"Faster! Sharper! Again!" Our dance teacher commanded as we watched our reflections in the full length mirrors. My troupe and I were in the third hour as we prepared for the fast approaching competition. My limbs were sore, I was sweating hard, and my breath was coming in harsh puffs, but I had to get the moves perfect, as images of the many nights spent in this studio flashed in my inward eye. Fast forward to the next day, a frigid January morning where we trudged from the parking lot in our heavy boots and jackets to the State Theatre in New Jersey. The heavy makeup, the hint of hair spray in the air, the scratchy costumes and the curly up-dos; As I made my way up the stage, with my palms slick and the faint whispers of my troupe going over the routine behind the curtains, I was reminded of what had gotten me to this moment in the first place, a whole lot of perseverance and hard work. That was four years ago. Flash forward to today, 2016. I haven’t competitively danced since my senior year of high school. I’m a junior in college now. All I have to say about my hiatus is that life got busy. The transition from school to college, the workload, extracurriculars, and maintaining somewhat of a social life was all prioritized above dance, something I had done since I was four years old.

Don’t get me wrong I definitely tried to make it a part of my life. I tried out for the collegiate dance teams but didn’t make it and that hit me hard. It made me think that maybe, I just wasn’t good enough anymore. I had gone from front and center to not even on a team anymore. And from then on, college just took over my life and dance was pushed to the side. It wasn’t until recent that I decided to pick it up again. In general, my summer has been pretty uneventful. I took some classes but that’s about it. One random day a couple weeks ago, I came to the conclusion that I wanted to make a dance cover. I had really tried all summer to get involved with various dance troupes but it just wasn’t working for me. Some groups would practice really far from where I lived and some weren’t for my age group.

So I decided why not choreograph my own routine? It took a cumulative three weeks but the product was so satisfying. Hours of practicing in the basement and recording myself to make sure I had the moves down had paid off. This was a product I was proud of. It truly wasn’t about how much buzz my video had generated though. For me, just getting back into dancing made me so happy. I don’t know if I’ll have time to make more dance covers, or if I’ll start a channel, but getting back to dance in this form was the first step to me reclaiming my passion. Dance has, is, and always will be a part of my identity and that’s something that will never change.