Reflective Essay Sample: Why Do I Dance

No one truly can know why a certain activity or idea seems to appeal to them at first. Makes them feel that it is the one thing they are sure they are meant to do. It’s an odd thing, isn’t it? Feeling drawn to something. You could have never seen or experienced this thing but the moment you do you long to try it. Be it. Do everything you can do to have it. It’s something like a soulmate. Premade for you, or perhaps you were premade for it. But why? Biology? Being forced to do it as a child? There’s an infinite number of reasons why someone may feel they were made to do something. The universe works in mysterious ways. Was it planned? Maybe. But that idea takes the fun out of being spontaneous or adventurous. Maybe you always knew but your brain couldn’t tell you until you saw it. The unknown is what makes it exciting. If I had been told I was going to be a dancer when I was younger that would have taken the fun out of discovering it for myself. That sense of adventure and discovery is what makes it fun. If it wasn't fun, no one would take the time to learn and explore. Not only about what you're interested in but learning about yourself and your connection to the world. What does the world want for you, and what do you want from it? Once you figure that out you have found ‘your thing.’ The next step is finding out why you do or continue to do it. But understand that knowing why you do something is different from knowing why you started. 

‘Your thing’ could be anything, art, music, biking, or heaven forbid running. It could also be multiple things, it is unique to each person.  But once you have found that you will know that you have found it. It is something akin to love at first sight, or a soulmate as *previously mentioned*,  just knowing. And then you can start working on it, improving, and striving to get better.* (more here, smoother transition) Compare yourself to a little kid who has recently watched a movie and is determined to learn to do one of the stunts he saw.* (smoother transition) His motivation may be something as simple as ‘it looked cool and I wanted to try it,’ but once you find your reason it can be so much deeper than that. It could be that you are doing it for someone else or because it makes you feel free.

We all have our thing and mine happens to be dancing. You may argue that it should be art or music because I have been doing those longer and have put countless hours of work into them. But, no. I believe that my soulmate if you will, is dancing. I do not believe that I was made to dance, my body breaks down often and I have lots of problems that arise as a result of dancing. But I continue to dance regardless. I have done ballroom dancing, ballet, and color guard. Ballet was a short-lived experience that my parents made me try back when I was about 6. When I started ballroom dancing was when I really started to love competitive dancing. I remember going to watch one of my friends dance in a ballroom competition and wanting to do what they were doing so badly, that memory is engraved in my brain, it's what truly started everything. This started in 8th grade and has been on and off since then. I recently had to stop ballroom dancing due to health reasons, although I still love it. Another friend introduced me to color guard my freshman year, she told me to attend a clinic, and that day I knew that was something I needed to do. That first season was one of the best experiences of my life. I met so many cool people and learned so much. Our show that year was based on the movie Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory. It was such a fun show and I loved every second of it. Even though that season was cut short and we never got to go to a state competition, I still cherish it deeply. Since then I've spun for 3 years and I’m just starting my fifth season now.

When I first started dancing there was a lot I lacked, mostly technical things. Ballroom and color guard have very different styles and don't work together very well. I started developing habits that caused problems and were difficult to break and it was very disheartening but I worked hard. I still encounter problems caused by the two techniques clashing and I need to correct them regularly. I have grown so much and continue to improve every day. Not only have I grown in skill but in muscle. While ballroom can strengthen your legs and back, color guard works everything including some muscles I didn't know existed. I feel more physically powerful and continue to grow stronger as I work and spin. The confidence this brings is part of what keeps me dancing. But in the end that is not the reason I dance, it is simply a reason I continue to dance. I believe that the true reason I dance is the freedom of it. The feeling of flying through the air with powerful leaps and expressing yourself through movement. Using dance to connect with other people, music, the world, and most importantly myself. There is so much power in this connection and it keeps me going. Through thick and thin, pain and struggle, my need for this connection and freedom outweigh the bad. I will admit, some days I do not want to get out of bed, and dancing is the last thing I want to do right then, but pushing myself through that and allowing myself to dance and have fun with it can help make a gloomy day bright. Even if it is just random and ridiculous movement to music it can improve my mood so much. Just like how food can improve a hungry person’s mood, dance can improve mine.

Even though dance looks like it is all practice, practice, practice, it is very important to have fun and make it your own. If you can’t have fun then what is the point of dancing? Well, there are plenty of other reasons to keep dancing even if you can’t have fun but without it, dance seems so bleak and forced. It is the fun moments amidst the work that makes me show up to practices, goofing off with my guard team, rolling on the floor laughing when someone messes up a toss and it hits a basketball hoop. These little things make the boring repetition of work worth it.

Despite how much I love to dance it can get very frustrating. Things like injuries and not understanding how to do a step can be very hard to deal with and get over. But just as it was said in Spider-man: Into the Spider-Verse, you always need to get back up. A sign of a good dancer is that ability to bounce back and try again. Every. Time. It’s such an inspiring thing to see this in other dancers, it helps me believe that I can do that too. And I do. Recently I have come back from shin splints in both legs, the shin splint in my left leg coming back two weeks later, and a period of just being in constant, tear-inducing pain for about a week. I woke up every day in a smaller amount of pain than the night before but as the day went on it got worse to the point it was debilitating and I had to lie down. It was an awful week and I will admit, it was very hard to come back and dance, the fear of it happening again was very real. But I came back and I am so glad I did. I am still healing from the shin splint in my left leg and lots of mental pains, but I know that I will be able to come back from it. I will do my best to always come back. Always ready to learn when I return.

Dance has taught me patience, resilience, skill, and how to work hard. It taught me that I can do hard things if I work for them. It taught me that my body is capable of more than I thought before starting dance. The first time I achieved my right splits in my first season of the guard was absolutely thrilling, and then two years later I can now do both splits and many more things. Dance conditioned me to be more flexible and adaptable. And I am so grateful that it has. Everything I have learned in the past five years has benefited me in many ways, not only in the world of dance but in the real world as well. I learned to problem solve and work with other people. And as I am flag captain for color guard this season I am also learning to lead and teach. Along with that, I am writing my own color guard show for solo and ensemble shows this spring and it will be a great opportunity to learn to write choreography and work with a small team.

In the end, dance has been the best and worst thing for me, teaching me great things while breaking me down, testing my limits. Through thick and thin I am determined to continue to dance. Dancing is freedom, expression, hard work, having fun, and connecting with the world around you and yourself. It is so important to me and it helped me find a real family, through color guard, band, and ballroom. This family keeps me grounded and supported. And now I dance because it helps me connect with myself, helps me express myself, teaches me good life lessons, and brings me closer to my friends and family. It is my soulmate.