Alright #LookingForAlaskaContest

1

Walking with my mom I stepped foot into my very first dance class. I see all the girls in their pink leotards and buns. I can barely contain my energy as I run into the room. The mirror, the barre's, it was all just like I imagined.

My mommy whispers her love for me and leaves. The teacher lines us up by the barre's. She makes us hold onto the wood barre and bend. I smile.

I left class that day telling my mom all about ballet and all the other styles of dancing, my teacher told us about.

"I'm going to learn all kinds of dancing and be the greatest dancer in the world!" I shout.

My mom chuckles.

"Alright."

........

For the next ten years I took classes at the dance studio. I learned ballet, hiphop, salsa, contemporary, and jazz. I loved it all.

Sitting in my room one day I could hear my parents arguing about money again.

"She has to quit. We can't afford it!" My dad
shouts.

I put on my headphones.

Later that night I announced that I wanted to quit dancing. My dad nods.

My mom just looks at me with a blank face.
"Alright."

........

I tried to fill the hole that quitting dance left in me.
I joined my school's academic decathlon. We won. However, I hated it. Then there was basketball, it cost less than dancing. We won the championships.
It was boring. I asked my aunt whose a chef to teach me how to cook. It was nice but not a career for me. I even entered a poem into a contest. I won and felt nothing.

I was looking for my next passion when I came across some old photos. I was dancing. I closed my eyes, remembering how the world would slow down when I would pirouette. How I would show off my swag in hip hop. The pain in my toes from jazz. The sweat dripping down my back from contracting in contemporary. The twirl of my hips in salsa. Even my teachers yelling at me until I got it right.

That night at dinner I announce that I want to dance again.

My dad starts to disagree but my mom shushes him.

"Alright." She says giving me a wink.

........

"Imani Cruz for best female dancer!"

I receive my award.

"I want to thank all the people who supported me on this journey. As a African American-Latina woman it has been a long road. I want you to know that your first dream is an important one. Your dream may change, shrink, or grow. However, your first dream sparks the magic of belief in oneself. We should try to hold onto that feeling for as long as we can. Thank you."

I make it back to my seat and smile at my parents. I lean over to my mom.

"I want to start my own dance studio." I whisper.

With a tight hug she whispers back.

"Alright."