The Day I Soared

Walking into the high school where my dance competition was located I was just a ball of nerves. For two main reasons. 1st it was a brand new competition for my dance studio. It was a sister competition to a different competition, Beyond The Stars. This new one was called Breakout. The 2nd reason was because I was going to be the only person from my whole dance studio there. The only people there that would get to support me was my mom, my godmother, my dance teacher and her kid Will. The reason no one else came was the dance competition had a live video going so if people wanted to watch it they could just go to the website. Instead of driving there. It was nice knowing that people were supporting me just not next to me. But little did I know that would actually help me. The high school looked like a normal high school just with a lot more sparkles and dancers running all over the place. And then of course the occasional crying baby.

But walking into the girls dressing room was a little disorienting. It was the high school's main gym. And it was huge. It was about two of my middle school's gym. But the disorienting part wasn’t how big the gym was, it was all the smells and sights. All the dancers and the sparkles and the feathers and the fringe and then of course the clashing smells of deodorant and perfume. But I had to focus on me and my one dance that day. I picked a spot to the left of the door right next to the bleachers. As I'm setting everything up in my duffel bag my dance teacher shows up. “Let's do this super star,” she says to me. It makes me smile. She always has a way of making all the nerves just leave your body. It was quite impressive. Once I'm done setting up my makeup and hair supplies and getting my costume up on my rack that came with the huge duffel bag. I needed to change into my costume. Because I had 5 dances and 5 dance costumes I could make almost a little hideout to get changed behind. Every time I put on that costume I felt weightless. Maybe it was the tan tone to it or the pretty flowers on it that made me feel like I was in a meadow and on top of that it was my favorite costume of all 5 of mine maybe it was because it was the costume I got to pick out or because it was my first solo..

Practicing in the dressing room was next to impossible. There was almost always someone walking in your way or a garbage can that you didn’t see. Or my personal favorite, the rogue baby that everyone has to stop what they're doing to make sure it doesn’t get his/her hands on hairspray or a flat iron. But it was my life and it made me happy. But no matter how happy you are, nothing will give you more butterflies than the backstage manager coming into the dressing room saying that they need your number backstage. Or it's 2 more dances than you. And that’s what happened. The backstage manager came in and yelled through the mega phone “Number 425 we need you backstage.”

That’s me. They called my number. I thought to myself. I grabbed my phone and told my mom to text my dance group chat to tell everyone that I would be on in about 2 or 3 numbers. While backstage I went through my dance over and over in my head. I was in my head and last time i was in my head it didn’t go so well. But luckily my dance teacher could see that I was in my head so she asked, “ Ava, what is one award you want to get more than anything and why.” I had to think about that. A minute later I responded with, “ Any awards really, like yeah it would be cool to get platinum and 1st and a special judges award but if I don’t get that it’s not like I'm going to cry over it. Like I got what I deserved and getting anything is awesome.” She paused not expecting me to say that. “Good answer, now you're on next so go in the back wing to walk on.” And I did as I was told.

“Up next number 425 So Much More Than This” The announcer said with his over dramatic voice to make everyone smile and shake off the nerves. I walked on stage with the biggest smile ever. I knew I would do good today. I knew I would do my best. As I sat in my starting pose I took a deep breath and my music started. I knew the dance so well I was almost on auto-pilot. The only parts I really concentrated on were my turns. Well 1 turn in particular. It was my quad coupe turn. I had only nailed that turn one other time in practice at my dance studio. “It’s coming up you got this, just hold your core and you got it.” I thought to myself. 1, 2, 3, 4 turns! I had done it. Coming out of that turn I had the biggest smile ever. And the whole crowd cheered. I was in awe for the rest of my performance. I didn’t even remember doing any other part of my dance except for that part. When I walked off stage I felt the biggest hug ever. It was from my dance teacher. She was so proud of me she was crying. While walking out to the front I kept getting high fived and people kept saying, “Good Job” or “You did great”. It felt amazing. When I walked out to the backdrop near the entrance to the audience. I met up with my mom and godmother. And they were even crying. And just from that I knew I had done a good job.

2 hours passed and it was finally time for awards. Now awards when you're with your team is really fun. But awards by yourself not so much. When you're with your team you sing on the top of your lungs and you jump around and laugh until the announcer says, “ OK chill out everyone, no one needs to break an arm today.” But being there by yourself you kind of felt like a misfit. But i wasn’t going to have that get in the way i was going to just focus on the awards.

Even though my friends weren’t really there it felt like they were because I had a million and one text messages from my friends saying they watched my performance and it was amazing and I deserve to win everything. I texted them until the announcer started handing out awards. First was the special judges awards. I was kinda hoping I would get one but I didn't. But it was entertaining when two dances had the same name but neither team could remember their number, so everyone was running around like chickens trying to figure out who got the award. Next award was what you got in your category. Now I had to wait for about 100 or so dances to be called before mine . But when they did call my number the wait was worth it. “ Number 425 So Much More Than This got platinum and 1st in the category” I sat for a second thinking really did I just get 1st did they make a mistake. But no they did not make a mistake, when I got up to get my award I got a medal saying platinum and a plaque saying 1st in the category. I was stunned. When I sat back down I took a picture of my awards and sent them to all my dance friends. Everyone was so proud of me and saying that they were cheering in their house. One of them even sent me a video of her whole family cheering for me.

Next was overalls. I did not think I was going to place because there were so many good dances overall. But I still paid attention because you never know what could happen. “ 10th place goes to ...9th place goes to...8th place goes to... 7th place goes to… and 6th place goes to number 425 So Much More Than This.” I was in shock again. I did not think that would happen. But I got up and got my award and took a bow. The Last awards of that awards ceremony were the outstanding awards. These awards are more special than anything else. These awards mean that there was something even more special in your routine that no one else had.

In my mind I was telling myself no way are you going to get that out of every solo today. And there were almost 100 solos. You are proudly that least likely to get that award. But again I still listen because you never know what could happen. So they call out the most outstanding costume, purpose, theme, smile, and prop. Now it was the last award the one everyone wanted. The outstanding choreography award. Now that award meant that you did an amazing job performing and your dance teacher did an awesome job giving you the choreography. But you really sold it. Now I was only half listening because there was one solo I saw that was just outstanding and I thought she really deserved it. But to my surprise again. The announcer exclaimed , “Now the outstanding choreography award goes to number 425 So Much More Than This” The team sitting next to me that I didn't even know who they were started to cheer for me. Actually everyone started to cheer. It was the award they all wanted. But I got it. I got up and got my award, bowed and went back to where I was sitting. And just like that the greatest award ceremony I ever had, was over. But Even though it was over, my friends and I talked about it for months. As much as it was fun there was a serious part to it because It taught me something. All those times I doubted myself had paid off. Because me doubting myself made me push myself and it made me work even harder. And then I got all those cool awards. So out of all those times I doubt myself I just need to remember that me doubting myself is just my body pushing me to do better.