I so wanted to be a dancer when I was little.
I believed I would be a dancer despite the fact I didn’t have anywhere to take lessons. I would use our big yard as my place to practice... as the place I could sing and dance and do gymnastics, all with the belief that someone who was someone would drive by on our blacktop road and discover me.
A girl has to dream - and people - I knew how to dream big.
I think I would have been considered a contemporary dancer [if I actually had skill enough to know what I was doing], but I really wanted to learn ballet. I would walk around the house with my toes curled under, walking on the knuckles, in order to practice ballet like I was in pointe shoes.
Seriously.
And I’m not talking about a few steps. I would walk around. I would do leaps and jumps and land on the knuckles of my toes in an attempt to pretend I was en’ pointe. It looked so impossibly ridiculous that my family would have me do jumps and land like that when company was over... so, apparently, if I couldn’t be in ballet I would’ve been a shoe in for a side show at the circus.
You may say it was crazy... I call it determined. :)
And I have to admit, even though I can barely walk behind a walker these days, there is still something in me that can picture myself on stage. I was watching the season finale of So You Think You Can Dance tonight [yay! Lauren won!] and I realized that some crazy remnant of my childhood still exists deep inside of me that believes I can do what they can do.
Let me clear this up. I’m not delusional. I know I can’t.
But that part of me that knew how to dream big still knows how to imagine.
When the Shan Clan was here a few weeks ago, I got to see real little dancers in action [you can see a video I previously posted of Nie Nie performing on stage last Christmas]. They have an actual dance studio in their home with wood floors and mirror-lined walls and a ballet bar... a room where they practice and create and are shaping their dreams into a reality. And you guys, they are amazing.
I didn’t have the space for them to leap here in the condo, but in a moment of energy [otherwise known as a sugar rush from the volcano cake] my little Yodi danced for me.
First, the pose...
then, a little flair...
and a quick little leap...
before the dramatic pause.
And I’ll leave you with the sweetest of reminders,
so you all remember to dream a few dreams of your own this weekend...
I can’t wait so see what she does next...