Lights, Camera, Dance!

"Then come the lights shining on you from above. You are a performer. You forget all you learned;—the process of technique, the fear, the pain—you even forget who you are. You become one with the music, the lights, indeed one with the dance." —Shirley Maclain

I still remember the time I first felt the exhilaration of standing on stage under the illumination of the stage lights—the feeling of complete satisfaction, belonging, and rush. I was in my pre-teens, rehearsing on stage with my jazz dance team for a performance the next day, and even though it was only a trial run, the seats were filled with hundreds of people watching. It was not my first time performing, as I started dance when I was 4 years old, so I was really excited and not that nervous. 

The music played, and the other dancers and I went on with our routine until the end. Just as the music stopped, and we all got into our final pose,—all sweaty and gross from the heat of the stage lights—the audience went wild and started cheering for us; I remember I had smiled so big upon hearing their supportive yells that my cheeks really hurt. It was really the first time I ever felt so alive, and there was this rush of excitement flowing through inside of me! Right at that moment, I knew where I belonged, and what my passion was.

Even though I started dance at an early age, I didn't really have very many good memories or experiences until I moved to modern and jazz dance from ballet. Let's just say that ballet was.....not the best years of my life.....I'm still grateful for it because attending those classes taught me a lot, but other than that, it was......not very good. Let's just leave it at that. So yeah, I was super duper overjoyed when I transferred to modern and jazz dance classes! The friends were awesome, my instructors were so great and thoughtful, and I loved everything and anything about modern dance and jazz dance. :)

As time went by, I eventually had to leave the dance academy because my grades at school were going downhill, and my mom wouldn't have any of that. I threw a tantrum, and ended up having a huge argument with my mom because I really didn't want to leave. It got pretty bad, to the point where my mom gave me two choices: 

1. Quit school and continue attending the dance academy.
2. Leave dance and continue school.

Now, as much as I wanted to choose option 1, I knew that it wasn't really the best option for me, and my parents would have had my head for it, so I reluctantly chose number 2. I remember crying for a long time, and just generally being depressed about it, because I really loved that academy from the bottom of my heart! It was a tough decision, but I knew that I just couldn't drop out of [regular] school.

Flash forward to almost a decade later, I am now going after my dreams and pursuing my passion for dance! I currently work as a dance instructor/choreographer, and am basically a full-time dancer :D well, for the time being anyway. I'm in the last few months of my gap year before I have to leave for university in the fall of 2013, but I will still dance on campus! I won't be joining the university dance team because I won't be able to attend the audition (T_____T), but I will be taking (and hopefully) teaching lots of classes there! I really can't wait :D

See you in the next post!

Love,
Jennifer.