The Importance Of Dance In My Life

I have participated in many different activities and sports over the years, but the one that has stuck with me the most is dance. I started dancing when I was only seven years old, and went on to join a competitive dance team for four years. Dancing has given me many opportunities, such as being part of a team, performing, competing, and the chance to express myself through movement. Participating in dance for so many years gave me the chance to volunteer as an assistant to some of the younger dancers at my dance school, which allowed me to gain leadership skills such as communication and commitment, as well gain teaching experience. At my middle school last year, I was a co-president of the student council, and my job was to lead weekly meetings with the younger students at my school, also contributing to my leadership background.

I took several beginning classes. I took classes with seven and eight-year-olds. For months, I dedicated hours of my day to dance. I’d dance from three to eight and on some occasion six to eight. Day and night I took classes and kept improving. My teacher Ms. Kim noticed and pulled me aside one day, “I don’t think you should be in this class anymore,” she said. “You need to be in a higher level class. Something more challenging.” I was in complete shock. I knew I was getting better; however, I never thought I’d progress that fast. I left dancing with the little kids and started taking classes with people my age and older. People who have been dancing since they were

Dance has been an important part of my life since I was 5 years old. I will never forget the first dance class I went to with my cousins when we lived in the Bronx. That first class opened the doors to all the opportunities I have been offered as a dancer today. When I moved to Somers in 1st grade, I decided to continue dancing since I enjoyed it so much. I danced at a small studio which was really just for fun, until I wanted to get more serious as a dancer. In 6th grade I switched to a different studio that has changed me not only as a dancer but as a person.

Trust me when I say that I know my way around a ballet barre. I have

Dance has always played a huge role in my life. I have learned many life lessons and gained many experiences that dance has been able offer to me. Ever since I was a little girl, my mom told me that I was always prancing on my toes and started moving, I wouldn’t call it dancing, as soon as I heard music. It could have been anywhere; the grocery store, the mall, or even at church, I was just always dancing.

I played a season of soccer when I was three years old, well, the other kids played soccer, and I entertained the audience with leaps and turns and prancing along the field. After the season, my aunt took me off the field and into the studio. I remember watching through the window, my cousin taking pointe class. I wanted other people to watch me like I was watching my cousin and to feel that same sense of joy and wonder. Now, fourteen years later, dancing gives me just as much pure joy as it did on the soccer field, and watching others dance makes me ohh and ahh like the three year old me.

"You become a vampire. But you will turn into a zombie if you don't feed."

My name is Kayla, I am currently an 8th grader at Silver Hills Middle School in Westminster. Dance has been a big part of my life, even though I only started studio dancing 2 or 3 years ago. Before that, I looked up how-to videos and learned off of there. Studio dancing gave me a whole new perspective of what dance is, it’s a way of expressing myself and expressing my emotions. I remember the first time dancing at EVQ, it was an entire new environment where the dance instructors there treat their teen students as adults instead of children. Of course, this frightened me since it was all new and I didn’t know anybody there, everyone was ridiculously nice and I made new friends the second week I was

I sat in the doctor's office. Sitting. Waiting. The room felt so empty and quiet. My mom and I sat there. Waiting. I felt as though we had been waiting for hours. Eventually, the doctor walked through the door. I was hoping he would say my tests came back and showed improvement. I had been diagnosed with a stress fracture the previous year. We thought maybe it was something bigger. As it turns out, we were right. He sat down as we anticipated his words. We sat anxiously in our seats. “I’m so sorry… I must have missed it. The tests came back… you have a tumor”.

My dancing was awkward and clumsy at best. I was shy and embarrassed to dance with anyone –even my own instructor. This self-consciousness blinded me from recognizing how much I enjoyed being on the dance floor, feeling the rhythms and steps to the music. Every mis-step or spin warranted an inward criticism. I spent a number of Friday nights at Ceviche watching all the couples, conflicted between wanting to go home and hoping that one day, I would be one of the lithe dancers confidently gliding across the floor in the rhythm of the music. I was afraid to admit how much I really wanted to dance. The years following, I did not show my face in that place often, due to a sense of

When you see how black women dance there is this assumption that the dance is tasteless or only dancing to appease the opposite sex. Because of the style that black women use such as popping or dancing in a more aggressive tone. As we look in the media we can see many black women in music videos on TV in dancing in competitions or even dance instructors at local gyms or; but What drives them to dance, does this type of art have a background that will help us further understand their choice in pursing dance, is dance more of physical or spiritual art?

Freshman year, I continued my dance journey by taking Social Dance and Dance 3. For the first time in my dance career, I was given the opportunity to create original movement. Throughout the course of the year, I explored different ways that I could express myself with my body and began to see dance as more than mimicking movement. I decided to give Dance Company another shot with this new skill that I had learned. This time, I tried to put myself into the piece in hopes that would earn me a spot. I was almost certain that I

Within Fish Tank, performance serves a multitude of functions. For one, characters in the film define themselves in relation to dance, and performance as a whole is presented as an outlet and a means to attain freedom. Yet, the relationship between dance and the self is also antithetical as, whilst individual characters escape social definition through the act of dance, the act itself defines them. This can be seen especially in relation to the female identity that is imposed with sexual objectivity through dance. However, dance also operates in a figurative sense, Mia, dances with the idea of reinvention, escape and of learning the steps to life. Overall, dance is presented as being highly important to the exploration and attainment

School of Arts for the first time. I greeted her while her soft smile helped me consider dance to

Festivities filled the Chamkar Mohn quarter of Phnom Penh; fragrant arrangements of jasmine and chrysanthemum, piles of wild fruits, and vermillion decorations filled every corner of the neighborhood. Petite candles and spherical paper lanterns pushed the glimmer of the stars and moon out of sight and lit the streets as men inside of large tiger costumes performed dances. A roaring of drums and the melody of Chinese-imported instruments filled the air and thundered in my chest. Inside of my house, dapper men and women presented themselves to my father with gifts wrapped in silk ribbon, Ang Pao envelopes, fine artwork, and many handcrafted items. The country’s finest bakers and chefs offered golden and sterling silver