I don't just dance. I am a DANCER.

One of my earliest memories is asking my mom to put me in dance lessons. It could be that I made this memory up, I have no idea. Regardless, it's one of my earliest. My mom says that when I was learning to walk, I would run from object to object on my toes. I knew even before I understood anything else that I was born to dance.

I was so little when I first started dance that I don't even really remember my first class. I know I took ballet and tap, but I did not enjoy tap. So, I stuck with ballet.

After my first year, I moved to C&C Ballet, where I met Liesl. She was my ballet teacher for most of my dance career as a ballerina and I loved her. She made dance so fun. My mom loved her too. We loved her so much, in fact, that when she moved studios, we followed her.

That's when I started dancing with American Dance Academy. And they wanted to me to branch out and try something besides ballet. I wanted to try tap again, but my mom

remembered how much I did not enjoy it before. She suggested I try Irish step-dancing, since that was similar to tap. I agreed and that year, I took both ballet and Irish. I loved both and both my teachers. It turned out that my teacher for Irish was Liesl's sister Leia.

As the year came to a close and we started looking at dance for the next year, I had to make some choices. If I stayed with ballet, I'd be starting point and with Irish, that meant I'd be at the studio a LOT. Also, taking both Irish and ballet wasn't in our family budget. So, I had to choose one. I don't remember why I chose Irish. I liked it, but I absolutely loved ballet. I chose Irish, though.

It was the best decision I have ever made in my life.

Shortly after this, Leia invited me to be a part of an all-Irish group, An Dragon Celtic. I joined and haven't been able to leave. Since then, dance has become more than just something I do. It has become a part of who I am. I cannot imagine my life without dance and I can't imagine dance without An Dragon Celtic.

I love dance. I love my dance class. Every single girl. I love my dance teachers--Liesl and Leia and Mindie. I love everything about dance. I say this a lot, and I talk about it a lot. There's a reason. It means more to me than almost anything else in my life. I would not be the girl I am today if I didn't have dance.

If I wasn't a dancer, who would I be?