“Only passions, great passions, can elevate the soul to great things.” In the 18th century, this sentence that so poignantly highlighted the importance of passion in the human existence was uttered by Denis Diderot, a celebrated French author and philosopher. Three centuries later, passion still plays the foremost role in the personal quest for happiness.
My personal pursuit of fulfillment and love has led me on a bumpy, but ultimately rewarding road. From the age of ten, I had no doubt that my passion lay in the art of dance, particularly ballet. First pursuing the art form as a hobby, I danced recreationally in a local studio in my hometown of Fort Worth, TX. My weekday afternoons were spent dallying in ballet, jazz, and tap with other young people my age. I found my true love through interpreting movement and music in perfect harmony. As I became a more proficient dancer, an invitation to dance competitively on a jazz team was offered to me. With the opportunity to compete, a new streak in my personality was developed. Competition gave me the drive that enabled my skills to flourish. My goals and desires were set higher than I had ever before dared to imagine. My passion to achieve my personal best both inside and outside of the studio took flight.
As the years passed, my love for dance never faltered, though many of my peers left the field to pursue other aspirations. Instead, my diligence inside the studio and onstage burgeoned beyond comprehension. By the age of twelve, my dance instructors had identified me as a precocious talent in my ballet classes and encouraged me to pursue ballet more intensively. I needed no coercion. The subtle technique and graceful artistry that defines ballet emotionally moved me in ways that exceeded all other forms of dance. The precision of both movement and musicality that was requisite for this melodious art form inspired every level of my soul. Therefore, I began to audition for full-time ballet conservatories and was awarded a full scholarship to attend the celebrated Miami City Ballet School, led by famous Balanchine dancer Edward Villella.
Unfortunately, self-sacrifice is often a necessary ingredient in the pursuit of one’s passions and goals. In moving to Miami to train for a professional ballet career, I gave up living at home with my nurturing family and finishing high school in a traditional setting. I spent over forty hours each week in ballet classes and rehearsals, where the sweat of my labors often far exceeded positive reinforcement from the tough teachers at the ballet school. Nonetheless, my desire and diligence refused to yield, and I steadily molded myself into a polished ballet dancer. At the end of what would have been my senior year of high school, I once again was awarded a prestigious scholarship, this time to study and perform in Austria with the Vienna State Opera Ballet, one of the foremost ballet companies in the world.
Today, I am a professional ballet dancer employed by a world-class ballet company in the United States. My love of ballet continues to inspire and excite me everyday. I still have the blisters on my toes from long hours at work in the studio and still feel the music in the beat of my heart when I dance. As a professional ballerina, I have the joy of truly loving my career. Looking back to the journey that led me to the stars, I am still astonished by my own perseverance. Through this, I am confident that only true passion can guide a person to persist through physical, mental, and emotional obstacles to achieve personal success and bliss.
