When I woke up bright and early in the morning, my twelve year old self knew it was going to be a big day: my first dance competiton. I had danced for ten long years before this, but never have I ever competed against other dance schools. All I could do was smile as I thought about ripping up the stage and hopefully winning as many awards as possible. I got out of bed so anxious and eager to leave for Baton Rouge! I had all of my clothes and costumes packed. I was ready to start my day as soon as I had my hair and makeup done. The first step of getting ready every day for me is to put my contacts in. I put one contact in my eye and I soon started to feel just a little dizzy. Being calm, I assumed that it was just nerves for my first competition. I thought I would be fine, but oh was I wrong.

The next thing I know, I am sitting in a hospital bed surrounded by doctors and nurses asking me tons of questions. I had absolutely no clue why all of these people were surrounding me. What in the world was happening? I asked my parents what was going on, they answered quite nervously saying, “Madison, you passed out. We had to take you to the hospital.” Then it clicked: competition is today and I needed to be there very soon!! I was so overwhelmed that the tears began to flow and didn't stop for a long time. I went into panic mode and made it very clear to my doctors that I need to be out of here and in Baton Rouge immediately. I was told that I needed a few x rays as well as a CT. My head was pounding. I knew that no matter how bad I felt, I couldn’t let my team down.

The doctors got all of the tests done quickly and I was out of the hospital in no time! Once I left the hospital, me and my family zoomed to Baton Rouge as quickly as we could. I was so nervous that I was going to pass out again but this time, on stage. I arrived to the auditorium with a small bit of time to practice. When my team saw me, their faces changed immediately from worry to excitement. “Madison!! Thank goodness you're here!!” “We thought you were going to miss the dance!!” After all of the excitement, it was my time to perform. Everyone encouraged me and told me to dance my heart out.  I was hoping it was just like a dance recital but I began to realize it was not. I watched so many dances before me and started to become discouraged. Could my dance really beat theirs? I shook off my nerves and went on stage with confidence knowing me as well as the rest of the dancers could get the job done. I did the dance as sharp and perfectly as I had ever practiced before. All of my worries faded away and I felt like I was in a dream. I didn’t feel at all like I was in the hospital just an hour ago. The second the music stopped, I knew we killed it. When I got off the stage everyone cheered for me. I was so happy. Many other dancers competing against us complimented us saying how amazing we did. I knew that if other dancers were complimenting us, we must have done pretty amazing. I felt on top of the world and I could not believe how great I had just did!!

It was finally time for awards. I soon became extremely nervous because our scores were about to be called. I knew that I would feel that I was the one to blame if we lost. We waited and waited and finally heard the name of our dance. “Entry 182: first place”  I could not believe it!! We won!! I could not have been any happier in that moment. Excitement filled my body while everyone began chanting and cheering for us. I went home knowing that I was definitely MVP of the day. Even if the day started out bad, it surely ended perfectly.