Wednesday, April 6, 2011

A past passion

I used to have a passion for dancing. A HUGE passion. I started when I was 4 and never stopped until I graduated high school. I took tap, jazz, ballet, point, modern, and everything in between. My favorite was definitely point and jazz. Before high school, I was in dance class 3/4 of the week basically. I absolutely loved my dance studio and my instructor and looked up to her so much! I always had a dream of being a professional dancer, though I knew it was far fetched because I didn't feel like I was very good. In high school, I quit outside dance classes to join the drill/dance team, the "Viewettes".

A little background: I'm from a semi-small town in Texas. Football is a HUGE deal to everyone. I grew up going to high school football games with my family. Of course my favorite part was halftime. I LOVED watching the Viewettes do their kick and dance routines in their shiny green uniforms. I would dress up like them and do mini-camps with them just dreaming of one day getting to be one.

For example: A Viewette mini-camp I attended with Emily. Yes, I was sassy.

Then my sophomore year, I made the try out and became a Viewette. Viewettes was very different from studio dance classes. Not everyone in Viewettes grew up in a dance studio, so the technique had to be re-learned almost for everyone. I wanted to be in studio classes still, but Viewettes did not allow time. I was at the high school at 6 in the morning for practice before school and stayed hours after school as well. So since I couldn't excel in studio classes anymore, I decided I needed to excel in Viewettes. Viewettes consists of an officer group and the line. The officers consist of a Captain and 4 lieutenants. The officers are the head honchos of the line. They are usually the more experienced dancers and lead the team. You must try out to be an officer,choreographing your own dance, performing a group one, interviewing, presenting ideas, etc. Anyways, I wanted to be the Captain, the highest position you can accomplish. So my junior year, I tried out to be a lieutenant first and did not make it. My heart was completely disheartened since I knew I still had a year left to try. I ended up getting an even better postion my junior year though. I became the first Chaplain for my drill team. I led bible studies for anyone who wanted to participate and choreographed a dance for show for that bible study group. I LOVED it.

Senior year I tried out again for officer and I finally made Captain. I was shocked (sidenote: I tend to lack self confidence) and thrilled! I wanted to lead that team SO badly and finally had the chance!
My senior year was awesome and of course rough, being in such a big leadership position. But being Captain allowed me to do even more dance then as a line member, so it was always worth it! Heres a few pictures of my time as Captain:
I would be the one in white. This gives you an idea of what drill/dance team is.

Right after I MADE captain

Emily & Layna with me after a football game

Homecoming

For a pep rally, we did a re-make of Thriller.

NOW, I'm a college student with a new passion and talent, art. However, I want to bring back that passion I once had for dance. I used to swear I'd never stop and I wouldn't be that dancer that quit once she started college. But that's exactly what happened! Dancing used to be so theraputic for me. I feel like dance is one of the ultimate tools of expression. When you dance that is simply all you are doing. You arn't thinking about anything else in the world, only the movements your body is making. Ah, so amazing. I want to start a dance class again. Soon. I know that may be spreading myself thin, but to re-visit a passion is completely worth it.

I want to encourage all of you to do the same thing! Is there something that you used to LOVE doing but don't seem to find the time for anymore? Make the time within the next couple weeks and do it!

1 comment:

  1. Megan, replace all of the "dancing" with "playing bassoon" and "viewettes" with "band" and i could so re-post this.

    ReplyDelete

I love to hear from you! Thank you for taking the time to comment!