Dance Colors Our Life and Makes It Bright Again

wanna sleep all day
So maybe I can just escape
The looming obstacles I that lie in front of me.
But sometimes I numb it all
With too many drugs and alcohol;
But when I wake up spinning it's obstacles I see.

The studio is empty today except for me. Today is the one day a week that we don't have class and I'm using it to run through my dance by myself.

My favorite dances to perform are the ones that tell a vivid story. I only get about 2 and a half minutes to tell it and that's where I strive. I might me really good at ballet, but Lyrical has always been my favorite. I've always thought it was the prettiest style of dance. The fluid movements and large amount of passion featured in every dance would constantly drive me to tears. And sometimes if the dancer's passionate enough, sometimes I still cry.

My favorite dance I get to perform for the recital is called 'Where I'm Gonna Be." It's about a girl trapped inside herself. She goes through life letting everyone choose things for her. What she wears, what college she goes to, what music she likes, everything. So she ends up waking up and realizing that this isn't how she wants her life to be. She cuts everyone out of her life and starts doing her own thing. After a while she realizes she has this dream. She wants to be on stage and preform for people. She has this so much talent that she never realized she had. So she sings to who ever will listen, in the park, on busy street corners and starts to work towards her dream.

I'm 25 years old without a purpose or a home,
Just singing songs I think could make this all worthwhile.
And it's killing me,
With every breath that leaves my tired lungs.
Well, I'd rather face my death than live a lie

I twirl and leap and roll across the stage putting every once of everything I have into this dance. Then the music stops and I stop with it.

"Hey." I snap. I turn around to see a girl about my age standing by the stereo. She wears a terrified look on her chilled face and she clutches the bag that hangs from her shoulders in her skinny hands. Her dirty blonde hair whips around her face as she frantically moves to turn the music back on.

I rub a hand down the back of my neck and walk over to her. With all the buttons on the stereo she can't figure out which one is play so she lets her hands drop to her sides defeated.

"Hey." I say, softer now. I hear her sigh and she slowly turns to face me. She looks up at me with a nervous expression and I realize that she's actually intimidated by me. I'm intimidating. I mentally scoff. I'm about as intimidating as a piece of candy.

"I didn't mean to turn off your music, I mean I did it, but I mean, I didn't know that-"

"It's alright! I promise, just relax!" I laughed as she took a deep breath and visibly settled. "Now why are you here?"

"I just moved here from Maine, I wanted join the competition team and I talked to the owner she said to come by to audition whenever I was ready or if I just wanted to check out the place. And I heard the music and the door was open so I just...."

I nodded slowly. The girl was petite. Almost a foot shorter than I am with short wavy hair. Freckles liter across her face and I see the slighted hint of dimples on her cheeks as she nervously purses her lips. "What's your name?"

"Kenadee."

"How old are you?"

She rubs a glove covered hand over her arm."I'm sixteen, I'm gonna be a junior at Manchester High School."

"Well Kenadee, I'm Dani, it's nice to meet you." I take her hand into mine and she shakes it firmly. She flashes me a smile as I release her hand and start towards the stereo behind her. "Would you like to watch my routine? I'd love some critique on it."

"Yea, sure!" She nods. She sits in before the mirror in the front of the room and watches as I press play and return to my starting pose. When the music starts I go through the whole dance beginning to end before walking back over to Kenadee. I lean over, putting my hands on my knees for support.

"So, whatcha think?" I ask out of breath. She shakes her head slowly and lifts herself off the dusty ground. She carefully brushes herself off and starts walking towards me.

"That was amazing. I've never seen someone dance like that before." The look in her hazel eyes is sincere and she smiles widely at me. "Really, it was."

"Thanks. Here, let me see your phone." She gently lays her phone in my hand and waits as I quickly punch my number into her phone, text myself and give it back. "Gabby usually has me audition people for comp team. So I'll text you when we start class again or whenever the next open studio is and you can audition then. We're on winter break right now."

"Oh, okay! Cool!"

I feel my phone vibrate in my hand and look to see a message from Chase saying he was here to pick me up. "Okay, so like I said I'll text you. Do you have a ride home?"

"Yea, I drove here. So I guess I'll be seeing you then!"

"Yea." I reach out for her hand which she takes not expecting me to pull her in for a hug. She returns the hug briefly before I let her go to retrieve my CD from the stereo.

"Oh, Kenadee!" I called before she could close the door. Her hair whipped around as she turned to me, surprised. "We have recital tomorrow night, I'll text you where and when it is later but you're welcome if you'd like."

"Okay thanks! I'll try to come!" And with that she's out the door.