Rediscovery of my passion: dance

When i was in high school, i had fallen in love. I had fallen in love with dance. I loved everything about it. I loved my dance classes. I loved dance shows. I did shows where I was the only one who put on a dance routine, amongst everyone else who was singing. in high school, my art classes became a way to manifest my bigger dreams. I didn’t know I was doing it, but I knew that’s where I wanted to be. I had three big dreams.

number one: I wanted to become a professional dancer.

number two: move to a big city and live in an apartment. 
At the time, I was attending a high school in a very remote town (Labrador city) in the province of Newfoundland, Canada. Yeah, please take the time to google it. I’ll wait.

My dreams were big safe to say, for a tiny bubble. I couldn’t even ask my dance teacher what to do with all the talent and goals I had. When I did ask, she told me that she had followed her mom’s footsteps and became a ballet instructor. Apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.

When I asked my guidance counsellor, she encouraged me to have backup plan, because she knew I wasn’t going to make it as a dancer. Nor were my parents encouraging of this fact.

So, I moved with my family to the capital city, Ottawa in 2015, to begin my undergraduate degree, and I took theatre, along with psychology. At first it was hard. Because while I thought I was the best dancer in the small town I had just come from, I found myself in an audition space, where there were dancers who had trained their whole lives. You could tell from their perfectly pointed toes, and technique. It was scary. And I was shattered that I didn't get into that dance showcase.

It also didn’t help that none of my high school friends were here. So i had to figure things out myself.

1st year was the hardest. 2nd year became easier, going into 3rd year and then 4th became easier.

By second year, I knew I loved theatre, and wanted to continue, as I written and performed a show about my life, which was awesome. Third year, I ended up writing two one woman shows, one paid and one now. So, yes I was really enjoying theatre, but at the back of my mind, dance was trying to push it’s way to the fore front. I did incorporate it in my shows, as a way of storytelling, but I was still suppressing it at the expense of grades and anxiety.

Nearing my undergrad, I knew something didn’t feel right. I knew I had to return to dance avidly, and so here we are. 2020. I decided to re-hash and re-discovery dance all over again, from scratch.

I have completed my degree, to make my parents happy, and now it’s time to make me happy. After a month, I have been liberating my mind from school and studies, I’ve reassessed my goals once again.

That 18 year old with big dreams, has reminded me that I’m never too old to dream. However, now that I am older, I am equipped with more tools and more experiences, which should help me strongly achieve my goals, which are once again: 


Number one: Train and study to become a professional dancer

Number two: Save money for an apartment.

So, Im halfway there. Maybe I wasn't ready then. But I'm ready now.