Viewpoints editor Molly Harwell talks about her experience at East Athens Educational Dance Center and how the program has impacted her life.
Hello, I’m Molly Harwell, a sophomore and the Viewpoints editor for the ODYSSEY Media Group at Clarke Central High School, and this is Letters to my Younger Self. In this podcast, students share a letter they’d like to give to their past selves full of advice, warnings, encouragement, and insight into what their future holds. This is my letter to my younger self.
Dear 10-year-old Molly,
Tomorrow, you are starting your first day of dance in Program One at East Athens Educational Dance Center. You don’t know it yet, but this will be the starting point for one of the best experiences of your life.
You’ll start off slow. Program One will be a breeze, and you’ll have fun, but you’re ready for bigger and better things. You’ll move up to the next program, and you’ll enjoy your time there too, but once again, you’re ready to move along.
You’ll audition for Program Three; the big leagues. When you arrive at the audition, they’ll pin a number on the front of your shirt and tell you to follow along. They’ll group you with the older girls, the ones that have been dancing since they were two years old. You’ll be very nervous; hands shaking, sweating all over the black marley floor.
Now, I’m not going to lie to you. You’re going to do awful. You’re going to stumble and fall behind and forget to point your feet. You’ll start getting in your own head; telling yourself to give up and walk out of that room. You’re going to turn around so that no one can see the tears streaming down your bright pink cheeks and try to take deep breaths to calm yourself down.
But you’re going to keep going.
You’ll go home, flustered, and wait a couple of weeks for the dreaded email telling you if you got in or not. Finally, the day will arrive. You’ll open the email and find that you got in. An overwhelming sense of relief will crash over you like a wave, and you’ll get excited to start your new class the next week.
You’ll arrive at class on Monday and realize something is different: there’s a new teacher. She arrived at the end of the previous year, but you’ll be shocked to see her in the classroom, seeing as she is just supposed to be the supervisor.
You’ll take your place at the barre, and the new teacher is strict. She’ll introduce herself as Nena Gilreath, and let everyone know that there will be no funny business while she’s here. Then the class will begin.
You’ve done dance before, but not like this. Before this, you thought you were the best of the best. You believed that you were better than all of the other girls in your class. Well, prepare to be humbled, sister.
I’m not going to sugarcoat this. This new class is going to be one of the most challenging things you’ll ever do. You’ll work so hard that you feel like you’re going to throw up. You’re going to feel like you’ll never be good enough; that you’ll never be as good as the older girls.
You’re going to cry. You’ll scream and punch the air and tell yourself that next week is the week that you’re going to quit. But you wanna know what the funniest part about that is? You’ll never quit. No matter how many times you feel like you can’t do it any longer, you’ll keep going, and you won’t know why. You hate it right?
You’re going to be tired. You’ll come home from dance and you’ll collapse on the floor. You won’t remember to change out of your dance clothes or wash your face before bed. And you’ll be angry. Angry at your parents for “forcing” you to continue. You’ll be mad at your new teacher for being so strict and making your life miserable. But you’ll keep going.
And there will be people who will look down on you. They’ll fake smile and then talk about you behind your back. But over time, things will start to get better. More and more people will leave. The people who pushed others down, the people that didn’t care, the people who gave up will walk out the door, and then all that’s left will be the people that lift each other up, the people that care, the people that never give up. And that’s where you will make some of the best friends of your life.
You’ll meet some of the most amazing young women you’ve ever seen. Young ladies who are kind and compassionate and silly and love to laugh. They’ll become your family and you’ll begin to enjoy every minute you have with them. You’ll hang out and crack jokes and build each other up. You’ll help each other through difficult times, like the loss of a loved one, and be sad to see the next senior graduate and move away. You’ll lift each other up and grow stronger together.
Eventually, your legs will kick higher, your feet will grow stronger. You’ll form a bond with your teacher, and every day in class will be fun and exciting. Your confidence will grow and grow, and your body will grow stronger and stronger. You’ll still be tired and sometimes you will want to quit, but you’ll keep pushing through. What once was a burden and a hassle is now something that you love and look forward to every week.
The work is still hard, and it always will be, but if you keep going and keep pursuing things that you enjoy, your hard work will pay off. Enjoy your time at the Dance Center; it will be over before you know it.
Oh, and one more thing. When you step out on that stage for the first time – the lights twinkling, lighting up the faces of the expecting audience – just take it all in. Just enjoy that moment. It will be the first of many times, but none of them will be like the first.
Whatever you do, just don’t give up. It will all be worth it in the end, I promise.
I love ya, you little dancing machine.
Sincerely,
Future Molly
