My First Literacies I Learned

As a youth, I engaged in many forms of dance expression. I studied tap, jazz, and ballet for fifteen years. During these formative years, I choose to forgo many youth experiences so that I could participate in advance dance programs. The hard work paid off when I received a college scholarship to a performing arts

When I was four years old I was introduced to a tall, petite, beautiful ballerina who spun around the room with elegance, and effortlessly captured the crowd with her stunning abilities. As a little girl, I sparkled with admiration and was inspired to be all she was, it was from that point on, that I ventured into an unknown world of art, strength and expression. Now being eighteen years old with about fourteen years of experience in the dance world, I have learned and developed the norms, values and practices of the culture, and the conflicting theory within it.

Dance began as a form of communication and storytelling. Thousands of years ago dancing served as a way for people to tell a story and helped distract themselves of the hardships they faced. Furthermore, dance was a form of storytelling through communication, which then turned into using storytelling through dance as entertainment. According to the History World, many dancers during the BC time danced in front of only a few people to get a story across. That later turned into hundreds of thousands of people as dance was used by many. Today, dance is also a form of entertainment and storytelling, but in a modern sense. However, today perfection and technique are stressed more than they were in the past. Yet, the passion for dance has not changed. Many dancers who share this passion also have many of the same qualities. Among a discourse community of trained dancers, one expects to find individuals who are healthy and active athletes, expect perfection from themselves through competition, and religiously attend dance performances.

I have been dancing since the age of two. When asked about my career aspirations, there is no hesitation before saying “I want to be a dancer.” Being a dancer means putting all other distractions aside, and focusing on my craft. Currently, I dedicate over forty hours a week to dance, which is a schedule that requires sacrifice. When I am dancing, the rest of the world fades away, slipping out of my mind with relaxed importance. For that moment in time, I am completely free, wholly focused on my goals, letting me know dance is what I’m meant to do. With this realization comes a responsibility to myself and the work I have put into improving my craft thus far, and I know I must seek out the best opportunities for growth and continued learning.

I danced at Tina’s Dance Studio in Eldridge, Iowa for 12 consecutive years before I graduated high school. There I studied in ballet, pointe, contemporary, modern, lyrical, tap, jazz, hip-hop, musical theater, gymnastics and clogging. I was also a part of the competition team for eight years. We not only did local competitions and conventions, but we traveled and went to nationals in Chicago, Los Angeles and New York City. I also danced in shows in Disney World and on a Carnival Cruise Ship. In high school, I was on the varsity Dance Team winning three state titles in pom and lyrical eventually traveling to Nationals. A few summers ago, I trained with Hubbard Street Dance in Chicago with their summer intensive focusing on modern, contemporary and ballet. During my senior year of high school and this past summer I taught classes in jazz, tap and contemporary for students 8-16 years old. I also self-choreographed three competition solos. Here, at Ohio University, I am a member of the dance team doing dances at football and basketball games.

My whole life has been of dirty mirrors, old ballet shoes, and ripped tights. I was 5 years old and a beginner at a dance academy. I didn’t quite know what dance was when I got in, I thought it was just a place to spend time in and just enjoy the music they played. Over the years I learned that dance is way more than just a hobby or a place to go when you are bored. It is art, you are the one making art. Your feelings are the story to your dance, and your moves are the music. People will see your pain or happiness through these ways. Dance is not just a hobby, it’s an art, it’s something that you don’t actually have to throw music at when the steps and feelings you add are the music to your dance.

My mother once told me I was born to dance. Ballet, jazz, and hip hop nourished me from the time I was three years old. Whether helping my parents clean or walking in the grocery store, my feet sashayed beneath me to an unknown rhythm. Some of my earliest memories occur in a small studio in a converted barn, where I spent hours at the barre. Unlike performance schools depicted on reality television, my dance studio required less excessive makeup and more polished black leotards and pink tights (we did, however, have a fair share of screaming stage moms).

Innumerable amounts of people consider a literacy to just be reading a book, magazine, or newspaper and writing an essay. Indeed those are common literacy’s but there is more to reading and writing than just a book and an essay. My literate practice happens to be dance. It is important to me that everyone recognizes how reading and writing plays a tremendous role in the world of dance. It is also important that others realize anyone can dance, but not everyone can be considered a ‘dancer’. It is necessary for a dancer to have passion, persistence, skill, devotion, strength and power. I possess all these qualities, which is why I believe I am an expert in my literacy. Dance seems just to be a hobby for many and a form of entertainment, but

Sitting on a colorful blanket and listening to my mom read books from Disney was my first memory of learning how to read. She could read word by word, making those face expressions that used to make me feel excited and of course she would show off the pictures. She finished reading and then she gave me a little purple notebook, where I used to practice how to spell my name and practicing the alphabet. Those are the first memories I have about learning how to read and write.

Growing up was never easy for me, but I did not let that stop me from pursuing my ballet career. I didn’t grow up doing ballet, and taking my first ballet class at the Boys and Girls Club at age 13 gave me a setback compared to others who may have been dancing since they were 3. My teacher put me into many positions,

Innumerable amounts of people consider a literacy to just be reading a book, magazine, or newspaper and writing an essay. Indeed those are common literacy’s but there is more to reading and writing than just a book and an essay. My literate practice happens to be dance. It is important to me that everyone recognizes how reading and writing plays a tremendous role in the world of dance. It is also important that others realize anyone can dance but not everyone can be considered a ‘dancer’. It is necessary for a dancer to have passion, persistence, skill, devotion, strength and power. I possess all these qualities, which is why I believe I am an expert in my literacy. Dance seems just to be a hobby to many and a form of entertainment but to

As I reflect on my childhood, the first memory of literacy I recall is when I was in kindergarten. I was approaching the end of the school year when my mother revealed to me my teacher was considering keeping me in kindergarten for another year. I was extremely upset and felt as if I had failed my first year of school. I felt that I was fresh out of the gate and already defective. My perception as a child was that the adults were already giving up on me. The teacher stated if I could learn the alphabet by the end of the school year I could continue ahead to the 1st grade. The conclusion of Kindergarten was vastly approaching. My mother constructed flash cards to help with my letter recognition. In doing so, she realized I could not see the letters. My mother promptly made an appointment for me to visit an Optometrist to evaluate me. Before I knew it, I was fitted with a big plastic pair of glasses. My world became much clearer after that. My mother was upset that my teacher did not recognize the problem, and that I never spoke up. Fortunately, I passed kindergarten with a lot of hard work from my parents, teacher, and I.

While I was unable to dance myself, composition class gave me the opportunity to create with my peers. I fell in love with the process of creating movement and teaching others. In hopes of helping me to stay busy and keeping my mind off of not being able to dance my mother suggested that I volunteer with the DISD summer dance intensive held at Booker T. I had danced in this

Dancing is a language, one anyone can read; however, the skill lies not in the ability to read, but in the passion to write. When people hear the word dance, more specifically ballet, they associate it with a stereotypical image of young girls prancing around in tutus, however, ballet goes beyond the scope society has set for it. Most individuals don’t fully comprehend that ballet is a literacy practice with various skill sets. In Barton and Hamilton’s “Literary Practice” they define a literacy practice as “what people do with the literacy”(3). To be a ballerina you have to be well versed in an assortment of instruction; from body, to technique, to language, to musicality, etc., ballet is a literacy practice that recognizes the extensive

mother and I were standing in line at a frame shop. There was a girl with a black leotard and a red flowy skirt standing in front of us, with her mother. “Your daughter dances Flamenco, right? Where does she take classes?” My mother asked the girl’s mother. Next thing I remember, I was in a dance studio, staring at a group of dancers who seemed to be flying across the room, all wearing long skirts and dance shoes. I couldn’t take my eyes off of them. I didn’t know it right then, but fourteen years later, I would be able to dance just like any of those dancers I was staring at with dreamy eyes. Practicing dance, preparing dance plays and performances