Many little girls dream of dancing and taking ballet classes. I was one of those little girls, however, my dream didn’t take hold till I was much older.

As a little girl, I wanted to do everything from gymnastics to cheerleading to horseback riding (which would’ve been a bad idea due to my serious horse allergy), to baton to dancing. I never became a gymnast. I cheered for four years starting in the eighth grade. I only rode horses when my sister let us visit her horses, and for a long time I never danced. I mean, I danced in musicals for years, but I never took any kind of legitimate classes. That is until I was seventeen.

The summer going into my senior year of high school, I decided that I really wanted to try dancing. I had no clue what I was getting myself into. I looked into as many dance studios as I could to find the cheapest one. I only worked 20-ish hours a week in the summer, and less than that during the school year

I checked out the better known studios, but they were way too expensive for me. I then checked out my old musical choreographer’s studio. Wasn’t the right fit, though I would have loved to work with her again. I then checked out the studio for the new musical choreographer. The number of weeks and the price just didn’t work for me, but I really wanted to go there.

Finally, I checked out my studio; the YARD. The summer program was only six weeks, and you had to take a minimum of 4 or pay by the week. It was a good price range for what I was looking for.

I had only met the owner of the studio once, and that was to have her mother-in-law hem my junior year prom dress. She was very nice, so I thought it would be a good place to try, thinking that if I didn’t like it over the summer, I could find somewhere else if I decided I wanted to keep dancing.

I asked a friend to borrow a pair of her old ballet shoes from when she was younger, I went and bought my tights, leotard, and hairnets, and I gathered up some money from my paychecks to pay for one summer class for five weeks.

The first day of summer classes came, and I was so excited that I left way too early to get there and register. I ended up waiting for about twenty minutes before my class. I had chosen Ballet 2.

I wanted to originally do Ballet 1, but Miss Charlee said that I was way too old for that and would feel out of place. She told me that Ballet 2 was with a little bit older kids than Ballet 1. I thought, "OK, these kids will probably be about nine to ten."

I was way off!

I think the oldest girl in that class, besides myself, was eight. I felt out of place at the start because everything I knew about ballet, I had taught myself, and I did not teach myself properly. I had seven and eight year old girls helping me with my technique and standing in front of me at the barre because I had no idea what I was doing, but after those five weeks passed, I missed being at the studio.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t return in the fall to take ballet because class just happened to be at the same time as my marching band rehearsals. I did return, however, for two months in January and February for tap classes. I had recently been cast as a dancer in my high school’s production of "Shrek the Musical," and that meant I was a tap dancing rat. The only thing was, I didn’t actually know how to tap.

I faked it till I made it the year before as a tap dancing orphan, but this was a song for just dancers and Fiona. I wanted to know some of the basics. I made a great friend in that tap class, and we’ve actually stayed friends the past three years.

I loved tapping so much that I decided to take the adult tap class over the summer along with another ballet class. Adult tap was so much fun, but I felt out of place at first as many of the women in the class were much older than I was, and Ballet 3/4/5 in the summer was hard because I didn’t think I was ready to move up to Ballet 3.

Both challenged me, and I am forever grateful for that. Now whenever I am home, I do my best to go to at least a ballet class. It helps me with becoming a stronger dancer, and I can feel more confident when I am back at school in the musical, and I have to learn combinations.

My dance studio has provided me opportunities that I didn’t think I would ever get. I am learning to become a better dancer with the help of my dance instructor pushing me to always do my best, even if it’s not great at the moment. She believes in me more than I do myself sometimes, and it comforts me to know someone thinks I am getting better.

I am making progress in my technique and my work ethic. I try to give it my all at every class. I have made some really good friends at my studio and most of them are between the ages of 10 and 17, but I wouldn’t change knowing them for anything.

Dancing has been such a great experience that the only thing I might change is when I started dancing. I think I would have begged my mom a little more to do dance when I was a lot younger. I may not be the best dancer, but I am the best me because I dance.