Practices

At practices, we all had one thing in the back of our minds; the competitions. We all thrived on the energy of competitions and the rush of performing on stage for the winning title. There is no feeling like that adrenaline. One aspect of belonging to a competition team is knowing that we work so hard for months, often coming to practice after long days at school, to show the world the fruits of our labor at these competitions. I am proud of myself for getting as far as I have in competitions. Unfortunately, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, I had to quit dancing and competing for teams. Now that we finally start to see the end of the pandemic, I hope to return to dancing and competitions.

Competitions

For years, i danced on a competition team at the Tyler Ann School of Dance. I always looked forward to my dance practices as they were always equally challenging and fun. It was a pleasure to dance alongside other incredible dancers, where we al mutually pushed each other to perform at our best. No matter the dance we were practicing, laughter was always on the menu. When dancing on a competition team, it is very easy to get caught up in unhealthy competition and stressful situations, but having a team like mine made every second fun.

High school dance show

Another core memory of my dance career are the fashion shows my high school would put together every year. I was a dancer for the show from grades 7 to 11. What I cherished most about this show is that it is organized from A to Z by students, for students and their families and friends. From my humble dance beginnings in grade 7, I looked up to the Fashion Show producers, a group of 5 of the the grade’s top dancers. They are selected by the administration to host and plan the show. It was one of my high school dreams to be selected as a producer. In grade 10, another dream of mine came true: I was asked to choreograph one of the dances. It was tough work, but every second was worth it. I taught and coached a group of 20 girls and seeing my choreography being performed on stage was a memory I will cherish forever. Grade 11 finally rolled around. Not only was it my final year, the year I finally get picked to be fashion show producer, but it was also the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. My dreams, my ideas and my vision for the year’s show quickly came to a stop as the show was cancelled, as per the governmental regulations.