Perfection

 I feel my bare feet touch the wooden boards on the floor of the stage. The huge lights hit my eyes temporarily blinding me. I walk out to the center of the stage and gaze into the dark audience. I see nobody, but I know the audience is there, watching my every move. I stand there in my glittering costume for what seems like hours, going over the steps to my dance, just frozen in the starting position.

Then I hear the sweet flow of the first note in the song, and I begin. The dance starts with a perfect split leap, with pointed toes and perfectly positioned arms. The feeling of the leap fills my body for a split second, then I move on. Next is the slow little spin on the tips of my barefooted toes. I can feel the audience anticipating my next move as I sashay across the stage and perform an aerial, perfectly in sync with the music. The stage feels like home. I know that this is where I am meant to be.

From then on, I stop thinking about exactly what I'm doing and just dance. All my steps are memorized. They radiate from my body and I'm glowing. The music fills me. I feel as I never have before. I feel beautiful, confident, and I know the stage is my home. I was born to be there, in that moment, showing the world that I am anything but ordinary. I hear the deep notes of the cello. I love it all. I move my arms gracefully and bend backward halfway. Using my core, I lift myself back up to standing position.

The music is starting to die down. Here comes the twirl. I start spinning, twirling in a ballerina like way. I spin, spin, spin and I feel like it will never stop. I don't want it to stop. I finish the last move and melt into the floor, into the ending position. I feel the audience hold their breath in awe. Then I hear it. I hear the applause, the whistles. I hear seats start to fold up as people start standing. A standing ovation, just for me.

I snap back to reality. There I was. I had just finished the greatest dance of my life. Keeping in character, I stand up and dramatically walk off the stage.