How Has Dance Influenced Me Research Paper

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I can honestly say that my life is dance. Everything I do, everything I am, has been in some way impacted by my sport. We're intertwined, rooted to each other like a tree roots to the earth (metaphor 1). Whenever I've been asked to describe who I am, the first thing I say is the only thing I need to say. I'm a dancer. That one word holds so much weight to my identity and my life, yet it seems so inconsequential, so shallow in writing. Six letters that summarize me, six letters that explain me, six letters that are me (parallel 1). Dance is much more than an after school activity, it has shaped me to be the person I am today and taught me endless invaluable lessons. It has directly impacted my emotional, social, physical, and mental well being …show more content…

I was an extremely shy child, always peering out at the world from behind my mothers leg. Making new friends or being put in a new situation was the scariest thing I could think of. Dance has forced me out of my comfort zone in so many ways, this story being just one of them. I had danced my whole life at the same studio, with the same people, taking the same classes (parallel 3). By the time grade 11 ended, most of the girls on my team had graduated to post secondary education. I had to make a decision, dance alone where I was or switch studios for my senior year. Switching would mean making new friends, meeting new people, and being in a new situation; everything I was scared to do. It was after my mom told me “don’t be scared of the little things, think about what will make you happiest” that I decided to move. I was still scared of the unknown but excited for the opportunities to come. As I sat in the parking lot on my first day of classes, I realized how scared I truly was. I would have to spend everyday with these people for an entire year, what if I couldn't make a good first impression? But the negative thoughts proved to be entirely wrong. I was able to use the social skills learned through years of meeting new people in my travels as a dancer, as well as utilizing new social skills learned during this transition. My studio now feels like a second home, and thanks to dance I'm not afraid to meet people or be in unfamiliar situations. I know I can handle making that initial social

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