when I fell down the stairs. Normally people are admitted into the hospital and are given numbing medicine so they don't feel it being put back into place. The doctor told me that my knee would never be the same. My dancing career was over. I had a long year of physical therapy.

I participated in lacrosse during sophomore year of high school. I still had pain in my knee but it wasn't as bad as before. Now I'm dancing in Orchesis at Hartwick College for the second time. I've found that I love tap a lot more than what I did when I was younger.

I want to tell the people who have been told that they won't be able to do what they love that they can. I'm dancing again and I feel great!