Discovering The Things I Love

I am a natural dancer.  
My love for movement started when I was very young.  My parents say I could dance before I could walk.  I would start bouncing the minute I would hear music.  I took my first dance lesson at the age of 2 and a half, it was ballet. I still have the teddy bear prop from my first ballet dance recital.  When I watched the video of this recital I noticed how all of the other girls followed my lead even though I was the youngest in the dance.  From this moment on I was hooked on dance. As the years progressed I added the number of dance classes I took along with expanding my dancing repertoire to include jazz, ballet, hip-hop, modern, broadway, tap and recently Bikram Yoga.

I learned at a young age the meaning of the saying, “When one door closes another one opens.”  I was six years old and had just finished dancing in my second tap and ballet recital when my teacher told me that she was closing her studio and moving to Las Vegas.  This made me sad, but it wasn’t long after that I found a new dance teacher, Terry Brock.  Now fourteen years later, I realize how lucky I was to have Terry Brock as a dance teacher, friend, and mentor. I admire Terry not only for her artistic abilities and professional resume but also for who she is as a person.  She has influenced my appreciation for tap, jazz and Broadway dance styles as well as my personal values and beliefs.  It was during my time taking lessons from Terry that I first began to explore including dance as a part of my career. 

I have known for a long time that I wanted to pursue a career in dance, but it has become quite clear to me that the opportunities in dance are limited and the window of opportunity to perform on stage is very short.  I, therefore, realize that to get the most out of my education, I need to combine dance with another, longer lasting profession. I looked into general physical therapy, but I was not satisfied. I wanted something more specific and that is when I found Special Education and Movement Therapy. 

I was first introduced to Special Education when I attended Rosemont Middle School. I was a teachers aide for our school's special education self-contained classroom. In middle school I never thought that I would want to become a teacher, but now, I know this is exactly what I want to do. 

I am going to positively change the lives of others.

peace