The curtains go up and any anxiety felt up to this point has vanished. The lights are bright and stop me from seeing the audience, but I know they’re there, patiently waiting. Once the first beat of the music begins to play, every thought leaves my mind and I simply dance. I have transformed from the quiet innocent child I have always been to a beautiful and confident young woman. Dancing for thirteen years has taught me many things. It has taught me rhythm, grace, dedication, discipline, passion and what it means to work. But most of all, it has given me a confidence that first only showed on stage, but that I now carry with myself every day. Dance has given me many opportunities as well. I have met new people, made amazing friends, I have even defied what I deemed possible for the human body to do and I have even performed in St. Petersburg, Russia. Dancing is the best thing that I have ever done for myself. However, I have learned that not everything lasts forever.

In April I had injured my hip pretty severely and now I am unable to dance for the time being. At first I was devastated, for weeks I felt lost and that everything I had worked for was gone. I had nothing. But once school started again my best friend dragged me to our school’s theatre auditions. I did not want to be there; I just wanted to wallow in self pity. But what kind of friend would she be if she allowed that?

There were a lot of people at the auditions and I felt extremely out of place. When it was my turn to audition I realized that I had to sing. In front of people! I had never done anything like that before, so I just went with the song that was stuck in my head earlier that day, “Rolling in the Deep” by Adele. I started singing and everyone got quiet and stared at me, but I ignored them. In my mind I thought, “If I am going to make a fool of myself I might as well be confident about it.” So I finished the song and everyone clapped and told me they never knew I could sing that well. I felt like I did after a dance performance, exhilarated and accomplished. That was when I realized there were other things in life that could make me happy.

After being so narrow minded for thirteen years, I had finally come to the realization that there is more to life than dance. Yes, dancing was the foundation of everything I am today. But it isn’t the only thing that makes me, me. If I hadn’t been forced to drama auditions I may still be lost and upset. But now I have finally realized that other things can make me happy, I have realized the sky is my limit.