Despite being interested in the arts as a viewer, dance was an area far beyond my comfort zone, especially as a performer. It was my first time participating in a dance performance in front of an audience, so I stayed quite motivated throughout the entire practice journey. I wasn’t an experienced dancer at all; however, the majority of our dance members weren’t either. The environment we created for ourselves was extremely open and supportive. It may be due to being part of such a great team that I was able to stay committed and motivated throughout the journey.

Collaboration among our team was also of noteworthy importance, especially in perfecting our formations. We also often asked for and returned help to each other with certain parts of the choreography that we were struggling with. It was also significant that every member of the dance attended every session leading up to the performance—it definitely helped with motivation for not only myself, but everyone else.

I will admit, however, that our dance leaders being friends that I knew personally was a factor that contributed to my commitment levels and perseverance. Because I was already close to my dance leaders, it was easy to constantly reach out for help and ask questions in order to improve. (I also felt quite obligated, as their friend, to attend every extra practice sessions they offered.)

I believe that getting a great into a team with great people in fact made the whole show less of a challenge than I’d originally thought it would be. Collaborating was not difficult, and neither was maintaining motivation. The challenges I faced were mainly trivial (such as small parts of the choreo that I would forget), and easy to fix within a supportive and comforting environment. An extremely new experience that initially scared me ended up being a fun and mostly obstacle-less one.

We were able to complete three successful shows, in which I had no disappointment about. I thought all three shows were extremely satisfying, and reflected everyone’s hard work. It was also rewarding to hear many compliments about our dance post-show!