My name is Marisa. I am 17 years old and have been a dancer since age two. It is what I consider to define me and my life outside of school and work. I have good days and bad, and I use these emotions to drive how i dance that day. I think of a situation that impacted me emotionally and I leave that feeling on the floor when I'm done with class.
I came across a saying "to watch us dance is to hear our hearts speak" this is a Hopi Indian saying. I love this quote because to dancers you aren't as good of a dancer until you can dance with your heart. A dancer can have the best turns and the highest leaps, but without emotion they are boring. I didn't learn this until about four years ago. I had always thought that the girl with the most turns was the most beautiful. Don't get me wrong they are gorgeous, but if their faces are blank and there is no heart in it, then it isn't as good as it ought to be. My teacher Kayla is a student at point park that takes dance classes there. My class went on a "field trip" to see a show she was in, and it was a terrific performance by all the dancers. What we all saw however was that there wasn't as many crazy tricks as we expected. Every girl in my dance class could perform at least 70 percent of what was done on the point park stage. What we needed to work on however was how we performed it. That is truly what makes a good dancer. To perform for yourself and not for others, that is how the best dancer will come out if you believe that dance is what you really love to do.
"To watch us dance is to hear our hearts speak" Hopi Indian saying
