Personal Narrative: Hannah Alpert's Love For Dance

Being able jump in the air, kick up your leg, or even having a strong voice is what most people assume is needed to make the cheer squad in today’s society. These beliefs and depictions of today’s cheerleaders are strongly influenced by today’s media. For example, the hit television show “Glee” depicts one of its main characters, a cheerleader named Brittney, as an airhead. This blond hair, blue-eyed girl is reflected as the “typical cheerleader”, with statements that include the following, ' 'I was pretty sure Dr. Pepper was a dentist ' ' (Murphy). The show also depicts the other cheerleaders as stuck up, promiscuous, irresponsible and cliquey. From wearing the cheerleading outfits everyday to sleeping around with the football team,

The next seven minutes could determine what my 7th grade year will look like. 11 other girls, competing for seven spots on the JAJH Cheer Team. My hands were shaking, and I was so nervous inside. What if I don’t make it? What if I make myself look like a complete fool? Falling on my face, tripping, doing the wrong cheer, all of these factors were racing through my mind. But I had to plaster that smile on my face, black shorts, white shirt, bow, tennis shoes, I was ready. Routines rushing through my head, one after the other, over and over. Five, six, seven, eight, one… Three days of practicing and learning the material for those next seven minutes.

I waited weary in anticipation of what name would break out of the happy-go-lucky collegiate cheerleader’s boisterous mouth as he was announcing the two lucky 2017 National Cheerleading Association All Americans out of all 4 Belton cheer squads. I replay this moment in my most vivid dreams, feeling the excitement of the halcyon moment grow greater and greater as the nerves and emotions grew stronger and stronger. A moment as imperative as this showed me in the most transparent way that hard, continuous work and growth pays off in many more ways than one.

Even though she was in a new environment my friend’s confidence about her cheering remained the same. Her new school had tryouts coming up and she was determined to make it besides if she didn’t fit in anywhere else the cheer squad would be the perfect place. Layla practiced for a week straight after school to be sure she had every move down packed. Two days before tryouts came and everything went left.

“I remember going there to my sister’s classes every day and I was like ‘I want to dance to mom! I really want to dance’ and I always liked to dance so she finally got me in it. I was like ‘I like this!’ and I’ve been there ever since” she said.

It all started ten years ago when Markquelyn, Blair’s mom, signed Blair up for dancing at Yvonne’s Directions in Dance. At the time, Blair was only two years old, which is the same age I was when my mom first signed me up. Similarly, we did not really know what we were getting ourselves into. Ten years later, Blair has concluded that she loves music and moving her body to it. On the other hand, when I was into dancing, I only continued to do it so I would not have so much “lazy time” at home.

Many have seen her. Many know her. But who is the American cheerleader? Is she a blond haired, blue eyed sex symbol? Is she a drug-addicted girl with no brains and even fewer moral values? Maybe she is just your average, pretty, girl-next-door with a loud voice and lots of spirit. What is clearly true is that cheerleading and cheerleaders have evolved greatly over a century-long history. What started as one bold college student has turned into an activity with over 3 million participants (Brady 1); one that is backed by a $150 million industry (Williams 2). Modern cheerleading has come a long way from its historic roots, but large differences still exist between the iconic cheerleader, the stereotypical cheerleader, and the truth.

When encountering a challenge, there are two divergent paths one can take. One can give up by ignoring the problem, or one can work to overcome the obstacle and learn a lesson in the end. This fall, as a senior captain of the Sartell Sabre Dance Team, I have faced difficult setbacks that have taught me about myself and my team, and I am a stronger leader because of the adversities I have defeated.

Casey Brown has always wanted to be a dancer. When she was little, she took dance classes once a week every Tuesday. Casey loved it and rocked the stage every year at the dance recitals at the Williamstown High School. As she got older, she took a break from dance but came back after a few short years. She took a modern class and her teacher would always tell her to take a ballet class. So the next year, Casey signed up for ballet. Right away her teacher noticed that something about her.

Although this was taken seven months ago, it feels as if it was just yesterday that my sister, Cortney, began a new stage in her life. She is no longer my bedroom neighbor just a hallway length away. The bathroom that was once shared is now only occupied by me, that bedroom next to mine remains vacant, and I am officially an only child -or so it seems. It’s crazy to believe we are already teenagers. As children, we got along much better than average siblings. We never fought, always shared clothes, and even shared friends despite the age difference. As time went on, we grew closer; making it even harder for us to be separated from each other long term. Next thing we knew, it was August 24, 2015, the time had come that Cortney was graduated and moved on to bigger and better things. My family took two cars over two hours away to say our goodbyes. Despite the fact that we did not want

Argumentative Essay By: Rebecca Elangwe Cheerleading is a sport. Over the past years, the athleticism has developed and increased. Modern cheerleading necessitates talents that need the strength of football, grace of dance, and skillfulness of gymnastics. Elaborate movements are used, testing the body’s extremities. Now, squads need experienced coaches, instead of just having an advisor.

In the movie, Tracy Turnblad has a passion for dancing. She went after her dreams not listening to anyone that told her she couldn’t. Eventually she even made a difference that changed the world. I, also, have a passion for dancing. Multiple people have told me in the past that I should quit dance and I should not dance anymore.

“Dance offers so many opportunities,” Charlotte explains to me as she looks off to the distance, “it provides not only a challenge physically and mentally, but also an opportunity to express your personality”, and that’s exceptionally important for teenage girls who sometimes struggle with finding a way to open up to outsiders. This hasn’t proven to be a potential problem to Charlotte, however, since she admits to becoming a much more confident person after these years of dance experience. As for what Charlotte wishes to pursue later in life as a career, she’s still exploring all the new opportunities she has, and for now, it remains a

November 23, 2014, first Varsity dance competition- Junior year at our first dance competition, I am questioned by one of my underclassmen girls who I captained the year prior, “Why don't you hang around the other upperclassmen?” I looked at her as if my tongue had gone numb from lacking the words to answer. I was the one that the underclassmen admired, But now they’re realizing that that superhero whom they looked up to their freshman year actually can't fly; At least, not with the girls in her own

Obviously, the goal for the team every year is to win, but we also like to have fun. Natalie Meloche elaborates on how she feels about spending countless hours at the studio perfecting her routines, “Going to dance class is my favorite part of my day because I can always escape whatever is going on in my life and just let loose and dance. I also love to see my friends and teachers as well.”  In fact, three of the four girls I got answers from said they enjoyed going to class while the fourth had mixed feeling about it. Although for the majority of the girls, being in class was their favorite part. My favorite part was all of the team bonding that we did. Outside of the practice rooms, the team went to the movies together, painted pottery, played laser tag, and took trips to the cider mill.