The Importance Of Dance

Dance is easily the reason why I should stop functioning and breathing, yet it is the exact reason why I do. I never seem to be good enough to keep dancing, yet every time I step on that stage, I somehow become so much more talented than I could ever imagine. It is so easy to get lost in the swarm of emotions in dance, time is no object when the music is perfect and everything feels just right. Time is so easily lost when I would sit on my bedroom floor and cry because I am just not good enough to pull this dance off. Time is so easily lost when I spend hours watching dance video after dance video, to get that timing just right. And time is so easily lost, watching the same stupid eight count over and over, to just understand why I can’t do

When I walk on that stage, or finally hit that turn, or finish choreographing that dance break, I am caught with a breathless feeling of pure joy, because it is just so easy to lose track of time dancing. When all this seemingly “lost” time has a gorgeous end result, there is nothing to do but smile, and continue dancing. That stage, whether it be a small dance room or the grand stage I look forward to someday dancing on, is such a safe yet vulnerable place. Putting your own choreography on a stage is terrifying as it is, but sharing a dance that you've worked six months on to have people judge is even worse. Yet that is exactly what I did in my school's annual “Dancing with the Stars” event. Each person on the dance team is required to choreograph a partner routine, and Dancing with the Stars style, perform it, and be judged. The part of this event that is challenging is not the performance itself, but the six months leading up to it. Deciding the dance style and overall theme, finding a partner, choreographing a dance, getting costumes, figuring out lighting, cutting music, and everything in between. The most trying part of this whole event was the