Danielle’s wanted to be a dancer her whole life. Ever since she was 2, dancing was the one thing that could always make her happy. But now that she’s getting older, and she needs to start deciding what she wants to do with her life. She now has to choose between dancing, and something that’s more stable and definite. She really doesn’t know what to do. With dancing, you make it, or you don’t; there’s no in between in dancing, which is why she doesn’t know if she should take the risk, or become something more reliable. Danielle knows that the one thing that she really wants is to be a dancer; it’s really obvious to her that it’s what she wants to do. Whenever she wants to get away from her problems (with her friends, family, school, or anything) she goes to dance, or practices her dances and she can completely forget about everything and be the happy person she really is. She knows it’s what she’s meant to be doing. But does she really want to waste her money for college, and get her hopes up, only to be told that she’s not good enough?

It’s one of the hardest industries to get in to. In order to make it, you have to really stick out and have something special about you, the so called “it factor.” Now Danielle has to face the truth, does she really believe in herself, and does she really want to take the risk of failing and being left with nothing? Or does she want to take the safe way, and spend her whole life wondering “what if?” What if she had followed her dream, taken the risk, and made it?

She’s usually very hopeful, but in this case she’s very indecisive. She’s one of the most dedicated people you will probably ever see. She puts in 110% every time. But 110% for her could seem like 75% to someone else. She doesn’t want to give up, but she doesn’t want to waste her time and money on something that she could end up having no future in. And how does she tell her parents that her life choice is something that could end up messing up her life completely, leaving her with nothing.

As she fills out college applications, she sees the space where she should write down her major, and she doesn’t know what to write. Her heart wants to write “Dance” but her mind wants to write something more rational. After thinking for a while, she just stops filling them out. Danielle makes it clear that she knows what she wants; she just doesn’t know if what she wants is what actually is best for her. The decision slowly tears her apart, and she really doesn’t know what to do.

Danielle is a bright girl, she could easily become a teacher, or a nurse if she wanted to. She gets all good grades in school, mostly A’s and B’s and she’s in some AP classes. She keeps her options open, and always tries to do well in school, just in case her plans fail. But being a nurse or a teacher is not what she really wants. She knows she won’t be happy is she’s forced to become one of those things.
“There’s nothing wrong with being a teacher or a nurse,” she says “But it’s just not what I want, it’s not me” She’s not sure of the right decision.
When she asks her many friends for advice on the situation, most of them say “Do what makes you truly happy.” Danielle agrees with her friends’ advice and respects their opinions, but she knows it’s a lot more complicated than just doing what makes her happy. What if she wastes all her money on dance in college, and she fails, and is left with no money, no job, and no house? Or what if she gets injured, and has to painfully throw away everything she’s worked so hard for? What would she do? Danielle has a lot to consider before making her decision.
Time is running out, and Danielle is dreading making a decision, but she knows she has to sooner or later. The night before she makes her decision, she goes to dance class as she would any other day, and she stretches and does warm up’s. Later in the class, after practicing one of her favorite dances, she grabs a drink of water as the teacher says “Danielle, come here.” She puts down the water bottle and goes to her teacher.
“Yes?” she says
“Did you watch yourself at all during that dance?” the teacher replies.
“Umm, no, not really. I was more concentrating on getting the ending steps right.” She answers.
“So you didn’t realize that you were uncontrollably smiling the whole time?” she says, laughing a little.
“I was? No. I didn’t notice, I guess.” Danielle says, almost confused.
“You looked like you were having so much fun. I actually felt like it was a joy to watch you. I mean, you’re always good, but this time it really looked like you were performing from your heart. It seemed like you really just were dancing to have a good time, and I want to see more of that from you, a lot more.” All Danielle could do was smile. Because right then, did she know what she wanted to do with her life. When she would go home, she knew what she would write on those college application papers. And she could write it, with confidence.