How I Fell In Love with Dance

i still remember

at 3 i anxiously slipped on this pair of

belly shoes

and attended my very first ballet class

at 5 i carelessly stumbled towards the

judge to collect this trophy right here

my very first dance award and at nine

my ballerina dreams finally came true

and i wore this tutu right here and did

my very first ballet solo

at 15 i still fall in love and am fully

captivated by this beautiful art form

dance ever since i was little

i have been taking dance classes ranging

from ballet

jazz contemporary and modern dance

i still remember my pure excitement of

going to dance class

and watching my dance seniors or as i

call them dances

dance and i remember feeling so in all

of them

that was when i knew that i wanted to be

just like them

graceful charismatic and expressive

when i first set foot on the big stage i

was only 5

dancing for my studios anno dance

concert

and today i don’t remember what i wore

what song i danced to or what the

choreography was

but what i do remember is the

unexplainable adrenaline

i felt waiting in the wings and when i

actually stepped on that stage

while everything just hit me all at once

the blurry faces of the audience

the warmth of the colorful stage lights

my breath

the moments passing by it was the

liberating feeling of performing

the force and the power of movement

which empowers me

to this day for someone like me

who is pretty introverted and resolved

at times i struggle to put my thoughts

and feelings into words

and share them with others and that’s

why i choose incorporate dance in my

life

to let the voice of my soul come through

and to tell my stories to the world

through dance

for years i always wondered why i love

to dance

so much and competitive training made me

believe that it was due to my pursuit

for perfection

as well as the mastery associated with

dance

whenever i was preparing for competition

season the priority was always to

master the steps nail the choreography

ensure that the spacing is right

and being the perfectionist that i am

the technical perfection that i gained

from dance definitely gave me a certain

amount of satisfaction

but something still felt missing so i

started to question my mindset

why do i love to dance so much what is

it about dance

that i can’t help but feel so enthralled

by

was i missing the fact that feelings are

integral to the entire process of

dancing

this sudden realization was like a

wake-up call

that all this while i feel having the

misconception that feelings

are only an additional element and were

trained and rehearsed

when in fact the main character of an

item is not

the choreography neither is it the

technique

rather it is the story and the emotion

behind the entire item

i began to realize that whether or not i

was conscious of it

i was telling my own story to the world

through dance

this new idea was also further

reinforced by other dancers around me

in the past few years i’ve had the

amazing opportunity

and privilege to teach young dancers

while assisting my dance teacher

slowly and gradually i started opening

up to them

and voting on them as if they were my

little sisters

well there were days that they spat on

me and there were days where they were

even a little bit rude

but despite their cheekiness i still

looked forward to every single class i

had with them

it was like i was looking in the mirror

and teaching three-year-old live

i saw that same vigor and excitement for

dance

as well as the eagerness to show me and

my dance teacher the best moves

and their best splits that made me want

to teach them

and give them advice just like how i

would have spoken to my younger self

not only could i feel the deep keeners

to learn and dance

but i also felt the true power and force

of movement

though they lacked maturity in their

movements were not trained

and did not have flawless technique but

i could still

feel their deep happiness sadness

or even loneliness in ballet class

they were just being themselves without

fearing judgment

and was simply dancing their hearts out

in that moment i was completely flawed

our emotions are indeed inherently a

part of movement

whether or not we had intended to show

them

when i dance my hands my feet

my limbs they are the pants writing my

story for the world to see

it made me see the beauty of dance where

we can express so much

without needing to utter a single word

or rely on having stationery in hand

our bodies convey the story of us every

single day of our lives

and there is just no way to completely

hide how we feel

the subtleties of body language express

the innate emotions

and subconscious thoughts that we may

endeavor to keep to ourselves

and what makes dance so beautiful is its

potential to mute signification

just as it is true of other art forms

when i dance

i just feel like i’m letting my

individuality shine through

and that is why dance is so special to

me

to me the soul is an impressive force

and it can have something really

extraordinary to share

that cannot be conveyed to the

limitations of mere words and sentences

and that’s why language cannot capture

what’s outside itself

the in-depth or intensive reality that

lies behind its scope

at times like this when we are stuck and

have no way to express the innate

emotions and complex emotions that we

are experiencing

that is when dance comes into the

picture and allows the soul to speak

through the body

we all already have the key and all we

have to do

is to find that door to unlock this new

mode of communication that we all

possess

recently i also found out that the term

emotion

is derived from the latin term immovata

which means to move isn’t that so

crazy the fact that the essence of

emotion

is moving and that’s exactly what we do

in dance

making that moving movement making the

emotion dance

and if there’s one thing that i hope i

helped you to realize

i hope it is the fact that our emotions

aren’t just

are physically embodied and exemplified

by our everyday movements

by understanding the connection between

our emotions

and our body in motion we can begin

producing more genuine

and more mature movements do not

underestimate the power of your body

every moment every instant we are

telling our individual stories

and conveying our innate emotions when

words fail to articulate

and convey thank you