The rainbow after the rain

In September 2013, I signed up for the Salsa Dance Club not knowing what I was getting myself into. I had no idea what I was even doing there; I didn't know anybody, and just decided to go along with what was about to come. Then I auditioned to be a part of the UW Salsa Dance Team.

The night I found out I passed the audition, and was going to be part of the team, I freaked out big time, and smiled so widely that my cheeks hurt.

I thanked God profusely.

The night I found out I was elected to be a dance instructor for the coming school year, I felt so overwhelmed that I couldn't stop crying from joy.

I thanked God profusely.

Because of dance I have been able to meet some of the most amazing people who share the same passion as I do, and I cannot thank God enough for that. He has blessed me beyond measures, and has given me more than what I asked for. My dance family makes me happy; they make my days a lot brighter, and give me strength to continue pursuing my lifelong dream and passion.

I continue to thank God profusely.

Smiling in the rain

Bad times do not last forever.

You were created for a reason, and God has been cooking up something amazing ever since He brought you into the world. He is leading you toward something beautiful.

Even though you might not understand at times, it's best to let Him take the lead and follow along. He knows the way.

You will find happiness in the end.

Remember that you are loved.

Those are the things that my family and best friends have been telling me consistently. It's taken me a while to fully understand and accept things the way they are, but I'm at a much better place now. I feel happy, at peace, and most importantly blessed beyond all else :) I thank God for the people I have in my life because I honestly don't know where I would be or what I would do without them.

Living alone in a foreign country away from everything and anything familiar is in itself a feat that is quite difficult to handle at first, and adding to that the hurdles of growing up and becoming your own person can be stressful sometimes. I've had my ups and downs in the eight months that I've been living in Seattle; some of the goods sent me soaring in the sky, and some of the lows really beat me down.

Even though my family and best friends aren't physically here with me, I thank God for technology because hearing their voice helps a ton. Just having my family and best friends tell me that they will always be there for me, no matter how far apart we are, brings the utmost joy to my heart. I feel tremendously blessed that God loves me enough to let me have these amazing people in my life ♥

Some people come into your life to teach you a lesson, but some others are meant to stay forever.

Where God leads, He will provide

It's been a long time since I last posted—8 months to be exact. A lot of things have happened since I moved from Jakarta to Seattle. I've definitely gone through the ups and downs of living away from home in another continent with nothing familiar to me, but I'm not going to go into that too much. Overall, I've had such a tremendous experience living here, and I cannot thank God enough for that.

One of the things that has helped me cope and adapt to life in Seattle is dance. I know it sounds cheesy and clichéd, but I honestly don't know what I would have done or where I would have gone had I not found the UW Salsa Dance Club. It started out with me walking around campus, trying to find a club activity or an organization that sounds fun enough to join, and I just chanced upon seeing the Salsa club. I didn't think much about it at first because I wasn't into Latin dance that much at that point, but I thought that I'd pick it up again since I had learned multiple styles of Latin and ballroom dances back in Indonesia.

Little did I know that my joining the club would eventually snowball to a myriad of amazing opportunities and blessings.

To keep things short and simple, I joined the club, auditioned for the UW Salsa Team and got in, and I am now to be a dance instructor for the UW Salsa Dance Club starting in the Fall 2014 quarter. I'm not kidding when I say that I felt like the most blessed human being on earth when I found out I got into the team, and when the current batch of instructors unanimously voted for me to be one of them! The president of the club said she'd had me in mind! I cried tears of joy that night.

With my fellow dancers at the UW Salsa Dance Team, I feel like I can truly be myself. They can always make me laugh at a drop of a hat until I'm literally on the ground laughing with tears in my eyes! I practice, go to socials, and perform with them—while it's supposed to sound like I have a professional connection with my team, I feel like I finally belong in a community after months of trying to find myself, and who I truly connect with, in this country. I love my team, and I'm super duper grateful that God has blessed me so abundantly ♥

Last day in my home away from home

September 2012 was the beginning of one of the best years of my life; I had felt like I hit a dead end for the better half of the senior year of high school—I was horribly stressed out, uninspired, and just felt crappy in general. I didn't have any problems with my friends or teachers, but it was the pressure of academics that got the best of me, plus I didn't even have time to dance back then so relaxing was a no-no for me. 

It wasn't until I graduated from high school that I felt like I could pull myself together again after being stuck in a rut for 2 years. After a few months of wondering what I should do next, God eventually told me that He had a plan for me, and although it meant that I would be taking a different path that all my other friends were on, it would still be awesome; He was right. One night while I was out with friends, trying to have fun before all of us separated ways, I received a text from my mom that she got from my former dance instructor. In that message, I was told that there was an opening for a dance instructor training program, and I immediately jumped at the chance—little did I know that it was going to be the start of something great.

Once I got an "OK" from my mom, I contacted my former instructor, and told her that I was interested in the program; flash forward to a month later, I was officially the youngest trainee dance instructor at the studio. The training period went great for the most part, but there were still some days when I thought to myself "Why in the world am I doing this again?" because I was nervous that things weren't going to work out. The doubt that had plagued me in high school had mostly gone away, but it still came back to haunt me at certain times in my trainee days; back then, I was honestly just taking things one day at a time, and thanking God and leaning on Him each step of the way because everything felt so unreal. 

I eventually graduated from the program with a "Highly Commendable Pass" and I remember feeling so out-of-this-world when I received my certificate—I kept thinking "Oh my goodness, oh my goodness, oh my goodness, I'm a certified dance instructor! ME! I'M A DANCE INSTRUCTOR!" since it had always been my dream to be a dance instructor and own a dance company/studio ever since I was 4 years old; it was such a great day, and I still thank God for blessing me abundantly. After I graduated, I moved on to teach a few classes, hold a couple of workshops, substitute for my dance instructor's classes, dance for a university advertisement project, train a group of dancers for a dance competition, and I even started a Youtube channel to share my passion with an even bigger audience! Granted, there were a ton of ups and downs, but I honestly wouldn't have it any other way.

September 2013: now a year has flashed by before my eyes, and it's time for me to move on with my life. 2 September 2013 was my last day in the dance studio, and it just felt so weird knowing that yesterday's class was the last one I was going to attend. I felt wistful throughout class, but I didn't cry or even shed a single tear, because I knew that I'll always be a part of the studio, as my instructor once told me. I feel eternally grateful that God led me to that place a year ago, and thankful for reconnecting me with my instructor, who has helped me so much in more ways than one! There's an end to everything, but I will never forget the place that got everything started for me, and the people God has introduced to my life who has helped me get to where I am today. I'll definitely look back fondly on the year I spent working with and in the studio, but here's to an even more fantastic future :')

Lots of love,
Jennifer W.

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.