Day thirty-one - I love...The Ballerina Project

I have loved dance since I was tiny.

I first started dancing when I was three. Hula. :) My mother and I both took Hula lessons.

I always loved dancing on stage...unless, of course, it was a song I hated and then I stood with my arms crossed stubbornly and refused to dance. shaking my head at my teacher who tried to get me to perfome "no. I don't LIKE this song!"

That only happened once.

When I was 8 I started taking ballet. I didn't like some of the disciplines, of course, I wanted to Pirouette and leap across the stage, I wanted to be lifted high into the air by my own personal Cavalier...but discipline is part of what makes a beautiful dancer, and so I practiced my positions and I listened carefully when my Ballet Mistress would instruct us through each move.

I wanted to be the perfect ballerina.

In junior high and high school I opted for dance in place of regular P.E. - I learned a little bit of jazz, and some modern dance. I collaborated with my classmates to choreograph our routines to be performed for recitals, school pep rally...and every time I stepped on stage I felt completely at home. 

we moved a few times before I graduated high school...dance was not offered in the small towns we moved to...dancing kind of slipped away from me over the years and turned into...holding my two toddler nieces in my arms while dancing to "Red, Red Wine" - holding my baby boy in my arms and dancing in the living room while Bob Marley sang from my radio - dancing barefoot under the stars at Iroquois Park while Victor Wooten played on stage...

and while it's still dancing...god do I miss the stage sometimes.

and I absolutely LOVE this...The Ballerina Project. because when I see these photos, my heart swoons and in my head I see myself dancing.