When i was a little girl i never had any rhythm and my parents were almost embarrassed when i danced at parties. I always liked to be the center of attention, so my jumping up and down was me thinking that i was doing one of the greatest dance numbers ever. It was expected that I be able to dance being that I am of Haitian and Puerto Rican descent and dancing was a big part of both cultures. All of my cousins before me were enrolled into dance school as an extra curricular activity but my mother was determined to get me into dance school to learn to dance on beat and to no longer shame her.
I do not remember my first day of dance school at Perfection Dance studio but i do remember me falling in love with the concept of making a beautiful routine to songs that i regularly listened to. I was three years old at the time and took both tap and ballet. I remember taking a trip to Payless shoe store to purchase ballet and tap shoes. The concept of buying a whole different other shoe just to dance in amazed and confused me. Why cant i just dance with my socks on?
Saturday mornings were something I looked forward to because I knew that my mother would be dropping me off to dance school so i could work on my routine. Every time I went to dance school we added on steps to a routine, a routine that i took very seriously. I can remember being in class and wanting to absorb any and everything to make sure that my dance routine was perfect come performance time.
On the day of the performance i was so nervous that i would mess up and my parents would not be proud of me. It was up to me to do my best being that I had worked so hard to gain the front spot where only the best of the best dancers stood. When i got on stage i never felt more alive in my life. It was like all of my fears were gone and i no longer had to use the bathroom anymore. I did my routine with the biggest grin on my face looking straight out into the audience of family and friends thinking we were so adorable when in fact no one was together and we were all over the place on stage, except for me of course.
That day is a day i will never forget for the rest of my life. I got over my fear of messing up, enjoyed myself and most importantly fell in love with dancing. I danced for five more years after my first performance and took up hip-hop in place of tap. I excelled so much in hip-hop that i was given the nick name "Hip-Hop Princess". After my fifth year my parents could no longer afford to send me to dance school so i had no choice but to quit. I admit i was a little bit crushed and was too young to understand the costs of finances and just wanted to do what i was best at. I eventually got over the fact that i could no longer attend dance school but still continued to dance and make up my own routines.
My dance school days are some of the best memories I have of my childhood and the perfect way to remember them is not through pictures or videos of various performances, instead i still keep my first ballet shoes that i ever purchased in a frame on my wall. They old, tattered, and way too small for me. But when i look at them i smile to myself and remember me facing my fears of getting on stage to perform in from of people but most importantly those ballet shoes are responsible for the person that i have become today.
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