Personal Narrative: My Dance In Middle School

At South Walton High School homecoming is an extremely important tradition. Not to mention, South Walton includes an unbelievably small number of students compared to majority of the high schools throughout the America. As I proceed through my senior year, I came to a realization that it would be my last opportunity to participate in this year’s series of homecoming events. With homecoming beginning the week of September 26, 2016 I was overjoyed to express the amount of spirit I had for my school. As each day expressed a different theme I decided to dress up for many of the occasions. On “twin day” as Meredith Grey from the cast of Grey’s Anatomy. Twin day allows students to find a partner or group of friends that could arrange a similar outfit

On the Saturday morning that the team was announced, I was wracked with fear. I was participating in a rehearsal for a dance competition with another team during the hours leading up to the time that the list was going to be posted. Trying to get through that rehearsal was nearly impossible as my attention was more focused on what color nail polish would best match my new Chiefettes shirt that I would be wearing to school on Monday. Once my mother and sister arrived to pick me up from the studio, I shook nervously in the back seat, sending messages to my other friends, waiting to find out the news. Both my mother and my sister remained silent, but I knew that they were praying just like I was that I would see my number on that list. As we

Who all can say that they have danced on national television at Walt Disney World? Well now, I can say that I did. I have been on many trips to Disney World but this one was by far the best because I got to be there with my dance team. In a small town like Saltillo it is very rare that any type of athletic team goes and wins state competitions or makes it all the way to a national level but we did. The Saltillo High School dance team of 2014 was the first team to ever go beyond a state competition and do anything on a national level. It was a huge honor for all of us to represent our school in the way we did. From arriving to Disney’s ESPN Resort, to getting ready then preforming was an overall great experience for all of us.

It seems like I have been waiting years for my letter to come in the mail. Just last month I sent out my application to see if I can get into Juilliard School of Dance, in New York. I live in Springfield, Massachusetts. Juilliard is where only pro dancers, the best of the best, the real shining stars can get into. Ballet has been my passion since I could walk. If I don’t get in, my life is over! All I want to do in life is perform, not sitting down having to fill out paperwork the whole day in a crowded office, or stuck behind a fryer, serving greasy, crusty food to ungrateful customers. Ballet is my escape from that.

Since the early age of four, I have been mesmerized by classical ballet. Every week, I watched my dance teacher display her beautiful skills during class, and I hoped that I could dance as well as her someday. As my love for ballet continued to grow, my opportunities widened. In the fall of 2013, I became a member of the dance ensemble at the dance studio I attend. When I joined the Pointe Academy Dance Ensemble, my position at the dance studio shifted from being a student dancing in the back of the room, to a dancer who learned how to teach others and set a good example for younger students. To me, being a role model and using acquired experience to inspire and guide others is leadership. My dance ensemble has been my most meaningful leadership experience because it is the source of where I have become a leader.

After exploring extracurricular activities my freshman and sophomore year, the abstract beauty of the performing arts enraptured my heart. Keeping theatre in high esteem, I anticipated and prepared for our success in exhilaration. My schedule revolved around our performances, and consequently, I eliminated any conflicts with rehearsals. To ensure the maximum potential of every one of our shows, I allocated all my spare time into productions. I once stayed at school well past 10 at night painting the stage with my director to guarantee we polished our set to perfection. The work ethic I instigated

"Everybody be warmed up and ready by 3:20!" My dance teacher yells to the Camden Hills Regional High School's, Strom Auditorium stage into the Black Box. I quickly slipped on my dance shorts from Pink, and a white Studio Red tank top, and then lastly my ballet slippers. I sat on the ground of the senior company dressing room, along side my friend Emily, as we started massaging our feet, getting the blood flowing to our muscles.

Starting my second semester in Ballet, I was really ecstatic to see where this second semester of another Ballet class would take me. During this class I struggled a lot with keeping my pelvis in line to avoid hip hiking when it came to doing développés, battements, and fondus at the barre. While doing these certain exercises at the barre I have a tendency to bring my outside hip up as I kick out to a la seconde. This is causing my pelvis to be out of line. I went as far as getting help from my professors to give me ideas of what I can do to improve. During this Ballet class, I noticed an extremely large difference from when I started at the beginning of the year to the end of Ballet I. I worked more on concentrating on what my lower abdominals

When I was 10 I began going to a church where they have a dance ministry and a band ministry I thought it was really cool and fun. I seen the girls danced in the alter with a tambourine I was a little girl I wanted to dance too with them so I told my mother I want to be in the dance ministry and my mother talked to the pastor's wife and she said I was able to start going to the practices with the girls on Friday's night . I learned all the steps and moves in 3 months and I began dancing in the alters I was super exited I loved it. I moved to Texas in September 2011 and we found a church over there they did not have a dance ministry there and they planned to have one, my mother talked to them about me being able to teach the girls how to dance

Leading a team of teenage girls is most definitely not effortless, but it is something that I’ve done with pride for the past three years. When I entered high school, I was beyond eager to join the dance team. Unfortunately, it was not even the slightest of what I had expected it to be. We rarely performed and when we did, the feeling that I obtained exceeded embarrassment. I have danced since I was three years old, but it was so terribly draining, and not even in a physical way, that I considered quitting the team. At the end of the season my freshman year, though, the coach informed us that she was quitting and offered me the captain position for the following year. So with that, I decided to stay on the team. I was determined to make my

An extracurricular activity that I have had the pleasure to take part in for the past five years is the Greenwood College School dance team. Starting off as a new and young member of the team, I often faded in the background and followed the instruction of senior students, showing up to practice and doing the dances as told. During my first two years, in addition to being in various senior choreographed routines, I choreographed a dance alongside girls in my grade, an experience that gave me a basis of teamwork skills including compromise, commitment, open mindedness, reliability and creativity. After I became an experienced member of the team, the coach offered me a position as the team coordinator which I happily accepted. For the past two

Every time that the town of -------- is mentioned, my thoughts trail off to my dance recital in the year of 2010. Back then, I was a dancer at a studio called Dance Mania. My closest friend at the time, --------, and I were the only students enrolled in that class. We beamed about the recital since day one. We pondered over who would be in the audience and how we would receive this immense trophy with our names in cursive engraved on a gold strip across the bottom. I have to tell you, the costume had everything a girl in the second grade could ask for: a fluffy pink skirt lined with black sequins, all accompanied by a pink neck tie and a long sleeved shirt attached to the skirt. Just a couple weeks after the costumes were distributed, we got our pictures taken; when both of my arms were used to emphasize strong emotion to form a statuesque obtuse angle in the

Growing up, I never really found my niche of belonging. I bounced around from soccer teams to theatre camps to cheerleading teams and choir performances, never really finding anything intriguing me to stay put in one activity or sport. Going into high school, I felt out of place. Everyone had a group, a team, and a sense of belonging. I had signed up to take the dance class to earn a fine arts credit, and a sudden new - found passion had taken over my body, mind and life.

Tombé, pas de bourrée, glissade, jeté and … Pause. Suddenly, I felt a sharp pain from my left hip. I tried to pretend that nothing had happened, and kept finishing up the last bit of that ballet combination. Right before my next turn, I massaged my hip muscle harshly, hoping that the pain I forced myself to feel would cover the one radiating out, or would just magically disappear. Sadly, when I was supposed to leap into a full split in the air and enjoy my moment, my muscle was twitching so much that I had to fall and land short. During the following exercises, my entire body was not as relaxed as I usually do; instead, it was so tight that I could not control my hip positions and turnouts, elongate my arms while keeping them in a rounded shape, or smell gracefully as if I was performing. At the moment, a hint of tension started to grow inside of me. This was only the end of September, the beginning of my last dance season in high school. Nothing can go wrong and nothing will ruin it.

My whole life changed on October 29 of 2012. Before this date, I was just practicing hard like any other dancer would. Two days a week and two hours a day, sweat, sore muscles, and all my work poured into my dancing. Dancing provides knowledge, emotion and dedication. Recognizing that I have built that from when I was young is a huge feeling of accomplishment, like the first time riding a bike without training wheels.