Growing in Performing Arts and Passion

Fanning the passionate and artistic flame inside of young people is a critical notion for our society to learn. Here is the story of my passion for the performing arts.

I don't remember the exact moment when I fell in love with theatre. I believe it was more of a process, like the way two humans fall in love. I grew up watching movies, plays, musical productions, and the more I experienced the lights of the theater dimming as the audience quieted—as if holding their breath, waiting for that first opening number, or the beautiful elegance of film—with the way the surreal acting matched the perfect score and visuals, I drifted deeply into a love for this art, the art of escaping into a new world, to feel and experience (and give others experiences) like never before.

When I was in fourth grade, I saw a production put on by a performing arts school in my area. My older sister was planning on attending as a creative writer. I had not paid much attention to this school, as it started at the sixth grade anyway. Nonetheless, it was a show, and I wasn't going to miss one of those.

My mother, sister, and I took our seats, and the first song they sang started. It was an incredible, upbeat medley of Broadway songs, classical rock, and even Michael Jackson! My adolescent eyes stared up in wonder and amazement at the high school kids blowing up the stage. Never before had I seen so much passion. The actors, singers, and dancers took my breath away, and I felt as though I was experiencing the performing arts like never before. Needless to say that, after that performance, I knew where I was going to go to school.

In my sixth year, I started attending this arts school. I took a tour over the summer, and—though it was a small school and different from what I had experienced in previous years—it was perfect.

I continued my years at this school, and was taught by the best teachers I could hope for. My major from year one was theatre, and I learned more than I ever thought I would. But the arts were not the only thing I excelled in.

Thanks to the amazing staff at the school, I learned how to be a better person—one could even say through the arts themselves. I was taught work ethic, how to interpret artistically and have soul, and how to succeed anywhere I was to go to. I knew growing up in this school and learning from the staff that I would be able to achieve anything if I wanted to, and the positive attitude and teaching through the arts made me the person who I wanted to be, the person I strove to be.

I still know, to this day, that I will achieve bigger and greater things, thanks to the arts. I look to the future with hope, and the passion I was taught to love and express still drives me every day. I am extremely grateful for everything I've been through, and I owe it all to the performing arts.