Teen Ink

Here and Now: Broken Silence

The girl’s first step as she walks on stage is accompanied by fear. A fear of forgetting it all- all of the hard work she has done leading up to that one moment. But when the music starts she loses her fear, she’s lost; lost in her own reality, her own space, her own dance. And her talent is as natural as water moving down stream. She moves across stage, keeping the beat of the music, with as much elegance as seen in only the rarest faucets of nature itself. Dance is the medium of expression through which she reveals her true self. Through dance she speaks, silently, sending a message to all who have the privilege of watching her: I have something to say.
This girl was not always this way. Not a year ago she was shy, unconfident and not even involved with the dance. She kept to herself and preferred the role of bystander to participant any time the choice presented itself. She preferred this because it was easier. It seemed her proclivity was to take the easier path.
But there was something which prompted her to walk down a different path and it is this something that I myself find inspiring. It is a story that should be told to anyone who prefers to watch as life passes them by. I am telling this story not because I am trying to persuade you or to judge; if you’re a person who prefers to sit idly while life moves around you that is your choice. And it is not a bad choice, but one that I feel is sad. Life is what you put into it. This is the story of a girl who learned this truth and now, particularly on stage, epitomizes it.