Dancing Steps
Time Between Trains is a book written by Anthony Bukoski. It is unique because it is a book made up of an assortment of short stories. In the story, "It Had to Be You," Bukoski introduces us to an older couple who enjoys dancing. The character Ethel had some of the same experiences I did. As she is talking about her struggles when going through a dance routine, I was mentally going through one of my first combinations. In the beginning of the story, there is some dance terminology that made me remember when I first started dancing, which was the age of 5, and how much I have accomplished since then.
"Girls stop talking and form a circle!" announced Ms. Lynn. As 15 little girls dropped whatever they were doing and scurried to form some sort of shape close to a circle, Ms. Lynn handed us each a tambourine or a scarf. In a matter of seconds it sounded and looked like a playful battlefield. With the clanging from the instruments and the different colors gliding through the air, we danced around ourselves, holding our scarves up above our heads. This was one of my first experiences in a somewhat structured dance environment. I enjoyed it because it allowed me to be silly, but still have some control over what I was trying to do. After the dance session ended, my parents signed me up for a dance studio, Royal Dance. That is where I performed and practiced for the rest of my dancing career.
Royal Dance Studio was a great studio, but what influenced my choice to go there was because both of my cousins went there also. My oldest cousin Katie was an outstanding dancer and I looked up to her. Through out all of my classes, whenever things got rough or complicated, I always thought about my cousin and the determination that she had to succeed at whatever she was learning.
At my new studio all the dancers from each class would put on a performance to show the parents what their kids have been doing up to this point. This was kind of a halfway point because in June was the big show. That was when we got on all of our costumes and danced on a stage in front of a whole auditorium full of spectators. It was around Christmas time and a good foot of snow claimed the ground. That meant it was time to perform a show for our parents to show them what we had been practicing. At that time I was only taking one class that consisted of the combination tap, jazz, and ballet. The class was fun and interesting, but I still wanted to do more because I needed more of a challenge and because of the mere fact I loved the sport of dancing.
The following year I was taking two classes. This time it became a little more challenging. In each class we were learning different dances and different types of dancing. Dancing styles we mainly covered were tap, jazz, and ballet. Every once in a while we would work on a lyrical dance which is basically a sped up version of ballet. It became somewhat of a struggle to keep the dances apart from each other for a while. This is when I can relate to Ethel when she is trying to learn a new combination. Every week, we would add on a new part of the dance. One of the combinations we were asked to do took a total of three counts and there were about eight steps involved. This was a jazz routine and the music that is used is usually a really fast up beat tempo. The steps were double pirouette, ball change, drop, and z sit. At the time that little combination seemed almost impossible. The more I practiced it the easier it came. It eventually got to a point where I knew the dance and song so well that you could start playing the song at any part and I would just start dancing the right part to match the music. When Ethel finally learned the combination, she felt a sense of accomplishment. That is the same way I felt and the way I always do feel when I complete a whole dance routine flawless.
I was 15 years old when I joined my high school dance team. Instead of doing studio dance I devoted all of my time to high school dance line. Practices would be Monday through Friday, three hours after school. Sometimes on weekends we would have competitions against other schools and those would usually take all day. Being in dance line was just the challenge that I needed. It taught me so much discipline and gave me something to really work at that meant a lot to me. It took a lot hard work and time to put routines together. We had 50 girls on our fall line, and we had to make sure that all of us were hitting the same move at the exact time as everyone else. After we perfected all of our routine, we then would go and show it off. We would go and perform at football, basketball, and soccer games. Also, we would dance at all the pep rallies. Being on high school dance line was a fun experience for me because it stepped it up a lot from being in studio dance. Studio dance taught me a lot in the sense that it laid the foundation and basic skills that I needed to go on and become a successful dancer.
Reading Anthony Bukoski's story, "It Had to Be You," made me reconnect with some old memories about things that I really enjoyed in the past. I was able to connect with one of the characters and actually feel what she was going through. When Ethel had pressure to learn new moves and had the courage to perform in front of new people, I knew how she felt because I have had to go through that several times. By the time Ethel is older and more experienced, performing is something actually relaxing and awarding, the same as it is for me. Overall, this was a good story that affected me in the way that it brought back good times.
1060 words / 3.5 pages, double-spaced