A girl in a new town, no family trying to make friends and find something to do to comfort her soul. One day a flyer came in the schools Thursday Envelope, containing weekly announcements. One flyer really caught my attention, it said “KIA AHI HAWAII” Tahitian dance every Thursday 5:30 - 6:30. I really wanted to go because I have always wanted to dance since I was a little kid, the best part is it is free. My mom said she would take me, so we went on that first Thursday of open enrollment. The group was fairly new it was the group’s second open enrollment which meant the group was only around for one year. The first practice was really nerve wracking, all these things running through my mind, will they like me, will I be good enough? There were things running through my mind what if I suck. All the doubts that I could have possibly fathomed vanquished the moment I heard the drums beat of the drums. We began to dance and I remember I struggled on some moves at first, but I did not let that stop me. Whenever I had free time I would go home and practice those moves that I struggled with. It really takes a lot of determination at first because you have to figure out how to do the moves, then you have that pain after because Tahitian is a real workout and some serious cardio. …show more content…
Time management is something very important in life and
It was a warm morning, Leah was getting ready to see her new high school with her mom. She looked through the window and saw a young boy around her age wearing a red cap, cutting off weed and fixing up a place across from where she lives. The guy knew she was looking at him from across the window, so he looked up and gave a smile at her. Leah moved away from the window and got embarrassed. She then took another peek and saw that the guy left with his bicycle, she was wondering who he was. A few minutes later, Leah’s mother took her to the high school she will be attending to, she saw the high school and it was much different where she attended to in New York, it was like a type long house with only 3 big room, they only had 1st year, 2nd year, and 3rd year of high school. They put her 1st year of high school which is like freshman year again. Leah will be starting high school within 2 weeks. She was kind of excited but yet nervous about how people will act with her since she can’t speak much Spanish. The next day she saw the guy she looked at through the window again cleaning up the property from across her house, he saw her looking at him again and he waved hi to her, Leah hid quickly and turned red, she told herself “ he probably thinks I’m a weirdo or he probably thinks I’m stalking him”. She then wanted to say hi back
Practicing three times a week for three hours was rough for the first few weeks, considering I was a beginner, but I didn't let that intimidate me, and so I continued. Making new friends, learning more about my Mexican culture, and boosting my confidence - all of these were areas that I had struggled with, but little by little, dance helped me accomplish such positive effects. With all the dedication I had since elementary school, I learned all the routines for our performance that would occur on December 12th.
I clearly remember being woken up by Ma at five-thirty in the morning so I could take a shower and proceed to getting ready. Several hours later, after having my hair and makeup finished, and having put on the dress, we were ready to head out. I didn’t dare catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror until I was ready to leave, and I remember feeling something cold run swiftly down my spine as I stared into the reflection of a girl I could hardly recognize. Still astounded by that encounter, we walked to our local temple for a brief ceremony before heading to “La Hacienda”, where family and friends were already waiting for us. The moment I stepped into the vivid garden of the venue, the world around me came to an abrupt stop. I inhaled the fresh floral scent that completely filled my lungs, and what was left of my consciousness could only distinguish specks of silver and purple from the decorations. When I returned from the trance, I was welcomed by the clapping hands of our guests as the banda played “Las Mañanitas”. We steadily walked over to our table and after getting set up we made a toast and proceeded to having our meals. This was just the beginning of a very long day, as later on in the evening we would begin the dance, which was very special to me in many
The school year was finally over and summer time was here. During that summer I attended a five day mariachi conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The first day there, we were separated into three different classes, beginner, intermediate, and advanced. I was placed in the intermediate class. Throughout the second, third, and fourth days there I went to classes where I was taught new songs, songs that I had never have heard before.
It was a cold, rainy day. I could see most of the kids at the bus stop had winter coats and hats. The clouds were particularly low in the sky. After evading the numerous puddles in the road, I reached the bus stop and walked up to a group of friends. A girl in my class spotted me and asked, "Are you going to the dance tomorrow?"
I remember one time in fourth grade, there were going to be a special performance in school for the mothers, due to mother’s Day celebration. The teacher asked all us students to write something for our mother’s it could be a letter or a poem. I was so excited because I want it to do something special for my mom. I started to write this poem for my mom in which I expressed all my love to her. When I finished with it I gave it to my teacher. She loved it she was very happy with it that I was one of the students chosen to present the poem to my mom during the school performance. I was very nervous during the pre...
Fast forwarding to the summer of 2016, I took part in a two week dance program at New York University. At that point in my dance career, I had improved so much and dance had become my life.
We had spent weeks on learning many routines. I was in the team group dance, I had a solo, and I was in another group dance, but with the older kids. I pushed myself so hard. I was determined to not mess up, and do really well. If the routine got messed up, I felt as if it’d be my fault. Especially since I wasn’t as old as the other girls and guys. Soon enough, I had much bigger things to worry about. I was about to go on stage. I had a massive amount of butterflies in my tummy. “Breathe. You can do this Winter-Lee. Just feel the rhythm, and let go.” I got onto the stage and I lost myself into the dance, and became less worried about what people in the audience would think. After my solo dance, I got a standing ovation. I have never felt so out there, from who I thought I was. I cried tears of joy because I conquered my stage freight with an act of bravery and confidence. I was so ecstatic, I couldn’t wait until the group number. When it came to the group number, we did really well. We are were in sync not only with our bodies and minds, but with our soul as well. I am very thankful for my experiences in dance. I am not as shy as I once was. I think dancing changed me, and made a big impact on my life.
One Saturday morning, while other teens were probably sleeping in, I woke up early to get ready for my first day of Korean school. My mother had gracefully accepted my urge to learn Korean a few weeks before and enrolled me in a Korean school located at a nearby high school. As I arrived, I could feel the warm sunlight shining in my face while I saw other children who were definitely younger than me scurrying around and playing in the quad. My mom and I stepped into the office and met with the director. He was an older gentleman who looked experienced. They conversed in Korean, while I was questioning myself deciding if this was the right choice. Several minutes later they finished and my mom whispered in my ear, "I will pick you up at one when your first lesson ends." I waved and then director told me to go to room five. I did not know what to expect as I was finding the room, still deciding to back out at the last minute. This was what I wanted and I had to go on with it. For what seemed like a long time I found the room and gently opened it to see what was in store for my new skill.
Throughout this autobiography I want to go through everything in my life that has changed me because of a cultural influence. I will tell my journey through growing up and trying to get a grip on and understand my heritage and make it to present day where I experience culturally different individuals daily.
The Northern Territory is known for its culturally diverse population and some would say it is the ‘multicultural hub’ of Australia. With all of these cultures comes distinctive customs and traditions. Throughout history dance has been used to help people develop a sense of identity, the younger generations are also taught social patterns and values through the different dances. The significance of these traditional dances was to reinforce and celebrate cultural law and practices including the celebration of the passage from child to adulthood or spiritual worship. The predominantly Western culture in Australia often causes minority groups to struggle for recognition regarding their beliefs and traditions. This is parallel to the Australian dance industry, where many cultural dance groups feel they have to justify who they are and are often
Have you ever thought about the history of dance, or how long human life has known it? Dance has been here longer than we actually think. We can take dance back all the way to 600 BC to Now. Dance has made very big changes overtime. It went from doing it in honor for only the dead or religious situations to now just doing it for fun. The way or different moves have also changed over this big course in time. It ways and moves have changed, and the outfits used to perform these different types of dances. There has been clean and dirty dancing all along, some of things in those dances have stayed, others haven’t. Dance has been a very great thing and will stay being a great thing during human life because it expresses a lot. It expresses itself, and a person can express their feelings, in the different kind of moves. It does take time to get to know the moves but you can get through.
“Dance, the art of precise, expressive, and graceful human movement, traditionally, but not necessarily, performed in accord with musical accompaniment. Dancing developed as a natural expression of united feeling and action.”
Like any first experience we remember all the details of the event. I remember my first dance class at J in Jazz Dance Studio. I was under the instruction of Julie Pederson who was one of the young faces in my little town of Sierra Vista. I was thirteen and thought that the class was awesome. Now if you are under the impression that I was great the first time around you are wrong. I was the one goofy awkward kid who was there having fun. Julie thought that I would be gone by the end of three months because I couldn’t hack it. She was just glad that I was there having fun and being a good student. According to some experts, since I started after the age of ten I was not supposed to be any good. Just six months after starting, something somewhere happened to both me and my dance ability. I was put on the competition/performance team, and then I just kept excelling from there. Every year or two, I was put on a higher more difficult team.
Preparing for the final evening was as much fun as the event itself. We were a group of eighteen girls. Some, like I, had some background in Kathak while others were dancing in this style for the first time. The teachers worked hard with us over a period of twenty days. They encouraged the team and were patient with us as we fumbled with the steps. It was hard work as the steps of the dance were changed few times till we got the steps all the eighteen girls were comfortable with. We did not grudge the effort and looked forward to performing before the parents.