Life as I know it

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

I'm not sure if any of you know, but I am quite the cheerleader. It all started in dance when I was only three years old. I loved dance class, and my passion for it grew over the years, and when I was 6 years old I was allowed to be on the Dance Magic's Mini team. The Dance Magic Performing Arts Team was the competitive team from my dance studio, which was called Dance Factory. Anyway, at the age of six I began performing in competitions in Phoenix, Las Vegas, Anaheim, and lots of other places. I even performed at Disneyland a few times. I did every type imaginable: jazz, tap, ballet, pointe, acro, modern, and lyrical. By the time I was 13, I was on Dance Magic's Senior Team, the elite team of the studio. My teammates were years older than me, but this gave me an opportunity to grow and mature more since I was in an older environment. I even began to teach classes at the studio. Dance was my life for so long, until my sophomore year in high school…

My freshman year, I tried out for my high school's cheerleading squad, which was much more of a dance team/pom squad. I made varsity my freshman year, and I had a blast cheering at pep rallies, football games, and other sporting events. I loved performing and I loved being able to support my school while doing so. During this time, I still danced. No less than I used to. It was stressful and time consuming doing both, but I managed.

During my sophomore year, it all started to crumble. The stress from managing dance, cheer, honors classes and a social life began to take its toll on me. One night, I was in my pointe class rehearsing a dance, when I did a ballet move en pointe and I felt a pop in both of my lower ankles. It was very painful, but there's one rule in dance, and that's never stop performing for any reason what so ever. So I continued dancing, and when I got home I just iced them… ignoring them. After a few days I realized that I had a lump the size of my ankle bone under my ankle bone, making it look like I had two. I showed my mom and we made a doctors appointment.

My doctor told me I had developed tendonitis and collapsed my arches, and dancing would be a bad idea. So the number of classes I was taking slowly decreased until I decided to give it all up, but I decided to keep cheering. Cheering was easier for me because I was able to wear my hard arch supports in my tennis shoes.

I cheered until the end of my Junior year, when I was captain. I started to gain an interest in collegiate level cheerleading, which consisted of intense tumbling and partner stunts. There were no faculties in my city that would teach this kind of skills, so I traveled to Lake Havasu and Las Vegas weekly, which were both a few hours away. I slowly but surly began to master my standing back tucks and cupies and heal stretches, and in April I tried out for the University of Arizona's Cheerleading team. The squad takes 15 girls and 15 guys, and I was one of nearly 50 girls trying out. I made it past first cuts and second cuts, and final cuts there were only 19 girls left, and I was one of them. All my tumbling stuck and my stunts were good, except one where I didn't make my full down.

I was cut.
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It sucked, but it was a learning experience. I am planning on trying out again in April. Im not giving up that easily.

As of now, I am on an Open Co-Ed All Star Cheer Squad called Desert Cheer Athletix. We are a new team, with a lot of talent and with high hopes to go to Worlds. It is so much fun and it's nice to have something that can take your mind off of stressful classes for a few hours. Anyone else going to Worlds?! If you are come say HI!

Back to homework…
Defy Gravity and Keep Smiling,
Dawn

Posted by UADawn at 1:05 PM

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