My Dance Story

    If you've been reading this blog for awhile, (and I do suppose even if you have only read a couple posts, it would become quite obvious) you would know that dance is my absolute passion.  I know that not everyone, perhaps, that reads my blog enjoys dancing, is a dancer, or wishes to be a dancer, but I still feel like it's something I need to share on this blog of mine.  Dance is one of the largest parts of my life, and it has been since I was a baby.  This blog is about my life, after all, and leaving out one portion simply wouldn't make any sense.  And so, this is my dance story.

    I've been dancing since I was three years old, and I've always loved it.  When I dance, everyone says that a smile doesn't leave my face.  Sure, you're usually told to smile while dancing, but it just kind of comes naturally when I dance, I just love it that much.

    I have been involved in lots of different styles of dance since age three, starting with ballet, tap, and tumbling.  I did tumbling/gymnastics for two years, I think, and quickly figured out it was not my forte.

    As I grew a little older, I decided to start Irish dance, as I'm Irish, and my grandmother is 100% Irish, and she really loved Irish dancing.  I did Irish dancing for quite awhile, although it was kind of off and on due to a very rude teacher, having to travel to another town for Irish, and then having my studio leave the town and a new studio coming in.  Sadly, I am not doing Irish this year do to having to travel for all of my dance classes, but that's another story.  But I really did love Irish dance, and I still do.  The energy and rhythm of Irish dance is just not something that can be replaced, it'll always be special to me.
 
    As far as the other two classes I took at age three,-ballet and tap-I'm still taking those, with a couple classes added on, of course.

    So, once you grow a little older, a big change is that you no longer have just ballet and tap, or ballet, tap, and tumbling, you have ballet, tap, and jazz.  I actually think that my first class that involved jazz was when the new studio came to my town.  Jazz was quite a new experience for me, and I guess I don't have too many memories of me completely and totally loving it.  Jazz is great, and can be so much fun, but it's not my favorite.  Nevertheless, I still take jazz classes today.

    I also tried hip-hop for two years, and I quickly learned that I am not a hip-hop dancer.  End of story there, haha!

    Also added with jazz at my studio, I started taking lyrical classes, which now have turned into more contemporary than lyrical.  Again, lyrical/contemporary isn't quite my thing.  I love and appreciate lyrical and contemporary both when I'm watching them.  I think that they are so gorgeous and seem very effortless, but it's just not my kind of thing.  But still, lyrical/contemporary is a very different type of dance than what I was used to, and I still enjoy it.

    Now, let's talk about tap.  Ever since I was little, I've loved tap.  I love the sounds that come out of the shoes when they hit the ground, I love the energy, I love the quick movements.  I feel like very few girls like tap at my studio, but I honestly love it. It's definitely my second-favorite type of dance!

    The very last style of dance I have to share about is probably the most well-known style of dance in the whole world.  That is ballet.  Ballet is my favorite style of dance, although that happened more recently, I guess.  As a young girl, I liked ballet, but tap was a lot more fun to me.  I think I went a year without ballet because they didn't offer it at my studio {small town problems!}, which drove my mom absolutely crazy.  I also have gone quite a few years without barres or mirrors, due to lots of difficulty finding a suitable place to have our studio, which really stunk.

    My first year of pointe was three years ago, and I was probably one of the happiest girls in the world when I got my pointe shoes.  I got Bloch Balance Europeans, which are very good for beginners.  Even though my studio had no barres and no mirrors that year, we did have a suitable dance floor, and an amazing teacher.  We did great strengthening "pointe prep" exercises for weeks, and I got up onto my box pretty quickly.  That was a very proud moment of my life!  I am now on my third year of pointe and still loving it so much.  I am currently wearing Grishko 2007's, and I am liking them very much!

    Although the ballet at my studio is not the strongest, I have gotten the amazing chance to dance in the Nutcracker Ballet for six years in a row, which has been put on by one of the top studios in the state.  The Nutcracker has been a huge part of my life.  I've either gone to a performance of the Nutcracker or been in it nearly every single year of my life.  My very first Nutcracker audition was a very nerve-wracking one.  So many girls were there, and they were all very intimidating.  I was probably the youngest girl there, too, but I still tried out and I was very glad when I got the part of a Mother Ginger Little Kid!  My second year I got a harlequin, which is much different than the traditional harlequin part, if you were wondering.  My third year I got the part of an angel, which I was very excited about at the time, because Clara and the Nutcracker came on the stage with us.  My forth year I was a Mother Ginger Big Kid, which was a very fun part because I was a Little Kid before.  My fifth year I was a soldier, which was not the most fun part, sadly.  But this year, which was my sixth year, I was so happy to receive the part of a Raggedy Ann Doll, which was my very first pointe part.  I adored this part so much, and I really can't wait for next year's auditions.

    So, that was a lot to read, but if you've read the whole way, I hope you enjoyed!  I am so blessed to have the opportunity to dance, and I really have my amazing family and God to thank for that.  Dance has been so, so, incredible, and I plan to dance the rest of my life.