My name is Leah Parker and I am a 7th grader. People mostly think I am a regular person who watches TV and eat chips all day, but that is the exact opposite. I do dance 17 hours each week or more. Some people think I am crazy or they think my mom is making me but really it is my choice. I have been able to dance since I could walk. I would perform in front of my parents, especially at the dinner table. They would turn on the music and I would dance in front of them.

A week after I turned 3, I started to take ballet lessons at Connally’s Dance Workshop. When I turned nine, I auditioned for the company at that ballet studio. When I made it into the I was very happy because it was my all-time goal to make it for the company. My mom cried when I made  it. As I increased my membership, I got into more roles and more performances.

As I grown up to be older I have increased my hours of dance. I started out taking 1 hour of class a week to now as you know I am taking five classes, plus company. That’s about 17 hours a week of dance! Of course there is a little downside to it. I get really tired because of dance. I get home really late and don’t go to sleep until around 12 a.m. doing homework.

The reason why I like to dance is because I get to express myself while I am dancing. I don’t normally talk to other people that often so, it feels like I can lock myself away from the outside world and only worry about myself even though I get a lot of scars and blisters. Sometimes my blisters are so bad I bleed from them.

All of my dance friends are like family to me and we have a lot of memories to share. My dance friends are the ones that I most trust to keep all the secrets. I am very grateful that I have dance and my dance friends.

Some of the shows that we are doing this year is the Nutcracker, Festival, Kaleidoscope and more. The Festival is where a older dancer is a choreographer and makes up a dance, and picks her dancers. They go to another state, performs and tries to get a scholarship. A Kaleidoscope is where the whole company performs a show.

Overall, dance is my only time I feel comfortable and gives me confidence in myself. I wouldn’t give it up for a million dollars, even if you bribe me.