I Love Dancing

Today I was going through the boxes that I keep stashed under my bed and I found this:

I created this design for a college class in 1985. (I bet you didn't know I went to college right after high-school, did you? I don't talk about it much because I pretty much just goofed off and got incredibly bad grades until I dropped out.) Anyway, I remember thinking this would be an awesome T-shirt design, back in the day. In fact, I still think it's pretty cool, and I still think it would make a nice T-shirt design. But what it really made me remember is that I really loved dancing! (You wouldn't think, to see me now, that I had ever been a dancer either, would you? But I was. A really good dancer.) 

my very first recital with Royal's School of Dance
I don't remember the name of the dance

Beginning Ballet was the very first class I took from LeAnn (I also started in a combination tap-jazz class). And I was in love with my marvelous teacher and with dancing right from the start. I remember talking the ears off of my friends at school the next day, showing them how you had to stand turned-out, pulled-up, and with a straight back. (I also remember one of them snottily telling me that my back was not straight, and I thought I'd show her; just wait. And if she'd cared as much as I did, I really would have showed her! ;-))

my first tap-dance in one of LeAnn's recitals
"Booglie-Wooglie"

I advanced through LeAnn's classes pretty quickly—by the time I was eleven I had earned my pointe shoes, and by the time I was fourteen I was in all of her most advanced classes. When I was in eighth and ninth grades I took all my dance shoes and my music to school so I could practice through my lunch period every day. Before I moved on to college I was taking 1½ hours to 3 hours of classes from LeAnn each night, and I worked for her as the pianist for every ballet class that I wasn't taking myself. I grew up in the dance studio, staying there for four or five hours Mondays through Fridays; I lived and breathed it.

my second recital
I was chosen to be in a group of four for this dance,
in addition to the waltz that my entire class did this year.
I love this costume.

I loved everything about dance—especially ballet (well, maybe not the blisters on my feet from my pointe shoes). I loved the studio and I had such respect and admiration for LeAnn. I loved pushing myself to jump higher, stretch farther, and grow stronger. I loved learning to act the part of the dance (happy, sad, etc.). My leotards and tights were my favorite clothes. I loved pulling my hair back and doing my makeup for my date with dance every night. I even appreciated the tired, achy feeling in my body the next day, and I loved working that feeling away in my class that night. I loved the brainwork it required of me. I loved the music and I loved making my body move with the music.  I adored the thrill of being on stage, in front of an audience. It was so exciting, and so alive!
I really. loved. dancing.

Kitri's solo from Don Quixote; I was seventeen

probably my favorite dance I ever did,
"You're Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile"
with LeAnn (left) and my sister, Melanie (center)
So much fun!

When I pulled out that drawing today, and really examined it, all those feelings came right back. And you know what? I still love dancing. How I would love to take ballet classes! I don't ever need to be on a stage again, but I would love to be moving and feeling that way.