After three minutes of non-stop movement and fluidity, I stare at my reflection and find a face that did not belong to me at the beginning of this performance. Staring back at me is a face covered with sweat, tears, and a premonition of all my past and future aspirations. I look down and feel the swelling in my left wrist and notice the bruises and feel the throbbing pain.

I have a belief that dance is one of the world’s most underrated sports. I am not going to bore you with a long list of comparisons of how dance is just as hard as another mainstream sport, but I once have heard that “If dance was any easier it would be called football.”
I began my dance career at age three because it was all that I ever knew. My older sister and all of my older cousins were apart of the art before I was even born. As time went on I realized that dance meant more to me than just another after school activity. The control, discipline, long hours of training, and athleticism not only became my favorite activity, but it also became my addiction.

Like any addiction, there is a downfall at your peak involvement. For me it came during one of the many grueling, daily practices. Like most practices the focus was on the intensity, athleticism, and power of the movements. I became so focused on achieving perfection that I lost control, fell and broke my wrist. The initial pain was something that I have never experienced. After the initial shock wore off and I had a new gray cast in place, the reality hit that I could potentially miss our upcoming competition and let down my teammates, I came to the realization that I may have even had the wrong perception of dance before this incident. Obtaining an injury, like I had, reinforced that there is just as much agility, discipline, commitment, and perfection in dance as there is in any team sport. Until this time I knew dance was an art, but I had no idea it had the elements of a challenging sport. In fact it could be argued that it may even be more challenging then other sports because of the variety of styles one must adapt to in order to be considered well rounded. Not only must the dancer learn ballet, tap, jazz, hip-hop, lyrical etc., but also they must keep up with the ever-changing criteria that is popular at the time period.
Just like any other sport a player must put the interest of the team before themselves. With caution I was able to compete in that competition. It was unlike any other time I had competed previously because now I contained a new and empowering mindset of what this “art” truly was. It did not matter that my wrist was still throbbing and I had tears in my eyes I knew that I was where I belonged, and I would continue to work towards my aspirations in this roller coaster of a sport.