I danced with the dance studio from when I was in elementary school to when I graduated high school in 2008. I LOVED my experience there, and here's why: As we approached Halloween last year, I couldn’t stop thinking about how much I want to do the Time Warp (again!) And as Christmas passed, I recalled, with so much happiness, all of the holiday performances and parades I got to participate in when I was younger. All of this is proof that, even though I no longer attend The Dance Studio, or any dance studio for that matter, dance has stayed with me all these years, and will continue to do so. I will always do pirouettes in the kitchen and get random urges to watch the Cell Block Tango. (I will probably always have bad dreams about forgetting my moves on stage, too, but let’s not talk about that.) And I will continue to reflect, with such fondness, on all of my memories of hanging out at the studio, which truly was my second home, where Donna and the other teachers were my second mothers. I got to do so much through dance, from tapping in the local parade to performing at the pentagon for the 9/11 memorial (did that really happen? twice?) Dance gave me a great group of creative and expressive friends, and I am so impressed at what all of these girls and guys have gone on to do with their lives! When I filled out my application for graduate school where I had to talk about how I use rhetoric, I naturally wrote about dance, because dance is sooo rhetorical: it’s how me and all of my dance friends gained a foundation for expressing ourselves effectively. Dance is amazing and I miss TDS so much! I am so glad that the parental figures in my life enrolled me and supported me in this artistic sport.