For the past few years, it seems that all I was looking forward to in the future was graduation and my last high school dance recital. Now these moments are within reach and it’s truly bittersweet.

As most of you may know, I am a dancer. I have been training since the age of two, and honestly I cannot imagine what life would be like without dance. I can remember the nights I would spend at my first dance studio, my first dance teachers, and my first scolding to learn how to do my bun myself.

I even remember my first dance recital. The mint green tutu with pink fluorescent flowers and sequins upon sequins. More specifically, I recall the balloon I got to hold during the finale walking across stage with my older sister holding my hand.

And now I am preparing for my last recital and graduation from high school, and my emotions were kept at bay until right now.

During the 17 years of my adolescence I have worked endless days and nights at various studios trying to maximize my dancing to the most it can be. I owe everything I have to dance. It taught me discipline, respect, poise and focus. It taught me that hard work pays off, but also that sometimes you may not receive the recognition you deserve. I am the individual I am today because of the influence dance has had on my life.

I would come home and stay up much past midnight finishing homework that I didn’t get the chance to do before. The same thought comes over and over again…stay focused…you have to get good grades to get into college…you have to become a better dancer.

All of those endless nights are finally coming to an end.

So now that the two most pivotal points in my life are happening in a little over a week, it seems normal to say that it feels like the end. But I have to remind myself that this is not the END…these events are the beginning of something NEW and EXCITING. We all anxiously count down how many days we have left until the last day of school, but really we are just ready to reach the new chapter. My new chapter will be beautiful because I am lucky enough to be blessed with the art of dance.

“Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.” – Winston Churchill