"Dance is the hidden language of the soul." - Martha Graham

I started dance at the young age of 5 and I can tell you exactly what initially drew me into the art of dance. When I was very young (so young I'm surprised I remember this), I attended my older cousin's dance recital. I remember all the lights, sparkly costumes, and wonderful music--I was in awe. It's not unusual for a young girl to be intrigued by dance for the very reasons it intrigued me. I loved the whole idea of being on stage and being the center of attention, getting to dress up like a princess, having my whole family coming out to see me bearing flowers and stuffed animals, and feeling like a superstar when everyone cheered. For a long time, this is all dance was to me.

I begged my parents to let me take dance classes at the same studio my older cousin did, and they finally let me when I was 5 and felt like I was ready to start something new, but little did they know they were introducing me to something that would become a piece of my life forever. Dance was everything I expected it to be, and for some reason it clicked. I always wanted to be in the front and center because I wanted to be the best; I was striving for that, and after my first recital getting to be right where I wanted to be--I was addicted.

I continued taking classes in ballet, tap, and jazz, and performing in recital after recital. Then, in middle school, I joined my school's dance team and fell more into the competitive world of dance, eventually, in 8th grade, joining my studio's elite competition team where we traveled from place to place, competing for titles in dance. I loved the thrill of being on stage competing for titles, and loved winning even more. It was such a blessed feeling to have all my hard work over the years pay off and win.

However, taking classes in dance along with being on the competition team was wearing me out, and I started having problems with my knee and back. Though being on a competitive team had its moments, there was also competition between my teammates. Eventually going to practice became more like a job than something I enjoyed doing. The atmosphere wasn't the same and I was in pain. So at the end of my sophomore year in high school I decided I would take a break from everything related to dance.

During my break from dance, I lost a lot of things I had worked so hard to achieve. Though I didn't lose my ability to dance, I felt I wasn't as strong. When I came back to dance at the end of my junior year in high school I auditioned for GSA (Govenors School for the Arts) in the dance category with the idea of having a dance career and didn't make it. I lost a lot of confidence I once had. I felt my technique was lacking and I was very far behind, compared to everyone else who auditioned. I hated dance at this point and didn't know if I would continue, but I did.

I continued dance, but never like I had before. I pursued it for the first time in my life with a noncompetitive attitude and didn't see it as a career. I took classes and classes only, and discovered it was something else entirely. Dance is not all about who is the best, who has the best technique, who can turn the most, or who has the highest leaps. Dance is the language of the soul. I have always loved dancing, but I didn't fall in love with dance, until the first time I danced in the middle of my room at night and cried. I didn't fall in love with dance until I danced after my heart had been broken and felt happiness again. I fell in love with dance when I let my guard down and let my soul speak and saw how it touched others. And I fell in love with dance when I saw the joy it spread and how it inspired others.

Technique is important, yes. And training to be a better dancer is important, yes. But is it everything to be the best and be front and center? No. At 5-years-old, dance was important to me because it made me feel unique and special, and to this day, at 22 years old and 18 years of dancing, that is still the case, but that's not everything dance is to me. Some may say dance is a sport, or an art, and dance can be both of those things. But to me, dance is my soul's language. A language used when I can't speak. Dance helps me to speak in my darkest moments of desperation and helps me rejoice in times of celebration. There is nothing like performing in a dance that taps into the core of your being and makes you feel something when nothing is said. And there is nothing like seeing a dance that makes you somehow feel what the choreographer was feeling.

Over the years, that is what dance has become to me. At first, there was nothing like being front and center showing off what I could do, and now there's nothing like speaking in a way that's so powerful we can't even understand. What amazing beings God has made us into. Dance is for everyone. You don't have to be trained for years to be able to enjoy it. I have seen some of the most inexperienced dancers be some of the most beautiful and inspiring dancers I have seen. And not because of their technique, but because of the beauty of their soul speaking.