Dance as Art

Dance, as an art form, is all about expression. Like many other young girls, my parents put me in ballet when I was two years old. The minute I stepped in the room, however, I realized ballet was more than an obligation. Ballet became an outlet for my emotions. I always had a difficult time communicating my feelings with my family, but ballet gave me the freedom to feel. Since my first classes, I have always felt that dancing opens meyou up to feel things I could not express in any other way by allowing my movements to speak for me and tell a story

At the school where I studied, Miami City Ballet, the professionals rehearsed in the midst of the school. I remember walking by these big glass windows and sitting outside, watching the ballerinas dance every day before my class. I saw the hard work of the ballerinas pay off onstage, where their movements and expressions told a story. At the end of every performance, the audience would whistle and scream and applaud the dancers. I wanted to move the audience with my performance just like the dancers on stage.

Now I had a goal. I was going to devote my time and effort to become the best dancer I could be. My hard work allowed me to realize that I could learn more than what Miami City Ballet had to offer. Because I had this mindset, I searched for opportunities beyond my comfort zone, and I was accepted to a ballet boarding school in Spain. Ballet had done more than change my personal life, now it was taking me to a different continent.

While the experience was challenging, it was a risk I knew I wanted to take and made me grow in so many more ways than I thought I ever could. Dancing in Spain made me believe in myself a lot more. It allowed me to realize that I am able to achieve any goals I set my mind to. I did not realize that I would even come to that conclusion, but the discipline of getting up every day and facing the challenge of the dance boarding school transformed me in every way possible.

In Spain, I was pushed beyond my limits, and soon I possessed strength I didn’t have before. What I learned in Spain expanded my ability to express emotion through movement. As I could do more physically, I could also say more with my dancing.