Dance is not just an after school activity,
the type just to keep your kids out of trouble.
it's a career, a lifestyle, a new home or a second home.
it's a place where you will feel welcome and loved and cared for.
just like Martha Graham said "Dance enables you to find yourself and lose yourself at the same time."
and by that we mean, you can get lost in your own world but be creating the real you at the same time.
dance teaches you responsibility, maturity, communication skills, friendship and relationship skills, coronation, how to be thankful, power, grace.
you have to have so much strength to get your leg to your ear and to bend in half.
ive had a lot of people say "you have to be skinny to be a dancer"
that is 100% wrong.
so wrong, it makes me cringe the same way people normally cringe just looking at jacob Sartorius. ;)
because there are so many body types at my dance studio, and that's one of the best parts of being part of a studio or a group. they will ALWAYS be there for you when you need them. at Xtreme Cheer and Dance, we don't judge you or treat you differently if your, bigger than others, smaller than others, gay, lesbian, female or male, white or black, be who you want to be.
i am not as skinny as a stick but that doesn't mean i'm out of shape.
i'm in shape. i have larger legs than most girls but it's not fat on my legs. it's muscle.
you need muscle to push you off the ground when you leap or jump across the stage.
you need control to land lightly and nicely after flying up in the air.
you need turn out, butt muscle, core muscle, hip and back control, leg muscle, toe muscle. and so many other muscle i couldn't name.
so many, soooo many people say that dance and cheerleading isn't a sport.
is that unbelievable? yes, very.
i train 5-6 days a week, 3-4 hours a day and somebody say it isn't a sport.
we but our lives into these dances.
we practice for months and perform on stage in front of family's and friends and judges.
"well, why do you get judged at competitions???" people have asked me.
my answer is to help us become better, because we all make mistakes on stage, the judges see those on stage, write them down and we read them so we can correct them, and become better.
it's so hard starting off in dance with people who are better at it than you.
i went through that.
for my first year of dance, i did acro.
i cried so much, because it was so hard not being like everybody else who was so good at these moves. i cried on the drive home after every practice of my first year. but i'm so glad i went through that because i didn't stop dancing.
4 years later, i'm doing 5 group dances, a solo and cheerleading. i'm glad i never gave up.
i love dance so much, it's the one thing i've never changed my mind on.
and i have so many dreams for when i'm older and more experienced.
You have to be passionate about dance to fall in love with it, like no joke dance is my soulmate.
