When I was very little at the age of three, I began dancing at a local dance studio. Performing in front of a bunch of people was so scary for me, but I loved it once I was on the stage. It just felt so natural and I felt like I could express myself, even as a little girl. I caught on very quickly and always looked forward to each and every recital.
I remember in elementary school I was also involved in competition dancing at the studio, and the thrill of that was so exciting. Getting ready with all the makeup and costumes, practicing, getting that stage fright right before going on. It was so rewarding every time we came back from a competition even if we didn’t place as high as we wanted. I just loved dancing and I continued to do so throughout my childhood.
When I reached middle school around 8th grade, dancing became more and more expensive. All throughout my childhood, I was taking a lot of classes each year, and it was a lot of money for my parents. I chose to give it up and I continued with sports. In 9th grade, I went back again because I had missed it. I have limited the amount of dances I did, but only did dance that year. I had stopped throughout all of high school and deep down I really missed it.
I was playing field hockey all of high school, making varsity and being a really great defender on my team. I loved playing, but I still felt like I was missing something. It came to my senior year when I was brought to the opportunity by one of my friends to join my school’s Indoor Percussion program late in the semester as a dancer. At first, I was very iffy about it, but after realizing that dancing was something I missed dearly in my life, so I went for it.
The feeling of dancing and just being natural and loose again felt so right. I hadn’t lost any of my skills and it made me very happy. In that moment I knew what I wanted to do once I reached college here at Widener University. I had looked up that we have a dance company here and I immediately wanted to join, and so I did. I now am in three classes at the dance company here and I’ve noticed all of the aspects of dance that I have missed.
I’ve missed stretching, that feeling of how long it has been since I’ve done that was so refreshing. It was like seeing an old friend but picking up right back where we had left off. I’ve missed tapping, hitting every step and having it sound so clean. I’ve missed the blisters and the calluses surprisingly when I started dancing again. I was building up my “chops” again that I thought I lost completely. Most importantly, I missed performing in general. Just moving to the music and putting on a show is something most people would think I would not love. However, I can’t get enough of it. I am so glad I went forward with my thought of dancing again, that part of me that I felt was missing, I found.
