“Dance is music made visible.” –George Balanchine

Oh my goodness. Last night my roommates and I watched Step Up 3. I love the Step Up movies. Yes, the plots are super lame and predictable, but holy cow is the dancing amazing. Those people can move.


I wish that I could move like that.

Dance has always been a big part of my life. Mom put me in dance lessons before I can even remember. I started dancing at the Lawrenceville School of Ballet when I was six and she made me keep at it for long enough that I fell in love with it. I think what I loved the most about it was that like Balanchine said, it's a way for you to see music. I love watching people move and bring the music to life.

I was trained with an emphasis in classical ballet, but also in jazz and contemporary, with tastes of other types of dance on the side. I've dabbled with tap several times through the years. I've gotten to take various classes in styles such as African, Flamenco, character, hip hop, etc. I danced on pointe for five or six years and performed for ten years at different capacities. At first it was just in the yearly recital where I danced once with my class on stage. It grew into a more serious commitment later as I auditioned for the Southern Ballet Theater and added 2 more shows a year, one in the fall and one in the spring. By the last year that I danced I was spending 15-20 hours every week at the studio between class and rehearsal.

Thinking back to those shows makes me so nostalgic. All the costumes, make up, shoes, glitter, props, lights, curtains, everything. There's nothing better than watching a show from the wings. And that feeling when you're on stage, doing what you love.... Oh, I wish I could go back and perform again.

But...I gave it up. I hate using the word quit. I didn't quit. If I'd left in September of my sophomore year when I wanted to I would have quit. But I honored that contract and stuck it through until June and never regretted it. But I moved on with my life. It just had gotten to be too much of a time and money commitment for the amount of enjoyment it was giving me.

I just wish that I hadn't given it all up so completely. My junior and senior year the only dancing I did was a 6 week social dance class with my brother, a 6 week hip hop dance with Ela, and stake dances. That's not very much dance.

When I came out to school here I took a world dance class my first semester and a tap class that winter. Then the next fall I started going country dancing twice a week. After that I can't forget what dancing means to me.

I don't remember the last time that I danced. Like really danced. Sure, I goof off while riding in the car or in the apartment, but it's been a while since I for real danced. I miss it. After going dancing twice a week last year and letting it be that strictly for fun, nothing else in the world matters right now, time, I really miss it. It was such a release for me and now having absolutely nothing, it kills me. Dancing is obviously a part of me that I just can't give up.

So, my goal is to find a new kind of dancing that can be my release. Ms. Ayers and I are going to find a hip hop class to take somewhere next Fall. I'm super excited. When it happens, I'll have to update about it.

Now, just because I thought this was super cute...

“Thousands of emotions well up inside me throughout the day.
They are released when I dance.”
-Abraham Lincoln